This iReport is part of an assignment:
Running with the bulls
1
of 9
About this iReport
 |
Posted July 11, 2008
by
|
Location
Tampa, Florida, Florida
Tampa, Florida, Florida
Assignment
 |
Not for animal lovers or the feint of heart!
Pamplona or Bust! A buddy of mine and I spent eight months planning our trip from the USA to Pamplona to run with the bulls in July, 2006, and it was the most exciting and dangerous adventure I've ever experienced! We both ran twice (Tues & Wed mornings) and lived to tell about our adventure (we both substained minor injuries, he got stitches in his head and I got a gash from a bulls' horn on my left shin), but to this day we are still absolutely stunned, and thankful!, that in some parts of the world you can so easily join one of the biggest parties on the planet, risk your life in an unbelievable dangerous sprint of complete madness, party the rest of the day in appreciation, and then watch the same bulls that could have killed you that morning be ceremoniously killed that same evening (I hated the bullfights!). I kept a blog of the whole trip, you can read all the details at http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/GypsyKing/ Here is my entry for the first day of the action! What NOT to do before running with the bulls! The evening before running, we stay up and party all night - no sleep - and hit every plaza (see photo) and many, many bars and end up going out with a local Basque named Gary, from the Harp Hotel (where we are staying on the 4th floor) who knows the area and he showed us the Basque end of town, the Australian end, the American end, etc...we hit them all and were basically ignored in all of them. We can not fail to feel the effects George Bush and his policies are having on attitudes towards all Americans overseas - we were not welcomed and it showed - everywhere. However, we made the best of it, started all conversations with a bit of a French accept and told everybody we were from Canada, which seemed to work for awhile. It was still fun being in the middle of the biggest party I´ve ever seen - think Mardi Gras on steroids and without all the nudity - there is no nudity here at all. None. This part of Spain is heavily Catholic and very conservative and I´ve seen only one, and I´m not kidding, passionate embrace and I think they were from New Zealand. An interesting note without being sexist about it, Marcus went up to an attractive girl on the street and said, "Hey, you´re from America aren´t you?" She was dumbfounded and asked how did he know that?He politely told her that she was the only girl on the street, hell, probably in the city, not wearing a bra!!...very conservative here indeed.. So, we stayed up until the break of dawn, ran back to the hotel and quickly changed shoes, then made it to the start of the bull run in the dark early hours. We were both standing in the middle of Santa Domingo at 6.45am, which is the first street the bulls come out of, and we´ve been drinking all night, no sleep, and we have no idea what to expect other then what our guide told us about running and staying alive. We are very nervous but the anticipation, knowing we are not prepared and could be seriously hurt, is for me the best part. My hands were shaking from the excitement and I can only compare it to skydiving the first time and shuffling up to the open door knowing there is no turning back. I've done a lot of adventure sports so I was pleased that my mind could have not been more clear and prepared. We basically just went with the flow, chatted a bit with anybody who spoke English, and waited for our fate. On the first morning of our runs, one of the most famous runners in Navarro, George Viagno, befriended us and although he can not speak, he explained in terrifying detail where to run, and how to stay away from the stray bulls who like to rocket down the side of the buildings while grinding their horns into anything that looks like it's moving (which of course we all are!). He is a great guy and we are told he has been running for over 20 years. He pointed out posters all along the storefronts with him in them, as well as dozens of photographs where he is having his notorious good, but unbelievably dangerous, runs in and out of the bulls as they barrel down the street at a furious speed into dead man's turn.....we thanked him sincerely and both of us were feeling pretty good, comfortable, and even a bit cocky - right up until the first rocket exploded above our heads! The first rocket means the bulls are released and a few seconds later there is a second rocket which lets us know that all the bulls are out and the steers that they use to push the bulls are all out in the streets and your life is in your hands now! There are six steers (see the photos) who herd the bulls and then there are seven fighting bulls in the lead and they are mad as hell and weigh about 1,500 pounds each and according to the guide have only been doing three things since they were born; eating grass, making love to cows, and looking for something to kill. We knew enough to wait