Those are our friends Jonael Esteban (in blue) and David Barbarin, finally settling on a vantage point from which to watch the encierro. This was after we all walked around for perhaps an hour hoping to find an unobstructed vantage point, and finally coming to the sad conclusion that the tree was the best option. With more than a million tourists turning up at the Festival of San Fermin every year, space is at a premium. So let this be a lesson—in order to see this spectacle you need to get to the route by 6 a.m. at the latest. And then you need to perch atop a fence post for two hours. Don’t forget some snacks, but forgo the liquids unless you want to risk abandoning your spot for a bathroom break. There is one other solution: for around thirty euros you can rent a balcony. If that seems like a lot of money to see a bunch of bulls pass by in less than ten seconds, it is, but at least breakfast is included. Anyway, a few of David’s treetop shots are below.
And these next photos are ones your humble authors took from ground level. We aren’t trying to turn Pulp Intl. into a travel site, so this is the last you’ll see of San Fermin (probably). But as we said in our very first post, sometimes an event can be pulp, and if ever one fit the bill, this is it.
As a side note, we should mention that these Basques here in northern Spain, and the Spaniards in general, party with incredible abandon. They absolutely trash the town and then simply clean it up and do it all again the next night.
Here’s an update on today’s run and gorings. Yesterday, three of the matadors who faced bulls in the Pamplona plaza de toros were hurt. One was gored on the ear, another on the hand, and a third dislocated a shoulder. We had been under the impression that when a bull beat a matador, the animal was sent back to the stables intact. Not true—at least not here. Substitute matadors were brought in, and all the bulls eventually were killed. Back with your regularly scheduled website Monday.
