The Running of the Bulls

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Whilst in Switzerland people stand in the streets as they watch the cows go up the mountains and come back down the Spanish enjoy a more extreme version with the same species. I was in the same street as the bulls were running up and down whilst in Spain and this was a fun experience.

I watched as the locals stood in the street chatting. One guy was dancing as he chatted to one group of girls whilst to my right some more girls were having a conversation. On the balcony close to the pharmacy I could see the staff in their white coats watching the activities from a safe vantage point. Further down the street a daughter was holding a four year old child. The child was watching what was going below.

A group of men started to pay attention, then a few more were spotted running up the street closely followed by a few bulls. One of these bulls was very powerfully built, with yellowish hair on it’s back. It was powerfully built. Now those that had been chatting were paying attention. Some of them climbed up the rejas whilst others climbed up the wooden devices that had been placed there to allow people to escape to safety. The bulls passed and a guy in an orange suit was chasing the bulls with a stick. One bull slipped and suddenly the guy in the orange t-shirt had a bull behind him. He dodged it in time.

It’s at this moment that a few people clapped at the prowess of this particular runner’s actions. They were having fun. The people went back to chatting waiting for when the bulls would come back the same way in a short while.

This was just one of the vantage points. In another street you could see lots of cages. They weren’t there to keep the bulls in. In fact these cages were designed so that a grown person could fit through the bars. As the bulls would come running down the street so they would run through the bars, to safety.

Some of the younger men were more daring. One in particular, with a pink sweater was going towards the bulls, waving this object at the bull and getting it to charge him. At the last minute he would dodge out of the way of the bull. He did this quite a few times, keeping the bulls active.

At this point it was amusing to see the locals. Some of the cages were designed so that wooden planks could be put across the top. Chairs had been placed there so that the locals could watch the activities comfortably. They were eating sunflower seeds and throwing the shells down. As a result some of those below would get the occasional shell falling on them.

The whole show was fun. I filmed these activities and I’ve started editing that footage to provide you with some fun video of a typically Spanish form of entertainment. This event had been going on for a week and it gave me a new appreciation of Spanish culture. If you’re close to a town as this event is taking place you should definitely take the time to watch it.