Run baby Run-Running with Bulls Pamplona

At first glance he was easy on the eyes. Black tank top long cut jean shorts, long dark eyelashes bleached golden by the sun at the ends. His skin the color of caramel looked good enough to eat. I knew we would be friends when he smiled at me and said he liked my glasses and that he was into American hip hop like De la Soul and Gangstarr. He walked to the next town that and I stayed, but I knew I would see him again. The next day I was walking down a 2,000 year old Roman road and he walked up with a big smile and remembered my name. Within minutes of walking together he mentioned San Fermin and the Running of the Bulls.

I said, "Let´s go."

He replied, "okay."

I said, "I´m serious."

He replied, "Me too."

Later that day Tiburon and I ran into a fellow pilgrim who had American hip hop on his phone and we sat outside in the mid day sun sipping wine and enjoying the music. Jay-Z had never sounded so good.

The next day we were on a train headed to Pamplona. We talked about family, love, and heartache. It felt like we were old friends. We fell asleep on the train hand in hand, our heads leaned against one another.

In Pamplona everyone was in bright white with red bandanna around the neck. I must say that white is not an easy color to wear, but Pamplona wears white well. Walking into the city we were taken in by a group of traveling kids and their dogs. They were living out of a big white van. We rested a while with them in the shade and had some drinks.

The first night we took to the street with a bottle of rum and a 2 liter of cola, which is referred to as botellon in Spain. The city was crawling with people. There were random  makeshift parades of people singing and charging like bulls. Around every corner was a different type of music. We talked with people, watched the fireworks and danced. At an outdoor area bumpin loud house music we befriended two Pamplonian girls who, after the music stopped playing at 6am, bought us hot bocadillos(sandwiches) and led us drunk and tired to the plaza de torres. We were falling asleep sitting up until the stadium filled completely with people chanting and doing the wave. Reminded me of Arkansas Razorback football games in Little Rock, but with even more gusto. On big screens around the stadium you could see the bulls running down the streets of Pamplona. As a bull would trampel someone the entire stadium would ohhh and  ahhhh as one. The energy of the place was infectious. As the bulls entered the stadium, we were standing and cheering along with everyone else. Behind the bulls a huge crowd of people entered the stadium ready to face the bulls. It´s brutal in the ring. A fat naked man got tossed around like a rag doll. And one man was left unconscious. I had always wanted to run, but it looked scary as hell. I was thinking I would need some training and a red miniskirt first.

After watching the bulls we got breakfast and slept under a tree in the shade for a couple hours. The next evening came and we met a guy who had run with the bulls, and he encouraged me to run. It didn´t take much to talk me into it. I knew I may never have the chance to do it again. And even though I was scared I knew I had to do it. We hung with out with our knew friend and some of his friends and drank vodka and listened to a cover band that was quite good. Eventually Tiburon and I made our way back to the outdoor house music from the night before so we could dance. At this point I only had a couple of hours until the bulls ran. Tiburon danced and I layed in the cold grass wrapped in my jacket and tried to get a little sleep. Soon the light of the next day began filling the sky and I knew it was time. Tiburon thought I was crazy. He had no desire to run and didn´t understand why I wanted to. I just had to, and somehow I knew I would be okay. We slowly began making our way down the encierro, the path the bulls take. I couldn´t believe what I was doing. I sipped rum and coke and used a good bit of Rescue Remedy to help calm the nerves. As we got closer to the stadium I was thinking I just  needed a friend to stand beside. Minutes later I heard a southern drawl and turned to see three huge men all in white with handle bar mustaches and beards( grown just for the run). They were from Texas a father and his two sons. 

"You runnin" they asked me.

"You bet I am."

They were all well over 6 feet a firefighter, a marine and papa bear with his glowing white hair. I knew I was in good hands. I handed my things to T and gave him a great big hug. I knew I might not see him again. As he walked away the Texas boys asked if he really wasn´t going to run. Nope not even slightly tempted.

The Texas boys stuck me in a corner of a store opening and I was just fine with that. I had never been so glad I was a woman. A grown man couldn´t exactly push me off the wall or out of the corner.The police kept moving us back and forth down the street and every time the Texas boys made sure I had my spot in the corner. Suddenly people began running around the corner away from the stadium. No one knew what was going on. The Texas boys followed their English friends who said we would have to loop back around and up the street again. We all began running down the street paralell to the encierro. The streets were slick with grease. If you´ve ever been in the kitchen of a BBQ restaurant you know what I´m talking about. And since I had worked in a BBQ restaurant for years I was good at this.  As we were running I spoted a restroom and I  couldn´t hold it any longer.  I ran inside knowing I would lose my friends. It was the longest pee of my life!  To my great surprise Papa bear was waiting for me outside. We ran together looking for a way back to the encierro. Each street we passed was blocked. I was getting pissed I thought we had made a mistake and may not be able to run. We came to another street and I saw an opening in the blockaide. The four of us climbed through the blockaide. We got to the street and it was packed shoulder to shoulder. It was hot and the air was tense. I led us through the crownd until we could move no further. Papa bear always kept his hand on my shoulder making sure I was okay.

We had 15 minutes. Everyone around me was a foreigner, mostly from the Sountern United States(we´re a crazy bunch).  Some people were laughing and chanting and some were so scared they could only stare out and pray they would be okay.  We all swapped the stories we had heard and our strategies. These were to be the biggest bulls yet.  Maybe next time I needed a thrill I would skydive or something! You could see the sweat beading up on everyone´s brows. I just kept using the Rescue Remedy and telling myself my body is resistant to all bulls and I run like the wind. The fact that I had only slept 3 hours in two days and had been up drinking all night I tried to block from my mind.

Finally, the police let us go and we ran to our desired positons on the wall. It was like being in a war zone running for cover. We were able to make it back to our original spot near the stadium. A couple from Missouri waited there with us. I was glad I wasn´t the only woman crazy enough to be doing this.  We had only two minutes. "My body is resistant to all bulls and I run like the wind." I kept repeating it over and over. I dumped everything out of my pockets. I didn´t care what it was. I didn´t want anything to get in the way of my running. I heard the first shot go off and I knew the bulls were on the street. Crowds of people began running past. I couldn´t see a thing.  My plan was to run when I saw a bull. I had my camera out filming like an idiot when papa bear began yelling, "there they are go go go!" And he gives me a shove. Oh shit I thougt and began running while trying to stuff my camera into my pants. A bull runs quickly past me, it only lasted a second. Luckily he wasn´t intersted in me.  Then it was only people running beside me falling and pushing. I took papa bears advice and stayed close to the wall and kept my ears open for the sound of hoves. I made it into the stadium and was immediately smashed hard against everyone as the second round of bulls came running in. I found a place near the wall, in case I needed to jump over it, and watched as the bull charged at people only feet from me. One guy from Louisiana pulled the bulls tail and swung him around and around. Soon after he was beaten in the face right on top of me. I was knocked over the wall and would have landed on my head had the people behind me not held me up. I had my camera out recording at the time and it´s all on film. The experience was incredble a high like no other. If I can face bulls I can face anythings. I have to go for now stayed tuned for the post bull running celebration coming when i find another cheap computer to use