EH! TORO EH!......San Fermin 2012

No prizes for guessing what this is about........

PAMPLONA, AND THE RUNNING OF THE BULLS

I'm sure you have all seen it on TV, but oh my....... it is sooo crazy!
The magnitude of this festival exceeds even the most active imagination; it spans the whole city, for every hour of the day and night, for a whole week. Rampant festivities jostle for space down every laneway, roaming pied piper-esque bands lead hoards of revellers to nowhere in particular, and every square inch of grass is occupied with sleeping party goers. Then there is the bulls. Ouch. For some reason all of my colleagues at work were coming up to me and saying "careful eh, careful" when they found out I was going to San Fermin. I don't know why, but they seem to think I am the kind of person to get really drunk and do something stupid, like run in front of a herd of charging bulls. All I want to know is - who tipped them off? Maybe it was because the first casualty this year was an Aussie - speared through the leg.

This is us after 24 hours of San Fermin; more or less goes like this: Drink wine, eat bocadillo, drink beer, dance, drink wine,  eat bocadillo, rest, drink beer, dance, etc.....
I didn't run as it turns out - not the kind of thing you want to go into without a little preparation. For instance - I have no idea where 'Dead Man's Corner' is, but I don't want to find out the hard way! The average bull weighs in at 500 kilos, yeah half a tonne! About shoulder hight, and as long as a car. Add to that two huge horns, sharp as butchers knives, and you get the picture. They move fast too, when they get a pace on I reckon 35-40 KPH. We sat down at the last leg of the run before the bulls enter the Plaza de Toros. Because they are just below head height you cant actually see them coming, you just see all these people running, and all the people waiting start jumping up and down on the spot to try and see where the bulls are. Then you hear the hoofs and the ringing of the bells around the bull's neck. Then the crowds part and these massive angry bulls come roaring along and it really is quite a sight. 

Once everyone is inside the Plaza they let out this baby for a bit of fun. The idea is to get caught and thrown by the horns, if you get a good launch the crowd goes wild and you're momentarily a hero. However, don't get on the bull, or put it in a headlock - the crowd will beat the hell out of you. Vicious.
In other matters of interest, Murphy's law showed impeccable timing with regards to swell and waves. After two weeks of nothing doing, on the very first day back at work, the very first day, a new swell arrived. What a cracker she was too! It was last wednesday, and this dull greyness enveloped the city. No wind, no rain, just a mass of uniform grey that lowered the pressure and had this eerie electricity about it. By night fall the first sets rolled in, and for the next four days the coast got a pummelling. There were even rideable waves breaking up the river, it was nuts. Best week of surfing followed by the craziest party I have ever seen....... somebody pinch me!
Adios,
J