All Madjackers:
Well this friday i am making my yearly excursion to the Iruna region of Espana for the San Fermin Fiesta to run with the bulls. Made extremely popular around the world by Ernest Hemingway, this is a party that should not be missed. This will be my 3rd straight year going and believe me; it never gets old.
The actual town of Pamplona is not all that big; although every bar and place to get a drink is packed with partygoers of all ages. Hotels are tough to come by, cleanliness is at an all time low but this doesnt take away from the atmosphere at all. People go to this town to party and have fun, and thats exactly what you get.
The running of the bulls takes place at 8am in the morning, the route is primarily uphill through the very narrow streets of the center of the city and it ends up when the bulls run into the ring. The entire run time varies, they blow off a rocket at 8am which symbolizes that the first bull is out of the corral at the bottom of the route, followed by a second rocket that tells the crowd that all 6 bulls are in the streets on their way up. Following the bulls are 6-8 steer that help guide the bulls along and keep them moving, this is done in case one of the bulls goes sh*tzo and finds himself alone, which still happens, and that is when it gets dangerous. Bulls are herd animals and they get scared when they are seperated from the rest of the pack. The bulls then get extra aggressive and look to take out any one of the drunk runners in the streets.
Finally when the last of the toros are in the bullring, they are guided into the pens where they are seperated; later on in the afternoon will be fought in front of the packed ring. After these bulls are secure in their pens, they release baby bulls into the ring where the crowd of runners gathered after the run can test their bravery against these bulls. They are not as dangerous as the tips of their horns are padded and they are not nearly as big.
By now its a little bit after 9am and the streets are once again packed with people looking for that next sangria or cerveza. This goes on from July 6th-July14th; everyday, nonstop........believe me the party is NON-stop. Depending on how you feel about bullfights, during the fiesta, in total some 50 bulls are slaughtered at the hands of matadors and rojeanadores (think i got that right).
if you are interested in watching this go down on tv, i know the OLN network will have all the days runnings and happenings airing later on this month when its actually over and when Lance Armstrong hopefully gets his 6th in a row. You can follow this on the web at www.sanfermin.com, there is an english icon you can click if you like.
In all i believe there have been 15 deaths, several Americans in the encierro. There are several rules, most notably no woman can run, although none of these rules are much paid attention to. The attitude is if you are brave or stupid enough to get in those streets by around 7:45, then you are responsible for the consequences.
hope everyone had a safe and fun holiday weekend, my fun is just about to begin........
wish me luck
ltw2
Well this friday i am making my yearly excursion to the Iruna region of Espana for the San Fermin Fiesta to run with the bulls. Made extremely popular around the world by Ernest Hemingway, this is a party that should not be missed. This will be my 3rd straight year going and believe me; it never gets old.
The actual town of Pamplona is not all that big; although every bar and place to get a drink is packed with partygoers of all ages. Hotels are tough to come by, cleanliness is at an all time low but this doesnt take away from the atmosphere at all. People go to this town to party and have fun, and thats exactly what you get.
The running of the bulls takes place at 8am in the morning, the route is primarily uphill through the very narrow streets of the center of the city and it ends up when the bulls run into the ring. The entire run time varies, they blow off a rocket at 8am which symbolizes that the first bull is out of the corral at the bottom of the route, followed by a second rocket that tells the crowd that all 6 bulls are in the streets on their way up. Following the bulls are 6-8 steer that help guide the bulls along and keep them moving, this is done in case one of the bulls goes sh*tzo and finds himself alone, which still happens, and that is when it gets dangerous. Bulls are herd animals and they get scared when they are seperated from the rest of the pack. The bulls then get extra aggressive and look to take out any one of the drunk runners in the streets.
Finally when the last of the toros are in the bullring, they are guided into the pens where they are seperated; later on in the afternoon will be fought in front of the packed ring. After these bulls are secure in their pens, they release baby bulls into the ring where the crowd of runners gathered after the run can test their bravery against these bulls. They are not as dangerous as the tips of their horns are padded and they are not nearly as big.
By now its a little bit after 9am and the streets are once again packed with people looking for that next sangria or cerveza. This goes on from July 6th-July14th; everyday, nonstop........believe me the party is NON-stop. Depending on how you feel about bullfights, during the fiesta, in total some 50 bulls are slaughtered at the hands of matadors and rojeanadores (think i got that right).
if you are interested in watching this go down on tv, i know the OLN network will have all the days runnings and happenings airing later on this month when its actually over and when Lance Armstrong hopefully gets his 6th in a row. You can follow this on the web at www.sanfermin.com, there is an english icon you can click if you like.
In all i believe there have been 15 deaths, several Americans in the encierro. There are several rules, most notably no woman can run, although none of these rules are much paid attention to. The attitude is if you are brave or stupid enough to get in those streets by around 7:45, then you are responsible for the consequences.
hope everyone had a safe and fun holiday weekend, my fun is just about to begin........
wish me luck
ltw2
