Residencia Eslava Pamplona

... bien, fue como liberarme de un gran peso. Se acabo una incómoda incertidumbre para dar paso a otras muchas.<br><br>¿Cuál era el destino? ¿Cuándo partiría? ¿Cuánto tiempo estaría allí? ¿Cerca de Pekín? ¿Donde viviría? ¿Cómo será mi casa? ¿Compartiré piso? ¿En mi baño tendré retrete o un agujero en el suelo?<br><br>¿Tendría compañeros occidentales? ¿Españoles? ¿Cuál sería mi trabajo? Todo se me hacía a partir de ahora un mar de dudas ...

... It was such an amazing feeling. At this point many of the runners, probably about a hundred or so were on the main floor of the bull ring. None of us were too sure what to expect, but after a few minutes they released the first baby bull. Now these bulls may be babies but they are still the size of a small car and have their horns corked as to help prevent injury during this next event. It was now our jobs to grab the bull by its horns and try to wrestle it down. Runner after runner ...

... group of Spaniards from a town in the north and hanging out with them for the night - they were very accommodating of our lack of Spanish language skills and we actually managed to have some pretty decent conversations despite the language barriers. I have learnt a few words, like hola, una cervesa por favor, moi bien, muchos gracias, adios amigo (spelling?) but my pronounciation is rather lacking. Comprehension is surprisingly ok if ...

We'll remember this stage for the amount of mud we accumulated in our legs. It was an awkward day, at least this stage was pretty easy but the beginning (a huge climb with a lot of mud).<br><br>We founded the main refuge in Estella newly renovated, clean, with all the facilities... a nice place where we met people from Italy, Germany and New Zealand , we decided to cook together a huge tipical spanish omelet!!! We also took a walk around beatiful Estella despite of the pain in our legs!<br>

... br>Monte del Perdon is haundred times harder than O Cebreiro, after we reach the top of the Mount, we had to descent to Puente la Reina, we saw lots of people with injuries because of this descent.<br><br>Puente la Reina is beautiful village with lots of services and refuges.<br>

What is freedom?  I guess an easier question is; What oppresses us?  What confines our body/mind/soul experience? Growing up in a priviliged Western society I can't really say that I have been subject to oppression on any grand scale but yet I usually do not feel free. So what do I feel oppresses me? -Social expectation. (the pressure I feel to work 40 hours a week, earn a significant amount of money, own a house, marry by x age, support a family, wear these clothes ...

... where your only way out is on a stretcher. My advice : Be somewhere else, higher is better. - Alot of people have been asking where is the safest place to run.. Safe? If you want safe stay OVER the fence don't try to run. This race is dangerous and you should be aware of what you are getting yourself into. - Finally have fun! Stay on the sides and look back over your shoulder once in a while you never know what might be there! Jonathan, Bull runner/Puching bag for life! , Tessier

... to ring to get it back, but when Nathan rang, the person on the other end of the line didnt speak English at all, so we ended up going into an English Language School to ask for assistance. The woman there was really helpful and even called us a taxi and wrote the address on a note to give to the driver. So about 1 ½ hours and 100 later, we were on our way again, quite happy to be leaving Pamplona. It was quite funny really, but not at the time!