San Fermin Festival Taking Its Toll
It happens every year… A bunch of crazy/brave/stupid people at the San Fermin Festival in Pamplona get out in front of several enormous bulls and run as fast as they can.
It’s a recipe for mayhem, simply add a dash of adrenaline (to taste) and slippery cobblestones (to make it that bit more exciting), and injuries are bound to happen.
Surprisingly, there have been fairly few fatalities over the years (only fourteen between 1924 and 1997), and this year, so far, there have been no deaths, but the festival has nonetheless taken its toll.
During the last few days there have been several gorings and one man has been partially paralysed. And, with four more days left of the festival, who knows what additional havoc the feisty bulls will create.
Bring on the sangria, I say. You won’t find me in front of them raging bulls any time soon. Good luck to anyone planning on running this year – you may well need it!
(Photo: Steven Wong)
UPDATE: the condition of Ray Ducharme, the American who was paralysed during the festival, has worsened. He is now suffering from a collapsed lung and is undergoing a tracheotomy in a Spanish hospital.
Posted in Destinations, Festivals, Travel News
July 11, 2006 at 3:57 am
Are you here?
July 11, 2006 at 4:26 am
Not sure who you’re trying to contact… did you have a question for us here at Backpackers.com?
Spit it out! We’re listening…
July 17, 2006 at 8:26 am
I find the Spanish national pastimes so distasteful that I have sometimes wondered whether, if I ever won a trip to Spain, I wouldn’t simply pass up the opportunity as a personal protest against the Spanish attitude to animals, food and life in general.
July 19, 2006 at 6:50 pm
I was traveling with Ray Ducharme. It’s true his lung did collapse but he still made it back to the U.S. and is in stable condition. He has not needed a tracheotomy yet. You can keep up with his story on http://www.pray4ray.com
Fortunatley, Navarra is probably the best hospital in Spain and they did a great job, anywhere else in Spain and would’ve been much much worse.
On another note, i ended up losing my brand new camera one of the nights after Ray was hurt. Casio EXZ57 with 160 pics of our trip up to then. As i was leaving a week later i saw a news flash of a lost and found. Does anybody know if there’s a website for this or a phone number?
July 20, 2006 at 8:24 am
Hi Tommy. I hope Ray makes an outstanding recovery.
Regarding your camera… I’d suggest posting on the community forums that people at the festival are likely to visit (e.g. Backpackers.com forums), or websites related to the festival (such as http://www.sanfermin.com). There’s also a website for general lost and founds: http://www.lostandfound.com/)