Larrasoaña to Pamplona

It was an easy 15 km from Larrasoaña to Pamplona, so I got there by 11am. Along the way, in the towns before, all the people on the streets were dressed in white and red, ready to go to the festival. Approaching Pamplona, in the park by the river, people slept in sleeping bags, or tents, or just on the ground... I suppose if you´ve had enough to drink, you don´t need a sleeping bag?
Another pilgrim directed me to the small hostel that WAS open, since the big one was closed. Even though someone else had said that they were full and all the spots were reserved, I thought I´d check... pilgrim hostels aren´t supposed to take reservations, generally. A nice German woman named Inga let me put my backpack in the musty cellar and told me to be back in an hour to get a room! There were only about 10 other backpacks in the cellar, and 26 beds, so all looked good. I went briefly up to the city, where I wandered around and found myself walking along the top wall of the city, with yet again lots of people sleeping it off amidst piles and piles of plastic cups and broken bottles, and very strong smells. I went back down and got my room and went through the daily pilgrim ritual (spread out sleeping bag, shower, wash clothes, nap/journal) before going out to see the sights and find food.
So apparently Pamplona is normally around 200,000 and is more like a million during the Festival de San Fermin, which is a week long. And you should really go! You know, if you like to drink all day. Or maybe if you like watching animals be tortured and slaughtered for sport. Or if you like sleeping on a park bench or on the ground or even in a pile of garbage. (Yes, it was so.) So... it´s not my scene. But I walked around in the crowds for a while, followed some parades with bands and banners and people carrying coolers, got claustrophobic, went into a church (almost completely empty - quite the juxtaposition from the crowds outside, and what is that saying about the relevence of the church?) and there met some pilgrims I knew from Roncesvalles and Larrasoaña. I went with them to see if the cathedral was open, but it wasn´t, so they went to a bar and started in on 6 Euro (that´s like $10) drinks. Hmmm. Plus they were speaking French the whole time, because I was the only one who didn´t speak French, and they were two French and one other American who loved practicing her French and didn´t often stop to translate. I didn´t stay long. But it was fun to find friends in the crowd.

An overpriced bocadillo de tortilla and jugo for me, and I was done.

The next morning, Wednesday, I got up early and went through the morning routine (pack up bed, get dressed, brush teeth, pack backpack, breakfast) before 6:15. Tammy (Canadian) and I got up to the street around 6:30, and it was a madhouse already. Our hostel was near the Plaza de Toros, and the crowds only seemed to get worse from there, so since we didn´t know where to go, we stayed near there. There were two wood barriers, like fences, and the back one was full but the front one was not. We guessed wrong and took places at the front only to be cleared away by the police at 7. So instead of nice standing spots, I was crouching and Tammy was peering between the legs of some girls who were perched up on the top rungs. It was a tense hour of holding position as drunk guys tried to go through and cross the street and were stopped by police, the sanitation workers tried to rake up the big mess and had to avoid the guy sleeping in the trash heap, and pushy people tried to come take our spots.

At eight they ran... thousands of people, and about five bulls, from what I saw. It was not the huge crowd of bulls the movies always show! People would be in there and at first ran but then slowed to a walk, kind of looking behind them, wondering where the bulls were. Then one would come and everyone would run again. After it started, the police didn´t care if we got closer, or even got in the street... so I did. Get in the street, that is. There weren´t any bulls at the moment, but I ran with the bulls as much as some of those people did who meant to do it. I went about 20 yards and then got back behind the barrier. After all, I didn´t want to end up in the arena!

So that was Pamplona during los sanfermines. I´m glad I did it... so that I never have to do it again!