Comment from Keith
Time: July 14, 2007, 10:09 pm

I used to be of the same opinion Ben until I got to visit Pamplona last year (not during the bull running). I was speaking to a very nice lady in the tourist information booth in a plaza in the town.

I made a remark about how the people who do it must be crazy and she was really offended. She said that she had done it once and it was one of the most emotional experiences of her life. So maybe there is something to it after all?

Comment from Enrique
Time: July 14, 2007, 10:26 pm

You must know that many other towns in Spain have encierros? Pamplona is the magnet because of Hemingway and all the media coverage. But you can run in front of bulls — day or night, in the streets or along the waterfront — in a variety of encierros. And with a lower likelihood of drunken fame-seeking idiots. Just the normal run-of-the-mill idiots.

Comment from Ben
Time: July 15, 2007, 6:48 am

Absolutely, right Enrique, you can run in front of bulls and do yourself serious injury all over Spain! I know that in the end it is a matter of personal choice, but for me the stakes are just way too high!

Comment from Edith
Time: July 15, 2007, 10:40 am

I’ll never understand Hemingway’s fascination for these taurine events, no matter how hard I try! It’s all about testosterone and booze!
BTW, are the injuries sustained during the encierro covered by Spanish health care insurance? After all, one could say they are self-inflicted in a way…

Comment from ValenciaSon
Time: July 15, 2007, 6:09 pm

It can’t just be about testosterone if women do it and and want to do it with cows. Perhaps the adrenalin rush associated with facing the bulls has been perceived as divine inspiration from San Fermin? Maybe San Fermin had surplus testosterone? Maybe Fermin ran from bulls.

Comment from Ben
Time: July 15, 2007, 9:25 pm

@Edith, there is probably a clause in the policies against acts of god and acts of bulls!

@vs,

Comment from Edith
Time: July 16, 2007, 9:45 am

Perhaps it’s an old fertility rite? The ancient Cretans had bull rituals, too.

P.s.: I think this whole cow thing was meant as a joke in the first place.

Comment from luke
Time: July 16, 2007, 10:04 am

Bull running is just one part of the macho culture of Spain. Have you ever seen men ringing an old church bell? This seems to be a dare for young, drunk men in my mother-in-law’s village, near Aranda del Duero. It sounds funny but this is more dangerous than running with bulls. Up in the church tower a very heavy bell of about 2 metres diameter is turned by pulling the top of it over and then dodging it as it crashes down. If you mistime this the doctors won’t have anything to do; you’re dead.

Comment from Marina
Time: July 16, 2007, 11:11 am

Personally I don’t understand the reasons why people run in front of the bull. As ValenciaSon, I would say that it is more about adrenaline than testosterone… but I think Ben can give us more information about the reasons. I think he has forgotten about a “capea” he went to with some of our friends a few years ago. Before he left the house he sworn that he wouldn’t go anywhere near the bull, which is not precisely what happened afterwards.

CAPEA- Is a small bull fight game with only one small bull (which is still quite big) called “vaquilla”. People can go down to the ring and have a go but the vaquilla doesn’t get killed. Usually it involves a party of some kind.

Comment from Ben
Time: July 16, 2007, 11:26 am

oooppps - thanks Marina, forgot about that… see next post…

Pingback from Bull running 2, the capea, and my total hypocracy - Notes from Spain: Travel, Living in Spain, Podcasts, Forum and Photos
Time: July 16, 2007, 12:04 pm

[...] in my previous post on bull-running I suggested that it was probably a pretty silly thing to do. Funny how easily the mind forgets ones [...]

Comment from Ben
Time: July 16, 2007, 12:16 pm

@Luke, seriously? That is insane!

Comment from Michael
Time: July 17, 2007, 1:25 pm

You know, the San Fermin festival and the running of the bulls is the very thing that brought me to this web site. My roommate flew to Barcelona (from the U.S.) on July 4, spent a couple of days there. Then we rented a car and headed to Pamplona and ran on July 9.

