With the arrival of summertime come some of the most world known Spanish festivals. Among them San Fermín (the “Running of the Bulls”) in Pamplona and the Tomatina (the tomato fight) in Buñol, a small town in the Valencian province. Hemmingway, in his book, The Sun Also Rises, made famous the Running of the Bulls for Americans... and one trip to Pamplona would show just that...streets and bars are named after him, and during the actual week long festival, the city brims with many party goers, the largest percentage of them North Americans, specifically from the USA. Many residents of Pamplona escape from the city during this time. The fact of the matter, encierros (enclosures), as they are called in Spain, existed long before Hemmingway was born and they are a tradition that is carried out in many towns across Spain to this day. Contrary to popular belief, this tradition is not built on cruelty to animals, but is based upon the act of bringing the bulls from the pasture to the bull ring, either to sell or to participate in a bullfight. The mozos (the herdsmen), who train throughout the year for this incredible movement, run with the bulls to keep them on their path, always respecting their space and respecting the bull. Over the years, this tradition in Pamplona has become an international spectacle, encouraging a sense of false bravado in partygoers...a bravado that is only enhanced by the consumption of alcohol and extreme levels of exhaustion from having partied all night long. In 1998 (just before meeting Angel), I was in Pamplona for this festival. While I admit that it is a party worth experiencing once in a lifetime, it is also the most grotesque display of excessiveness that you could ever see. Perhaps Mardi Gras in Río de Janeiro would rival it. Every year, the Spanish newspapers fill with articles about the foreigners who come to party and then run with the bulls and every year, without fail, there are serious injuries, among them, Americans. This year a 29 year old woman from New Jersey suffered a foot long cornado (gored by the horn) in her thigh as well as serious head injuries. Imagine her story when she goes back home...”how I spent my summer vacation”. People don´t give a second thought to the danger of running with the bulls when they haven´t trained for it. Each bull weighs around 1,860 lbs…and there are 11 of them that are released into the streets. I had a prime seat, on the ground on just the other side of the fence. I could hear and feel the bulls coming long before they actually passed in front of me.. Just imagine..20,500 lbs of fear, confusion and fury running down wet, cobblestoned streets that twist and turn their way to the bullring...and you are going to throw yourself in front of THAT? WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?!! Apparently many Americans think it´s a great idea so much that there is actually a Running of the Bulls in (Reno I think) Nevada.
To answer the several of you who wrote me asking what the heck was a Vespa, here you can see exactly what I am talking about.
These motor bikes are not nearly as large or powerful as motorcycles, but are similar in terms of danger both to the riders as well as car drivers. They are very popular throughout Spain and Italy for a number of reasons...they are an economical and efficient way of getting around congested city streets and consume little gas, as well, the Mediterranean climate lends itself to this form of transportation. Everyone rides them from the messengers, to the pizza delivery boy, to businessmen with their briefcases, to grandmas with their grandkids (either the grand kid giving Grandma a lift or viceversa if the granchild is very young!).
Return of the prodigal sleeping bag
Remember the sleeping bag that fell to my dismay 3 stories down and got caught on the clothesline of a vacant flat? Well, turns out that the owner of the flat is from Madrid and has come to town to vacation...I was able to rescue the bag just in time for our camping trip to the Pyrenees this summer. However, just yesterday, a placemat decided to jump out of my hands and has faced the same fate, dangling from the clothesline from our neighbors on the second floor. I paid them a visit yesterday, but there was no answer. With my luck, they are from Gandía and have left town for the summer to escape the arrival of all the tourists.
Gandía...the town where everyone knows your name
Are you looking for someone specific? Go to the local “hot spot” or gossip center and you will be able to find their whereabouts very easily. That´s what Rosa did. I spoke with Rosa on the phone a few weeks ago, expressing interest in volunteering for an organization that she is involved with. How excited she was. I told her I would call when I came back from my quick visit to the USA. Two days after coming back, my arms laden with bags from the grocery store, I hear a woman call my name and wave wildly to me from across the street. “Who the heck??...” I thought to myself as this strange woman came running up and gave me the customary kiss on each cheek, talking a mile a minute as if she knew me all her life. Turns out that it was Rosa. She tracked down my address and went, where else?, but to the bakery and asked the breadwoman if she knew who I was or how she could find me. Heaven help me! Just my luck that I am coming out of the grocery store while this is happening so breadwoman simply pointed me out.
Gandía has a McDonalds!
Yep, that´s right, just in time for all the vacationing Madrileños who wouldn´t want to leave their urban lifestyle behind. It just opened the other day, and has a new international menu featuring the McSahara, McAustralia, and McMexico sandwiches. Don´t ask, I don´t even want to know. I´m waiting for my Venezuelan brother, Angelo, and his wife to come visit. They will be here in about two weeks, for both business and pleasure. The purpose of his visit? To see the possibilities of opening a “Churro Express”. Churros are Spanish pastries that are typically eaten with a mug of thick hot chocolate. (Thick like pudding thick). That tradition went with the explorers to “the new world” and now the modern day Venezolanos are bringing it back to Spain by way of franchise. Maybe Gandía will have one soon…
My job search oddessy has taken me into Madrid for three different interviews...each opportunity very interesting...Avanade – as marketing manager for Spain, Editorial Plana – as an international sales executive, and Greenpeace Spain – for fundraising. The first company closed its search since the current manager has decided to stay on. Editorial Plana would have been dream job for a year or so if I weren´t married. It involved international travel 11 months of the year interviewing presidents and heads of states around the world for advertising supplements for the Washington Post, Financial Times and other internationally known publications. I am hoping to be called back for a second interview for Greenpeace and should know some time this week. In the meantime, I do have a job offer from the Red Cross for the Valencian Region as well as another non-profit called A.V.A.R. (Asociación Valenciana para la Ayuda a los Refugiados). We shall see...DH really wants to return to Madrid. Since we are entering the summer, there really isn´t a whole lot of rush since business won´t pick up again until September. I am happy to say, however, that the three interviews that I had in Madrid were much more like real job interviews. Especially the one for Greenpeace in which I was grilled for an hour and a half on my fundraising experience.
It´s time to close and begin my housewifely duties … hopefully I will be able to hang out the laundry without losing another article of clothing!
Peace to all!
