A Primer for San Fermin
Trip Start
Apr 27, 2006
1
26
110
Trip End
Apr 01, 2008
Pamplona,
Spain
Monday, July 10, 2006
1. Get there sufficiently before the noon kick-off party at the Town Hall Square on July 6th because you need to get settled and buy your gear - white pants, white shirt, red sash and red bandana or you will feel really out of place. Everyone (man, woman and child) in town is dressed like this or similarly (red shirt maybe, or girls mix up their white and red clothing somewhat more) all day and all night
After the Kick-Off Event
. Every bus driver, every person having coffee, and every tourist. It is a bit scary.2. Go to the kick-off party. I don't really have photos because I knew better than to bring my camera because it is a wine-pouring-on-each-other, wine-throwing, wine-drinking, wine-sharing, dancing, jumping up and down, singing and otherwise letting-loose-a-thon, which leads to all-day drinking and generally getting dirtier, drunker, and dirtier. don't wear anything you like - I had to trash my clothes (and they should probably have been fumigated and cremated).
3. Book a place to stay in advance and be willing to pay. Close-in rooms go early, although the constant noise might be a problem, and I do mean constant - there are people partying 24/7. Many people don't have rooms or crash in public places. Maybe when I was 21, but not now. My place was about a 10 minute bus ride (and they also run 24/7) and I was so glad to have it, and not be sharing because your hours are unreal. I didn't consistently sleep. The runs are at 8:00 a.m. Events all day, and parties all night. Also a nice shower and my own shitter were godsends.
4. Try to go to some of the other cultural stuff
Almost!
. There is the daily Parade of the Big Heads - where children are tormented by dudes in large plaster of paris heads. There is a large carnival area with traditional food, rides, and games - where you can actually see and meet locals who aren't acting like drunken boors. There is the 11:00 p.m. nightly fireworks show - a different crew performs each night, and again there is an emphasis on percussion in addition to the lights. There are also music and dancing performances, and daily bullfights (which I passed on).5. Try to pace yourself. Other than Mardi Gras, I never seen anything like the mass public drunkenness of San Fermin. It spreads over 30 (or more) blocks of the old town, and, as I said, it never stops. People are in the bars and the streets. Some people pay for drinks, but most buy much cheaper beer, wine or liquor in stores and carry it around. There is a lot of rot-gun, boxed wine and tequila, and disgusting concoctions of wine/coke and vodka/beer and vodka/lemon drink. The streets and park areas fill with trash. The bar bathrooms have long lines, become disgusting, lack TP, etc. Dudes are peeing in the street. People vomiting. Scads of people passed out in public, and not always where they intended - see pictures. And the usual singing, dancing, hugging and chugging. That said, I only saw one fight.
Balconies
6. Whether you are going to watch the run or run, get there early. The run is at 8:00 a.m. each day, covers a little over a mile, and takes about 3 minutes. People start milling about and trying to get prime spots on the barriers to watch (or you can rent a spot on a balcony for around 45 Euro) around 6:00 a.m. Watch them hose down the street from the night before (but be prepared to disinfect your shoes) and create a river of blech.
7. Whether you are going to watch or run, know yourself and your limits. Either go to sleep early and get up early, or just stay up (but try not to be too drunk or pass out). If you go to bed at 3:00, you will sleep through your alarm, get to the run at 7:30 and not see jack. I speak from experience from the night of June 6 to the morning run of June 7. Doh!
8. If you are going to watch, do not think you are smart and get a seat on the inner row of fencing (in the spots where there are double rows) because you will be kicked off because the double rows are to create a buffer zone for police, medical, photographers, and runners who flee the bulls by ducking between the slats in the fences. After being kicked off, you will not be able to move to the second row of fencing behind you because the smarter people are already there
Drunks Passed Out
.9. If you are going to run, start behind the narrows before the famous turn where bulls always slip on the wet cobblestones, go wide, go down, and get up mad and start goring. This has nothing to do with that turn, though. The police let people fill up the entire mile-long track, but then evict everyone beyond just before that turn. Not exactly sure why although I think it is to set up a clear run with fewer people, but I found out the hard way the morning of June 8. Doh!
10. When running, you have two choices. One, you can get up near where the bulls are let out. I watched June 8 from up here. They are fully untired and stoked at this point, the streets ar the wettest because it is the lsat part of the track they water, and you get some of the craziest runners who actually run toward the bulls before turning to the wall or around. Many fall down here due to the wet and being the drunkest (I think), and then duck and cover. Literally, they tell you to go into the fetal position if you go down because a bull or people will probably run you over. These early runners will also generally be near the bulls when they hit Dead Man's Corner and that is where the most serious injuires and gorings occur.
First Day's Aftermath
Two, you can get up nearer to said corner at the beginning (i.e. behind the police cutoff). This is what I did yesterday (finally). You are packed like sardines (with dudes singing and telling girls on balconies to take their shirts off) until about 10 minutes before the race and then they release you to fill the second half of the course. Then you can either trot along toward the end (in which case you will be able to follow the bulls into the arena before they shut the doors and then run around with some lesser bulls in the arena), or find a doorway or niche along the route and wait. However, the better your view is of a place where carnage is caused, the more exposed you probably are to a bull coming along the wall (rather than down the middle) or getting separated and lashing out at individuals (rather than just running along in the pack). From your niche, you can then jump out to run in front of and alongside when the bulls come by or just watch and then follow them in. I did the latter, choosing a spot that I could see the corner and had a great view of a guy going down, who I later learned was removed by stretcher (the newspapers report each aid call, the name of the bull who caused it, where it happened on the course, whatever they know about the victim, and helpfully compile statistics over the course of the week). Discretion, valor, all that. Plus, I have no running shoes and was wearing vomit and urine encrusted Tivas.
Gear
I know, thanks for sharing.In sum, I had a lot of fun, but wish I had known certain things in advance. Plus, the squalor even got to me, and I was there for the first three days - it must be doubly rank by Day 7. I did finally figure out how to participate, even if I did choose to be more of a spectator than the real morons who get out in the middle and try to touch the bulls, etc. And I met a lot of people from around the world, although I learned nothing of substance about any of them - people only talk about the event. I drank a lot of cheap wine, and wore even more. And I had a lot of sandwiches because sit down meals just weren't on the agenda. If I went back, I would want to go with friends, though, because the english speakers are mostly in groups.
Next: Bordeaux and Le Tour (a substitute for a cider festival that conflicted with my San Fermin dates)
Comments
wow
A few thoughts:
1) That looks utterly disgusting. I've always wanted to go - not sure now
2) Rioja and Coke is a 'Calle Mocho' and it actually is quite good
3) What's with the Tower of Pisa photo?
4) When is the tomato throwing festival?
Re: wow
1. Uh, yeah.
2. Uh, no.
3. I had a few hours in Pisa on my way out of Siena. I actually watched the Italy/Germany semi-final there, which was fun, and the city went wild. It just didn`t get mentioned.
4. August 30. Coming į