Indeed, I would agree that the festival itself isn’t much to write home about. However, being on the city streets at 8AM and actually participating in such a crazy/historic run was definitely one of the coolest things I’ve done.

With that said, spending nearly a week in Spain made me want to learn more Spanish. I have 2 college semesters of Spanish behind me. However, my grad program–which I start this fall–is going to require more Spanish.

So here I am. I’ve enjoyed the podcasts so far. And I’m looking forward to participating.

Comment from Graeme
Time: July 17, 2007, 1:43 pm

I also found these fiestas a bit disappointing - someone I worked with from Pamplona said you should never go at the weekend because of the crowds, but from Ben’s account it doesn’t seem much better during the week. It seems to be practically impossible to see the running of the bulls unless you are there in position at 5 in the morning. I watch it from home and have to say it can be quitre compelling - last Thursday’s encierro was pure drama with one of the bulls isolated from the rest and charging anything that moved. I see this morning that a father has had custody of his 10 year old son removed after taking him to run with the bulls.

Comment from nuria
Time: July 18, 2007, 6:02 pm

thanks for writing about your brief experience in Pamplona, although I have never had an interest in getting trampled by angry bulls, after hearing your side of the story I know I’m not missing much other than some drinking binges..
love your blog!

Comment from Jose
Time: July 19, 2007, 6:02 am

I have been ejoying notesinspanish for the past month and found my way here. It so happens that the reason I found your podcasts was exactly because I decided that it was finally time to “RUN” in Pamplona. I bought the ticket and started planning the trip and decided to brush up on my spanish.

Thanks for the podcasts, they helped tremendously.

As for Pamplona, I read all about the festival and the running on sanfermin.com and so was really prepared for what to expect. I showed up on the 6th at 11, bought my outfit(I figured if your going to do it, do it right) and made my way to the town square for the official start at 12. Being there for the begining and the initial anticipation of the first run was really where it is at. Yes the crowds are the biggest of all week, but there is a reason. Things are still “new”, the city is not tired and everyone is really excited to see the bulls charge for the first ime in a year. It was fantastic, in a drunken disgusting sangria/urine smelly broken glass kind of way. I had a rental car and as I said I showed up at 11 on Friday followed by: partying until 12, slept in the car until 5, woke up to the buzz of it all , qued from 7 to 759 on estafetta, and when 8 hit ran like an idiot with the rest of the morons right into the Plaza del Toros with a 2000 lb of bull on my ass.

The rest of it you could give or take but running into the stadium and looking up to completly sold out bleachers - standing room only crowd yelling and chanting at you was great. Yes I know they were chanting to see “me” or anyone else they could come to greif with the sharp side of a bulls horn but still what a great feeling, like nothing else. Besides when your 70 and look back on life it is one of those things you can say you “did”. I did. I would reccomend it to anyone.

Oh, and to finnish my timeline of events: at 805 I climbed out of the ring, 810 soaked up what I came to spain for, 815 watched as drunken morons got demolished by the heffers released to do just that, 830 back in rental car headed back to Madrid. If you are going to do it get in and get out, your memories will be the better for it.

Thanks Ben for the website and blog

Comment from Ben
Time: July 19, 2007, 2:24 pm

Jose, you are brave man! Well done on surviving the run (and the drive back to madrid!)

Comment from Chip
Time: July 21, 2007, 5:57 pm

It’s too bad you had such a bad experience in Pamplona. It’s a beautiful city to live in during the rest of the year, especially in the end of the summer and fall.
Benavente in Zaomra has a really cool tradition of pulling bulls through the town with ropes. They even have a smal bull for the kids. They do this in May. I think the festival is called Enamorado. It’s a really small town, so the partying is kept to a minimum.

Comment from totallyken
Time: July 23, 2007, 11:01 pm

I too used to think that the running of the bulls was for “drunken lunatics” but having been to Pamplona a couple of times and having now adopted the tradition of my wife’s family of getting up each morning to watch (on the telly) the bull run, I have learned that it’s not meant to be for crazy drunks and that many of the drunken lunatics you see are foreigners.

