san fermin. pamplona. sunday july 7.2002. the smell. . .wow, after a whole night of thousands of people partying in the streets, the city definitely had a distinct aroma. what created the smell? a lot of things probably, a mixture of sweat, cheap wine, beer, urine, blood, vomit, ham, chorizo (spanish sausage), and of course bulls and whatever is associated with them, among many many other elements. its a smell that stuck on my clothes, in my hair, everywhere. . . i know i need to shower and get rid of it, but i think im gonna miss it, haha. maybe not. the actual running of the bulls, el encierro, was a 7 minute burst of energy. all the people surged up on the fences and balconies, sticking their cameras in the air, hoping to see a glimpse of something. it was tough to see, but i saw a couple bulls pass by and saw people jumping up on the fences to avoid being gored. . .most of them looked incredibly scared, which is completely understandable given the insanity of the whole event. after the running, everyone dispersed into the streets again and the party continued as if it had never been interrupted. garbage trucks came down each street, hosing down everything and shoveling everything in sight and throwing it out. . .within 2 hours, the streets were actually somewhat clean again, only to be promptly soiled again by the relentless thousands of partiers. i remember saying before that after talking to my señora's son, pol, who is obsessed with bull running and has done it for about 10 years, that i never would want to run. now, after having seen videos of many encierros as well as the one i saw live, i think it would be an incredible experience. . .if you did it right. i guess a lot of stupid people run, and no matter how much you know what you're doing, a stupid person in front of you running could screw you over and get you hurt. . .a scary thought, but judging from the rush you get just watching it. . .it might be worth the risk. we'll see about that though, cause of the 3 people gored badly today, one was an american girl student (girls aren't supposed to run, but she snuck on), one was an australian man, and the other was a 32 year old man from madrid who has been running for 11 years. . .it fits pol's description, but i doubt its him. . . if he can get hurt though, it shows you how unpredictable it is. . .now i smell terrible, like really really terrible, and there's all sorts of unidentified substances covering my clothes, so im gonna go shower. . .
