Pamplona and San Fermin

Pamplona and San Fermin

First, a little lesson on my past weekend's adventures. I went to Pamplona in the mountains the northern Basque country of Spain. It was beautiful country; I wish I had gotten more pictures, but I slept through most of the bus ride. I went for the festival of San Fermin which always occurs on the 7th through the 14th of July. I just got lucky to get to go on "opening weekend". The festival is infamous for it's running of the bulls or encierra. The festival is truly much more than that, although that's all the Americans ever hear of it because usually some stupid American runs with the bulls and gets hurt or worse during the week. The festival is celebrating Saint Fermin, the patron saint of Pamplona. The festival goers all wear white with red sashes and scarves or panuellos.

Ok, now for my observations on the festival. We arrived late on Friday night at our lodgings-- a former convent. It was interesting living in an ex-convent for the weekend; the rooms were all single dwellings with their own showers and sink but no personal toliet. Everyone-- both males and females-- had to share the community toliets at the end of the halls, which didn't have toliet seats. Not having a toliet seat for a weekend really makes you appreciate the little things, let me assure you. The rooms still had crusifixes on one wall and a little painting of Mary and Jesus on the other above a desk. Every room had a bookshelf too, so they rooms were definitly designed for study.

Friday night we went out to see the fireworks that began the festival and then went on a walking tour of the streets that would be safe for we Americans if we wanted to go out and join the party later that evening. The younger people at the festival were mainly there for one reason-- to spend a whole week as drunk as possible. Many of them just didn't sleep and when they did took up residence in a park or on a comfy bench. Everywhere I went all I smelled was spilt wine and urine. In short, it smelled something aweful. I didn't see hardly anything but wine begin drunk. Occasionally a portable keg of beer or some water but usually just red wine. I went back to the convent and went to sleep after our walking tour.

On Saturday morning, we got up early to see the running. It was amazing; we got some tickets to sit in the city bull ring and watch them run through there. I have some great footage of that, but you'll probably have to wait to see that because the connection here is so freakin slow. That's why there are so few pictures up, but there are a few on that link on the right, by the way. After the bulls ran through, a few cows were let in so the runners could pester them. I learned that this torment of the cows is actually done in the country where they raise the fighting bulls. The people who raise the bulls have to make sure their mamas are just as brave as their daddies. That part was kinda sad really. The runners waved paper in the cow's faces and pulled their tails to make them mad so they'd charge.

After el encierro, we took a tour of the city and saw where exactly the bulls ran that morning. (A running occurs every morning for the whole week, by the way.) There was also a parade to honor Saint Fermin as his replica entered the cathedral. We got front row "seats" for that and again I've got some great footage! I got to see the giantes; they look like great big dolls and people walk inside them in the parade. Then we went shopping in the little tent shops set up near the park. I got a sweet purse for only 12 euros! That's about $18. The reason it's so sweet is because I saw one online like it that I fell in love with and it was either $60 or $80... something like that, so I jumped at the chance to buy this one. I also had some churros-- a typical Spanish desert, alot like a donut, except not round just a stick.

The streets were so jammed packed with people it was ridiculous. I mean, we weren't just sardines, we were squished sardines. The city has about 100,000 residents but during San Fermin there are about a million people in the city and most in the same area. The craziest part was that people were taking their babies in strollers through this crowd; it would be equivilant to taking a stroller to Time Square at midnight on New Years. I got so mad at the people with baby strollers; it's not like the babies were enjoying this anyway. I got stuck in a crowd behind one and when I tried to go around them, the man pushing the stroller and the rest of the crowd near him yelled at me. I'm not sure what they said, but I think they were afraid I'd wake the baby. How that baby slept in all that hullabaloo, I have no idea. Thinking back though, Spaniards are very family oriented. I have not seen one day care here. I'd say leave baby at home with grandma, but grandma was at San Fermin too! It was crazy noisey! I had to sleep with ear plugs in both nights. The street vendors were selling these megaphones that had several songs pre-recorded on them, including "Ole, ole, ole!" which I never want to hear again and people were forever turning those blasted things on and shouting in them. Drunks are pretty loud anyway, so giving them megaphones was not the best idea in the world, in my opinion.

In short, I went to a drunken party celebrating San Fermin, got squished to pieces, saw the running of the bulls and really and truly did enjoy myself and learned alot. I probably will never go back, but I am glad I went this one time.