There is a sizable portion of the population of Pamplona and Navarra that run “religiously” every day of the festival, every year. They take it seriously. They arrive tired but not drunk. It is something very special for them. I was in Pamplona this year (at a friends wedding) just before San Fermin. Incidently Pamplona is beautiful this year. Whatever they have done in the city, it is so green and lovely, merece la pena visitarlo. Anyway, seated beside me at the wedding reception was a native of Pamplona who runs every year. For him it’s a must. After the run, he takes off home for a quick breakfast before he dons one of the “gigante” suits and along with others he is one of the volunters who entertains on the street. It’s very special for him.

He regrets that so many people who have no clue about how to run with the bulls ( there is an art to it ) participate. But the festival is so famous now it’s impossible to avoid the crowds and to avoid people who are ignorant about how to run or about what’s expected of a runner.

In Pamplona the locals despise drunks, they get furious when people touch the bulls, pull their tails, whack them with newspapers, etcetera. A good runner tries to avoid any contact with the bull. He endeavours to stay ahead or run along side the bull but never distract the bull or interfer with it. That’s when problems occur.

Have you ever listened to the guy with the beard who does the TV commentary on the run. He’s been doing it for 29 years years I think and he knows all the local characters. He knows who the regular runners are and who the good runners are.
He delights in a “clean” run. One that is fast and without injury or distraction. That’s what people want.

But alas it does not happen.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that the run in Pamplona is not meant to be a mad alcoholic dash with bulls. And for many locals who take it seriously, it’s not. BUT there is a large element, many who are foreigners, who have turned it into something else, more dangerous it could be said.

Comment from Sari
Time: July 24, 2007, 12:02 am

I haven’t run with the bulls, but had to come to the defense of the fiesta of San Fermin. I had a wonderful experience when I was in Pamplona several years ago as a college student and living with a family there. As with most Spanish fiestas, there are many aspects to the celebrations. I have beautiful memories of watching the opening ceremonies from a balcony, drinking sangria with my Spanish friends, watching fireworks, tasting my first churros y chocolate, observing the procession of San Fermin from the cathedral and through the narrow streets of el Parte Viejo, attending a Zarzuela (a musical featuring Spanish folk dances) and faking my way through walzes at a dance. Los San Fermines are a great way to spend a week in Spain if you have a good place to sleep! As for the running of the bulls, as an observer, it was full of anticipation and thrill. A good friend of mine was a reporter for the local paper, and said the Red Cross report each day was mostly of foreigners’ injuries.

Comment from Graeme
Time: July 24, 2007, 1:44 pm

I think there is a bit of mythology here about the participation of foreigners in the encierros, people from all over Spain also go to these fiestas and I suspect they are not all seasoned runners either. For all the talk about knowing how to do it properly, whenever I see the reports in the papers the majority of those injured seem to be Spanish and many of them are from Navarra. There are moments in doing this when you simply cannot avoid problems and it doesn’t matter where you were born. The main problem seems to be the sheer numbers of people running, especially at the weekend - that creates danger in itself.

Comment from dave
Time: August 9, 2007, 7:44 pm

I missed this discussion as I was on vacation, sorry for the late reply.

I would say that as a foreigner, I don’t need to “get” it. I watch in wonder and amazement, but it is, in my mind, a Spanish event, cherished and held dear by many Spaniards. It isn’t my place to criticize or frown upon it from my vantage point here in the US.

One phrase that my wife and I uttered over and over again as we traveled with my now 12yr old daughter (and will continue to utter with the one on the way — it’s a boy!) is “It’s not weird, just different.” She has grown into an open-minded young lady, aware that the differences between us are what make this such a wonderful and exciting world.

I’ll never run with the bulls, but I can certainly appreciate how the event might have crept into the hearts of the locals over its long colorful history.

Having said all that, I’ll end with: You Spaniards are nuts!!