Running with the Bulls in Pamplona
In The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway describes the Pamplona encierro in anything but romantic terms. Jake Barnes hears the rocket, steps out onto his balcony, and watches the crowd run by: men in white with red sashes and neckerchiefs. "One man fell, rolled to the gutter, and lay quiet." It's a textbook move—an experienced runner who falls remains motionless (bulls respond to movement)—and first-rate observation and reporting. In the next chapter, a man is gored and dies. The waiter at Café Iruña mutters, "You hear? Muerto. Dead. He's dead. With a horn through him. All for morning fun." Despite this risk—and humanitarian concerns—generations of Americans and other internationals have turned this barnyard bull-management maneuver into one of the Western world's most famous rites of passage.
The Running Course
At daybreak, six fighting bulls are guided through the streets by 8–10 cabestros, or steers (also known as mansos, meaning "tame ones"), to the holding pens at the bullring, from which they will emerge later to fight. The course covers 2,706 feet. The Cuesta de Santo Domingo down to the corrals is the most dangerous part of the run, high in terror and short in distance. The walls are sheer, and the bulls pass quickly. The fear here is of a bull hooking along the wall of the Military Hospital on his way up the hill, forcing runners out in front of the speeding pack in a classic hammer-and-anvil movement. Mercaderes is next, cutting left for about 300 feet by the town hall, then right up Calle Estafeta. The outside of each turn and the centrifugal force of 22,000 pounds of bulls and steers are to be avoided here. Calle Estafeta is the bread and butter of the run, the longest (about 1,200 feet), straightest, and least complicated part of the course.
The Classic Run
The classic run, a perfect blend of form and function, is to stay ahead of the horns for as long as possible, fading to the side when overtaken. The long gallop up Calle Estafeta is the place to try it. The trickiest part is splitting your vision so that with one eye you keep track of the bulls behind you and with the other you avoid falling over runners ahead of you.
At the end of Estafeta the course descends left through the callejón, or narrow tunnel, into the bullring. The bulls move more slowly here, allowing runners to stay close and even to touch them as they glide down into the tunnel. The only uncertainty is whether there will be a pileup in the tunnel. The most dramatic photographs of the encierro have been taken here, as the pack slams through what occasionally turns into a solid wall of people. If all goes well, the bulls will have arrived in the ring in less than three minutes.
Legal Issues
It is illegal to attempt to attract a bull, thus removing him from the pack and creating a deadly danger. It's also illegal to participate while intoxicated or while taking photos. Sexual assault among the onlookers and partygoers has become an increasing problem. Every year more women report being attacked or inappropriately touched in the crowds.
