Mayhem and Mulletts

Buenas Noches amigos!

I am here to tell the tale of the best thing we´ve done so far (I know I just said that about something else and I might say it again about something different, but for now...). Let me preface this with the fact that we are still alive and have no holes. I hope none of you worried about London, we were far away. But the bombings were on all the news channels here (we watched in Spanish and French trying to pick up details). It´s not really affecting day to day life that much. There are no tanks in the street or police checking under our beds, but we´re not in London, so I don´t know how it is there. As Tony and the Queen said though, the Brits will push on and not change their ways. We´re happy they got the Olympics, though we do feel bad for Paris. We definitely noticed how hard both of the cities were pushing for it.

So back to where Bryce left off. We trained it to San Sebastian from Biarritz and then hoped a sweet 6 euro bus to Pamplona. Actually a really nice kid (FROM THE OC!) saw us looking bewildered at the bus station and showed us how to get tickets. He and his four friends took time off from playing water polo and bruising geeky emo kids to tour around europe after graduation.

As we arrived in Pamplona we noticed that everyone (literally everyone) in the city was wearing all white with red bandanas and red sashes. So we figured we had to get them or we would look like complete tourist tools. So we scored some cheap gear(white capri pants for me! another dream realized) headed over to the tourism office looking official. On the way we were nearly run over by giant saints and heads walking down the street. There were also guys wearing these horse costumes running around and beating unsuspecting kids on the head with this foam bopper. It was hilarious!

So we wandered all over the old quarter of the city(ground zero for San Fermines celebrations) soaking in the days events. There was pretty much a constant parade going somewhere with amazing marching bands playing amazing mariachi type music. And people just follow them around dancing through the streets. Whenever we heard the horns sounding we would instinctively flock to the scene. We also witnessed traditional flute dancing and even got on the channel 6 evening news(they had a today showesque set up with the crowd behind their newsdesk)!

Random list of things we saw...man pissing on the outside of a port-o-jon, kid throwing the biggest tantrum ever and throwing himself down on the filthy street and rubbing the filth onto him,

This might be a good time to fill you in on the fact that the entire city became a toilet during this festival. There was no regard for where one chose to go to the bathroom and no attempt to hide the fact that one was going. I still smell the urine on our shoes, and this is after I cleaned them thoroughly with Bryce´s toothbrush.

back to the list...MULLETS. Mullets were everywhere, and mostly on girls! I couldn´t believe it. I don´t know if this is a new fad or if they never went out of style here, but it is not a good thing. A lot of otherwise attractive women were rendered ungogglable and I won´t even get into the unattractive ones. I hope this is a phenomenon that contains itself to northern Spain, for the sake of people everywhere.

Night fell on the city and the festival seemed to double in size. During the day there was a good mix of young and old and in between. During the night it was mainly young adults doing things that young adults like to do. The streets were packed, bars overflowing, bands playing in every plaza, street vendors selling t-shirts sweatshirts and yes...red berets, food vendors, street performers, Indians playing flute music(Bill!), more Indians playing flute music(like every other corner). Mardi Gras has nothing on this!

We had no place to stay so we tried sleeping in an old fort in the middle of the town but they kicked us out of it and we got seperated in the mileu of avoiding the authorities(Bryce meekly turned himself in whereas I made a dash for it...and escaped!) So I walked around all night huddled in my new red sweatshirt for warmth, cause it got cold! Apparently Europe didn´t get the memo that it´s summertime. I tried to dance for warmth in the makeshift disco they established but couldn´t keep that up all night. In the end I drifted over to the start of the run, curled up in a little ball and maintained just enough consciousness to not get pissed on.

I met Bryce and oddly enough, the OC dudes over at the starting line of the run. Crowds gathered atop walls and windows lining the street and the runners convened. I was shocked by how packed the street was with runners. There was literally no room to run cause it was wall to wall people. We chose to run right at the beginning where they release the bulls, and I think it ended up being a good choice. We were right beside a shrine to San Fermin, the patron saint of the town and the festival. So just before 8:00 all the runners start this chant to the shrine and we were right there in the thick of it. The runners really got hyped up by this and a loud gun went off signalling that the bulls were coming. I turned around and found that the packed street had thinned out a bit, given that people had turned tail and started flying down the street. So I did the same and just started booking it! After about 15 seconds I finally look back and just in time! Five bulls are flying up on my right side. I slide over to let them pass and then keep running after them. It was so exciting!! I stopped and got my bearings, found Bryce who was right nearby and then heard another gunshot. Seconds later another pack of bulls came hurling up the street and there was a mad throng of freaked out dudes pushing to get out of the way! After this surprising second wave passed we sprinted after them just in case more were coming and to soak up the rest of the route!

No more bulls came, but I was definitely riding a huge rush. I checked my pulse 45 minutes later and it was still above normal. We were never in any real danger either, though I can´t say that about everyone that ran. We saw a replay on a giant screen, and one guy got dragged about a block when a horn went through his shirt. He seemed ok, but still, that had to suck!

We left the festival tired but in high spirits. This is truly something that everyone should experience. The people there were having so much fun and was transfered through the festival. You couldn´t help but have a good time when old men are singing and babies are dancing and everyone gets dressed up to get down! I had such a good time!