for the second rocket before beginning to at least trot a little and we were shouting at each other, over here, over here, warming up until the wave of people was suddenly upon us! We were told not to run until we saw the bulls bearing down on us like a tsunami of beef and it took a lot of patience watching dozens of people leap immediately into doorways and climb drain pipes and anything they could get their hands on to get away from the oncoming devastation. It is absolute choas and the sound was amazing - people screaming in terror, some laughing like insane idiots, an explosion of running shoes that seemed to wash over us like thunder, and then we watched as people began falling and yelling and screaming and diving across every inch of narrow street, and behind them was a merciless stampede of angry bulls. We were at first thankful to be still standing and then even more grateful that the herd seemed to be in a fairly tight group with no lethal strays bringing up the rear. In a matter of two quick breaths the bulls were on us...huge does not describe these massive animals running at full speed up the street stopping for nothing and no one. Out of my peripheral vision I see flashes of people flying to the side of the street, jumping up walls, grabbing at anything they can find, climbing the sides of doorways, rain gutters, anything to get out of the way and then there are the rest of us who actually are running and trying our best not to trip and fall. We are running for our lives and it is pure adrenaline and fear and if you are familiar with the fight or flight response - this is 100% flight! We run, fast, scanning to the right then torquing our necks to the left to make sure we don´t fall and looking to the right again as the bulls catch us and catch up with us and suck us into the wall of sound and hoofs and sweat and terror - it sounds like a hurricane and it smells like a farm on a hot, muggy day. I can smell the animals and for a few seconds time stands still. Out of my mind with fear and excitement, I reach out my hand and watch the blur of brown and white beast roar past. Did I touch him? Was that a bull? Did I actually feel him...to this day I think I did. I may have...it will haunt me forever, but I will always smile about it too. That story never gets old.... As they pass, I can see their fur, hear them blast by me as arms and heads and legs are flying and falling everywhere. They buzz by me in seconds and I barely got a good look but was in enough danger that time literally seemed to stand still for about ten to fifteen seconds. The whole lethally dangerous part was over in less than 30 seconds overall because I couldn't run fast enough to stay up with the beasts so I couldn't make it last longer. We ran beside the bulls, yelling, for all of about 30 beautiful seconds and then were thankful that we didn´t get hurt and slowed to a brisk walk, then laughed and walked and sang Spanish songs while trekking further up Mercado into the bull ring where a whole other adventure awaited. The Vaquillas. We got inside the arena, they let anybody who wants to take a chance get in the ring, and then they let out a smaller bull, meaning this one weighs only about 800 pounds, he runs around trying to kill as many people as possible. It was fantastic and I have pictures and video you won´t believe - what idiocy!!! but, one of the best times of my life!! I have picture from the local paper where the bulls actually jumps over the four foot wall surrounding the ring he is so angry (this is where I got gored in the shin and Marucs fell back and split his head open requiring stitches), and then the massive animal runs around the inside of the stadium tossing people into the arena as they try to get away from him...great fun!! Sadly, this is also where, the day before, a 24 year old American from NYC, Ray Duchampe, was thrown head over heals by the bull, and took a bad fall and is now paralyzed from the waist down. We met his buddy, the guy who was beside him when it happened, picked him up and whisked him out of the way of the bull who continued to trample and gore him repeatedly. There is now a fund in his name which I will talk about in the next blog entry... Coming up next. Running around inside the bull ring (stadium) after living through the running of the bulls, and a day in city of Pamplona, then off to a real bullfight in the evening (we were both yelling for the bull to win the whole time!!!) where we watched in dismay as each of the bulls we ran with that morning died a slow, agonizing death.
What do you think of this story?
Select one of the options below. Your feedback will help tell CNN producers what to do with this iReport. If you'd like, you can explain your choice in the comments below.
Be and editor! Choose an option below:
More from this assignment - Running with the bulls
iReport welcomes a lively discussion, so comments on iReports are not pre-screened before they post. See the iReport community guidelines for details about content that is not welcome on iReport.
© 2011 Cable News Network. 
Comments