A festival so gruesome you can´t believe it can actually exist. One big wooden bull ring, thousands of spectators and fifty angry irritated bulls released into the ring one at a time. It was free for all, and anyone can enter the ring to run with the bull. The skies were blue and the sun was strong with few clouds in the sky. The air was thick and musty. The ring was scattered with professional matadors on horses, advertisers waving company banners and foolish individuals seeking for an adrenaline rush. This was a chance of a lifetime, I had to go in.
I climbed over the wooden planks and entered the bullring to test my sneakers. On entry, all was good. The bull was at the other end of the bullring and everything was tranquillo (relaxed) around me. No problem I thought to myself. Feeling good, I slowing walked towards the other side of the ring towards the bull. The sound of horns and Colombian salsa music filled the air as the spectators in the stands above cheered. People in the stands would often throw bottles of rum or handfuls of candy into the ring. Why? Perhaps to encourage the bull runners or to think sinisterly, to keep them in the ring longer for gruesome entertainment. People in the ring would temporarily lose focus on the bull and scramble to grab the goodies off the ground. To prove my point, I notice people would throw fistfuls of candy towards the bull, not to hit the bull, but to dare the people around to go near the bull to pick them up! It was like watching pigeons in the town plaza scrambling to pick bread crumbs.
I got as close as about 10 meters from the bull with dozens of other people and horses around the bull. The bull was deathly black and looked very big up close. His horns pointed straight up menacingly in the air. I can´t help but notice the over-sized muscles on this animal especially around his neck, no wonder they can toss a horse into the air with so much ease. Two tons of pure muscle. The bull was not moving much, he looked like he was panting a bit with saliva drooling out of his mouth. Great, he must be tired. Maybe I will walk even closer and take my camera phone out to take a video. Suddenly everyone erupts in commotion. The bull gets a burst of energy and started powering forward in my direction. Words cannot justly describe the mix of adrenaline and fear that I felt. Everybody around me started running for cover. I did not exactly know the position of the bull but I just ran like mad. Horses were galloping next to me and people were screaming. The people holding the large banners got in my way. ´Out of my freak-in way´ I shouted as I jumped over the banner and continued to run like I´ve never ran before towards the ring side. I got to the ring side but with so many people there already, there was no space left on top to jump and hang on to, so I dived for under the planks like a baseball player diving for first base. I only had half my body under the planks as the bull got dangerously close. The people inside quickly pulled the rest of me in to safety.
Too close for comfort. I quickly got up and pulled my camera out and took a video with the bull just a meter away from me with only a couple wooden planks between us. I was unscathed and with a great video to prove it. What an experience. My only damage were torn shoelaces and a rip in my pants. More thumbnails ...
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