ooooooooo (not ahhh)

For the 4 nights that it was on, we went to the bull running at Aielo de Malferit.

Although we were nice and safe on the first night, perched on top of an A-frame tressle, for the next 2 nights, we were in the mix! Scarey.

The first night, we stationed ourselves near to one of the cages, and scurried in at the first sign of trouble. It wouldn't be so bad, but this one seemed to be full of 16 to 20 year year old, and there was a strong smell of waccy baccy around! The second time, although we were in pretty much the same place, we were somewhat braver. Always making sure there was a clear route to safety, we spent a lot of the time in the middle of the course.

We certainly had some entertaining moments. Once, the bull charged our cage, and everyone rushed to the back, leaving me facing the bull. Although I was safe inside, I was convinced that I was going to be covered in drool, as it tossed it's head around. Yuck.

Another time, a lad ran towards our cage, being chased by the bull, but we could all see that he wasn't going to be quick enough. As he almost reached us, hands reached out to pull him inside, and, thankfully, the bull skidded a little, giving the lad a chance to get inside. The same night, a different lad was running, but had nowhere safe to get away. In desperation, he ran vertically up a wall. As the bull tried to work out what he was doing, it was distracted by another lad, and the one that had been in trouble managed to get away. (Parkour, eat your heart out!)

On the final night, we were back on our perch. Thankfully, this night too, there were no serious injuries. However, right in front of us, a young lad was running from the bull, but it caught him. It hit him square in the back, it's horns going either side of his waist. Somehow, he grabbed the horns, and lifted his feet up, so he was riding on the bulls head! Amazing. The bull ran quite far with him, then tried to smash him into some fencing. He managed to stay on, but then the bull turned and stumbled, and he fell off. The bull immediately tried to get him again, but it was distracted by the crowds. The lad was taken straight to the first aid post (someone found his shoe for him) and when we saw him later, he had a small plaster on his back. but that was all. I bet he frames his torn t-shirt though!

The last bull of the night was very funny, as it didn't want to go back in. Five times, the man with the big bulls guided it back, but at the last moment, it turned and ran back up the road. The poor man ended up dragging the big bulls as they too had had enough. Finally, in deparation, 2 fireworks went up; everyont ran to the side; and four small bulls were released at once. Rather than causing chaos, they simply ran to the top, then all of the bulls ran back down together, straight into the cages at the end! What a finale!