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1001 Degrees Of Latino Heat!!!
During the train ride from Madrid to Pamplona i was wondering what was awaiting me. i had heard so many stories from so many people about a 24 hour party atmosphere as well as the disasters during the bull run i was a little apprehensive. i found my self wondering whether it was all worth it, to run and suffer a serious injury like so many others and live with that regret the rest of my life. on the flip side of that coin is the fact that running with the bulls has always been a goal that i have wanted to complete since i knew about the races...quite the dilemma, physical injury and possibly death or living with regret of pussying out the rest of my life...
As i stepped off the train the time was around 11pm, there were plenty of other backpackers and it was not a problem asking some if i could tag along with their group. Funny thing about my travels so far is that most of the people i have met are American and most of these people are Californians. The group i was tagging along with were some guys from orange county so it was all good, if they were texans i think i would have preferred traveling solo. Anyway our group enters the bus, we had no clue where we were headed and a herd mentality took over. Everyone was following the group talking about the stories and rumors about San Fermin. As the bus drove on there began to be a number of people in the street wearing the white pants, shirt with red scarf and sash and we finally knew we arrived at the right spot when the bus stopped at a park and there were literally thousands of people in costume in the street.
this was an amazing sight and everyone in the bus was getting so jittery and anxious just to get out and be among the crowd. we exited put our bags in the communal lockers and began walking up and down the streets of pamplona drinking sangria, hitting on Spanish girls, going into bars and just having a good time. This is the way to celebrate. Thousands of people in the same costumes so exited and happy, no fights or problems to speak of... i got into a little bit of an heated discussion with some dude from ireland though, hating on the good ol U S of A. Of course the guy was bashing the president and the foreign policy, which i do too but he was also bashing americans. I reminded him that if it wasn't for the US his ass would be speaking German. He was just gay, i wished that the next day he would get gored by a bull.
So me and the orange county cats stayed awake the whole night around 5:30 am it was time to go to the area of the bull run. We found a good spot, there was alot of internal debate amongst us on whether or not we should run. in the end everyone of the orange county boys decided against it there was about six of them. im not a fag so i jumped into the street amongst the mass of people that were running, found a veteran and after some talk he took me under his wing.
The guy was American and had ran twice already. there is such a mass of people running it is hard to describe. They say that the thing you have to watch out for more then the Bulls is the people, as the people will push you, trip you and fall in front of you during the run. It was a scary moment in the minutes leading up to the release of the bulls. Before the bulls are released they signal that everyone can find a place to run from. After this a firework is released signaling the release of the bulls, this is shortly followed by a 2nd firework signaling that the last bull has left the corral.
i found my place on the straight away before the bulls enter the arena, there were lots of doorways to duck into. i began to stretch like most of the other people, there was singing and chanting going on. people were in the balconies of the buildings yelling and wishing everyone luck, it was an atmosphere that cannot be described in words.
before the first fire work goes off people are already slowly and subconsiously walking towards the stadium... fags! i stayed in my spot and got into a sprinting position. ten seconds later i saw a wave of people running in mass around the corner leading to my position in the straight away. As the people were running you could see the wide eyed fear in their faces. As the group of people continues running it looks something like when a shark swims through a school of fish. Everyone spreads out to the side allowing the bulls to run the middle of the street. like everyone one else i began running trying to stay in the middle for as long as my nerves would allow me...i didn't stay too long but during my run people were pushing cussing screaming and falling, i had to high step over quite a few people that had tripped on the people ahead of them. the whole run only last about 30 or 40 seconds, it goes by so fast. one moment your in front of the bulls the next second your alongside them hitting them with a newspaper and the next second your following behind them. i actually got so close to one bull that i smacked its ass as it passed...AMERICA!!!
over all the race is not as scary or crazy as i thought, the orange county boys were all kind of letdown that they didn't run. A chance of a lifetime had slipped away. I was in ecstacy, i accomplished another life goal... WHOO HOOO!!!
im in Barcelona now and the night life here is all night. i had booked a hostel but i ended up waking up on the beach just in time to see the sunrise. I haven't been able to upload pictures, im going from one place to another pretty quick now and im not going to let up anytime soon, too much to see and do. As soon as i find a computer that has a usb drive i willl upload the pics, most of the comps in the hostels are s***ty and expensive to use like this one. 1 euro every 30 minutes gay gay gay gay gay gay gay.... hostels suck too, they are way overcrowded, stink and are hot and musty as a mug. times almost out, next time you hear from me i will be in france, take care everyone. love you mom, dad, jessie, gaby, dominic, tony, jilly, ronnie, baby, cat and lou.
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