i'm gonna start a (bull) fight!

So, as the title would indicate, this post is going to be about bullfighting.
Well, not actually, because the corrida (bullfight) was canceled due to too many injuries in the encierro (running of the bulls).

Now, before I start on the story, I want you all to know that no one in our group was injured.

So, to start off, Meredith and I decided at midnight the night before that we were going to go to Carnival in Cuidad Rodrigo. Carnival is the Spanish celebration of Fat Tuesday-- a time of excess before going into Lent. Only thing is, that here, they celebrate it fro three weeks-- two before Ash Wednesday, and even into the weekend after!! Oh, Spain...
Cuidad Rodrigo is a tiny town about an hour away from here near the border of Portugal. There is basically nothing there, but it's the place to go in this part of the country for Carnival because of the encierro.

Now, for the story. So, in my culture class, we had talked about Carnival and encierros, but I had forgotten that there was going to be a running in Cuidad Rodrigo. So, first of all, it was a great surprise that there was going to be a run! First of all, we walked down towards the countryside near the start of the run and found places on the fence to sit and watch from what we thought was a safe distance. After we had waited for quite a bit past the appointed hour (as is customary in Spain), the run started. First, a group of men on horses started the run, and then there were two groups of bulls and horsemen running together, followed up by two more horsemen to keep the bulls on track. Everyone ran so close to us, even though we were up high enough to be safe.

After the bulls ran by, everyone thought that that part of the run was over, and just got off the fence to go up toward the bars and the fair again. Turns out, however, that at least one of the bulls had a mind of it's own, and did not want to run toward the arena in the Plaza Mayor. Instead, it wanted to go back toward the farm. In doing so, it ran into the crowd. I have never seen a street clear faster than at that instant. Hundreds of people were out of the street and onto the fences in less than a second. Literally. It was increadible! Such an adrenaline rush!

So, that was the only time I actually ran from the bulls, on accident. The boys in our group ran on purpose, though. Silly boys...

But, because the bulls were so crazy, the encierro took over 3 hours to complete. Two of the horses that are supposed to keep the bulls under control were injured and our of commission. Also the bulls got separated from each other, so that's part of why it took so long. And because it took so long, there was more time for stupid Americans to get injured "playing" with the bulls. Because of this, all of the ambulances were full and the corrida was canceled because there were not any free amulances.

All in all, it was a good trip!!!