Boooooo rain

SOOO the plan for sleeping on the beach all weekend in San Sebastian didn't exactly work out because we decided to be awesome and NOT check the weather for the weekend... alas, it was cold and rainy and would remain so the rest of the weekend. The beach is NOT fun to sleep on when its raining, so after spending 2 hours in San Sebastian we switched our bus tickets and came back home to Toledo, which actually turned out really okay. We get back Friday night just in time to get on the bus Saturday morning for the free day trip to a local cave (cool.... kinda) and some natural pools eon the top of a mountain. Also cool.... kinda. But there were a lot of cool people from our group there and we had a blast swimming and being treated to a really good meal so it was a good day anyway. We we able to go out to the local young people hot spot last night, Perladera, and we stayed out dancing til 5 am anyway ;) So the weekend actually was a blast. AND..... Pamplona was out of controoooool!! If you ever ever get the chance to see the running of the bulls, you HAVE to take it. We got off the bus at about quarter to 1 in the morning, and immediately we see the gigantic park where all the students and backpackers pass out for the night. It was littered with kids dressed in all white and red scarfs and massive amount of booze containters. I feel like I have been to some pretty decent parties in my day and Pamplona during San Fermín OUSTS them all. It was the biggest nut house I have ever been to. We watched a concert for about an hour and a half, and then ventured on into the city center to find the running course. The city plaza was a giant party, and apparently the cool thing to do is throw glass bottles in the air and see what happens to them when they shatter on the cobblestone. Neat... if youre not wearing flip flops. We hung out all night, wandering around and talking to various people, locals and tourists, partying and dancing and trying to learn the San Fermín song until about 4 am when we went to the arena where they release the bulls in the morning. They were playing and having fun, completely oblivious to the fact that they were going to get run through the city in a few hours and then killed. Sad day kinda. Anyway at 4:30 we claimed our spots right near the beginning of the course, a little ledge with a bench about 4 feet off the ground and right on the course. Front row seats. There was a little coffee shop nearby so we took turns buying expresso and trying not to pass out from lack of any sleep at all that night. By 6 am there were massive amounts of people around and it was impossible to even move without kissing our front row seats goodbye. We almost got beat up by a little old lady who claimed she had been there since 6 pm the night before, and I'm pretty sure she was totally drunk. I'm not kidding, these people go NUTS for this festival. Anyway we got on a few local news channels by the time the running got started, too. There were TONS of runners right in front of us, a few of them American students, boasting about hos prepared they were and how they were soo excited to run, blah blah blah. They sang the San Fermín paryer 3 times before they ignited the firework and actually released the bulls. I took a video of it on my camera, but I was screaming incessantly the whole time... we had to stand on this bench because people were crowding us so bad, and the bench had a guard rail that hit me at about mid thigh. I totally felt like I was going to for sure get pushed onto the course about 3 seconds before the bulls rounded the corner where we were standing, but I didnt :) Anyway, it was HILARIOUS to watch the runners go from ready and excited to run and watching for the bulls to come around the corner to completely terrified and sprinting in the opposite direction of the bulls. It was sooo funny, and it was SCARY to be so close to those massive animals. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done though, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. If you are anywhere NEAR Pamplona during the month of July, you are aboslutely out of your mind if you don't go to Pamplona. After that, we hopped a bus to San Sebastian right away which was a bad idea because right after the running, all the buses were chock full of drunkards trying to get to a beach somewhere. We had one kid sitting right behind us vomit everywhere on the bus, but luckily we got out of the way before it happened. It happened about 5 minutes before we got there though, so its not like we had to sit on vomitbus the whole time. It was definitely an experience! Less than 2 weeks not before I come home :)