Spanish madness... Running with the bulls

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We had a VERY early start today as we had to catch the bus at 4:20am into town so Mick and Jason could check out the track/route for the Running of the Bulls at 8am. The town was still in party mode with people spilling out into the streets from all the bars in town which were still blasting music. By 6:30am everything was closing and the street sweepers were in full swing trying to clean up the place before the bulls were let loose.Kirstyn and Karen found a spot on the fence that was being put up while Jason and Mick started to get nervous! We met some interesting characters from Spain and Italy while waiting for the run. At 8 a firework went off and everyone at the front started running, only to realise the bulls weren’t there yet. When they did go past though it was pure chaos with people jumping everywhere. It was over pretty quickly as the bulls on this day stuck together well and didn’t go on a massive rampage attacking people. The boys ran into the ring after the bulls had gone by them and watched the crazy people trying to touch them or jump over/on them. Mick got a little too close while trying to take a photo but mostly they stayed well clear. The stands were completely packed with spectators and it took ages for the girls to get in!After the excitement of the run we got tickets to the bull fight that night then went back to the camp for a sleep before the evening’s events. We took along some snacks and our 5L bottle now full of Sangria and made our way into the ground. The bull fighting itself was even more horrendous than we had expected and we were all a little traumatised after the first bull, and then there were 5 more. The locals, however, were loving it. After the fight things definitely became more enjoyable and the entire town turned into one big street party with bands and dancing down the street. We bought beers from local shops and danced along with the rest of the crowd until about 2am when we dragged ourselves home on the bus.

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Photos

Viva San Fermin!
Jason's eager to start on the Sangria

Hard work
See if you can spot us?

Our seats for the bullfight
This is referred to as the nose bleed section

After the bullfight
The partying spilled out into the street and continued all night

7 Days
Jason watched a strange video just before this picture was taken.......