Pamplona & Madrid

So, every year from August 6-14, is the celebration of San Fermin. Basically, he was a saint who was decapitated way back when, and in celebration of his life, they have a week long festival in the city of Pamplona. They have regional food vendors, souveniers, and of course, the famous runing of the bulls. Everyone wheres white shirt and pants, with a red bandana around there neck and a red sash around their waist. They represent his blood that was shed when he was killed. The running of the bulls goes like this... Six bulls are left in pitch black darkness (called the encierro) until it's time for them to head to the ring for the bullfight. At 8am every morning during the festival, 6 bulls and 6 steers are released from this corral. the steers wear bells and help lead the bulls down the streets to the "Plaza de Toros." The same 6 steers help a different set of 6 bulls everyday. They block off the sides of the streets to help guide th animals. Anyone can choose to run with the bulls, as many people do. It's super dangerous. Many people are injured every year, and about 14 have died since it began years and years ago. I think the first death was in 1927 but I'm not sure. I went to Pamplona with two friends from the UCF program, Frank and Jay. Frank got sick from the sun the first day so we left eearly, leaving Jay there. He was determined to run with the bulls. We are now waiting for him to arrive in the train station in Madrid. Pamplona was really cool... an amazing cultural experience that only the three of us got. The train rides have also been awesome. We got to slowly see the topography and vegetation of Spain change. We drove through small towns and also drove by numerous old castles. However, Pamplona was also really nasty. People were vomiting AND using the bathroom (both ways) in the streets. They smelled SOOOOO bad. It was a new level of disgusting for me... I was really excited we had to leave early, although I had to waste a train ticket. we went to the bullfight Saturday night, and, surprisngly, I loved it. I didn't like the part when the animal finally fell to the ground, but the mysticism and art to the fight I really liked. Frank started feeling bad during it though so we had to leave early. I'm hoping to see another one in Seville :)

In Madrid, we were so over the nastiness of Pamplona and the heat, we went to the mall and ate Taco Bell, then Burger King at the train station and later McDonalds around the corner from our hotel room. We just wanted something American!! LOL. Then we left to go watch the final game for the World Cup. They shut down two plazas and the whole street between, and set up 4 HUGE projection screens. There were 10s of thousands of people there, so we couldn't see the screens. We went back to our hotel room, cranked the AC and curled up in our beds for the game. When it was over, we went out into the streets to see all the mayhem... it was insane!! Pretty much the same as Granada-people everywhere, honking horns and waving flags-but with MORE people. Our cab driver this morning told us there were 1.5 million people out in Madrid last night! Apparently the Spain team is arriving today at the airport in 30 minutes. They are going to the Royal Palace to present themselves to the king and queen and then there is a parade with them. I WISH we weren't leaving soon!
Speaking of the palace, we drove by it today. It is HUGE and so ornate and beautiful. Apparently you can take tours of it but we didn't have enough time. We also didn't get to any museums because Spain is weird and they close things randomly, like museums on a Monday. ???
Gotta go get Jay from the train station!!! -hope he made it ok!

Pics of all this to come, hopefully tonight!