Pamplona / The Festival of San Fermin

As I wrote earlier, I just returned from Pamplona where the Running of the Bulls / The Festival of San Fermin takes place. As I also stated earlier, WOW, was it CRAZY!!! I´ve never seen so many drunk people in my entire life. Additionally, everyone looked the same in their white shirts and pants with their red sashes and red scarves.

On Friday, after a 6 hour bus ride from Salamanca to Pamplona, we witnessed the awesome fireworks that began the first night of the festival at 11:00 pm. Then, we literally partied with the Spanairds and the rest of the world, and the party doesn´t stop until July 14. There was drinking on streets, peeing on the trees (I´m not joking), bands, dancing, singing, eating, more drinking, and just partying in general. Holy cow, I´ve never witnessed anything like it before in my life, and despite the fact that it was super crowded and uncomfortable being pushed and shoved, it was FABULOUS!

I got about 3 hours of sleep on Friday night, because Saturday morning was the first of the seven "Running of the Bulls". It takes place at exactly 8:00 in the morning, and so we had to leave at 6:30 to get into the Plaza de Toros to see all the action (please see the earlier blog for more info and pictures).

We then went on a city tour of Pamplona, which probably wouldn´t have been so nuts if there weren´t one million people on these streets. They´re very narrow, and everyone was out still drinking and celebrating this occasion. We also got to see the parade that kicks everything off. Once again, I probably would have enjoyed myself more if there weren´t so many people in the streets pushing and shoving one another.

After sleeping for about 4 hours after a delicious lunch of authentic paella, we went out again to buy shirts, eat Pizza Hut and churros (fantastic!), and watch the fireworks again. We wwere so exhausted at this point that even though I wanted to go out dancing, my feet just couldn´t take another night of punishment. (On a side note, this is great practice for my 3 Day Breast Cancer Walk!) I don´t know of anyone in my group of 38 who went out last night because it was so nuts and we were so tired. I slept soooooo well despite the noises on the street of drunks, horns, songs, etc.

All in all, it was a great weekend that I will remember always. I feel so fortunate that I had the opportunity to witness such an amazing event.