of bull running and mike's views on bullfighting

i wish there were some pictures to post of our bull run, but you don't really want to have cameras on you for it. andy, alistair, and i woke up around 6:30, got a spot in the crowd, which got more and more crowded over the next half before they closed the gates. then we just had to wait in thee for about another hour for the run to start. it is a pretty weird feeling being trapped in that little area for an hour, shoulder to shoulder with a bunch of sloppy drunks, all sides totally closed off by 7-8 foot fences.

i forget the exact timing, but sometime right before 8, they set off the first rocket, open the fence in front of the people and let us set up wherever we want. it totally depends on how ballsy/stupid you are. some people want to get as close to the bulls as possible, swatting them with newspapers and shit while they run as far as they can with them. the three of us ducked in one of the doorways (the run is right in the middle of the old town, if you didn't know) so we could not get gored, wait for the bulls, then try to run next to or right behind them.

next, i think they set off one rocket as a warning, followed by a third when the bulls are actually released. and damn, the bulls are really fast. it's pretty freaky being able to hear and feel them way ahead of time, then see them fly by. one of the bulls tripped and collapsed right in front of us and i was shitting myself, because that's when they get frightened and start going nuts, but luckily, people gave him a little room, he got up facing the right direction and just ran on ahead. nothing bad happened, like the next day with Cappuccino. (in that main video of the run, our friend Richard is RIGHT in front of the dude who gets gored).

not a lot to tell after that.. we got out of hiding, tried to run behind the bulls, but it's basically inpossible. everyone is in each other's way, tripping over each other, yelling scared because you don't know how many are in front or behind you, always looking back.. it's pretty much like a war zone. then we got to the end that leads into the bullring and a lot of people start to slow down and hesitate. that's because the section going into the ring is pretty dangerous.. just a tunnel full of people, with no doorways to duck into or fences to jump over. but everyone pushes through, andy and i get to the right side of the ring (haven't seen Alistair since the beginning), wait for the last bulls to get in, then they close the door to the ring.

this is the part i never knew about before doing the run. everyone who managed to get in the ring on time waits in there as they lead all the bulls out a different exit to their holding area. then a bunch of people all pile up on the ground in front of that entrance, they release one of the bulls, which comes tearing out of the tunnel and, for some reason, always just over the pile of humans. then for about 10 minutes the bulls runs around the ring wreaking havoc as spanish people try to mess with it as much as possible. this may sound really cruel, and it kind of is, but also, since a lot of these people have no idea what they're doing and many are drunk, it's really the bulls best chance at doing some damage. many people get thrown in the area or knocked down. i was mostly near the edge, sobbing whenever the bull came near.. only once did one of them actually hit the wall where i was standing, but by then i was over the wall and fell on a person on the other side (who, luckily, was very cool and just pushed me back over).

they repeat this 6 times for the 6 bulls that will fight that night (i think.. i was always a bit confused about when they were using the fighters and when they weren't). also, i forgot to mention, but they sell tickets just for this event of screwing with the bulls, so it's backed in the seating and the audience goes nuts whenever there is a close call or a bull knocks someone on their ass. after the 6 bulls have gone, they open up the tunnel, everyone leaves, and the three of us headed to our usual post-run meetup of Cafe Iruna, where each morning Alistair buys us some local liquor that is really terrible, but very strong. those drinks, plus coffee and orange juice (only freshly squeezed in spain, of course), pretty much makes up our breakfast, before we decide whether to ramp it up and start drinking for the day again or to go back to the apartment for the day's first nap.

notes on bullfighting:
i thought i would do a counterpoint to carmen's post. while i agree that it is a little cruel, i would tell anyone who thinks it is aweful to go visit a huge american slaughterhouse, where we get our burgers from. if i was a bull, i'm pretty sure i would rather go out in a blaze of glory, with a chance of taking someone out with me, living a pretty awesome life before always eating or out to stud, over the other option of being in cramped spaces, herded into the slaughter room, offed with an air gun to the head, hung upside down, throat slit to drain blood. i obviously don't take the bullfights nearly as serious as the spaniards, but hands down, it is a better way to go than mass slaughtered for hamburger.

now i do have one major qualm with the fights: how dramatic and played up they are. for one thing, the everyone is dressed up extreeeemely gaily and they are acting like they are huge badasses. then, the matador basically does nothing but act. all the people before him do all the work (very european fuedal), the bull is totally bloody and halfway beaten, head down so low it can't see very easily, before the matador even goes out there. then he just kind of plays with the bull in supposedly long and "graceful" moves, generally followed by him throwing his head back in a cockier manner than you will ever see anywhere else accept flamenco dancing. (interesting fact: flamenco and bullfighting, the two main spanish art forms, are both extremely dramatic, gay and over-rated.)

i only wish the matadors dressed a little more fancifully. From Random Crap

at one point in a fight that we watched, the matador got hit in the leg and his sword and cape were knocked out of his hands. immediately, the "rodeo clowns" came running out with capes, distracted the bull, picked up the sword and cape, and handed them to the matador before he started again. with this, my disillusionment was complete. if you want to go one on one with a bull, from beginning to end, and just see what happens, that's awesome. but if you need a bunch of people to wear it down, then when the bull has his one opportunity to win or do some damage, you take that from him, what is the damn point?!

if you go in the ring with a bull, that bull has the right to cornhole you.. period. From Random Crap