Like Mardi Gras on Crack or What a Difference a Day Makes
So much to write, so little time...
I would love to go into tons of detail and tell you all about the past couople of days, but there is more to see here than the inside of an internet cafe.
Packed my stuff and left Dublin Thursday moring (rain, again - over 6 weeks straight) and caught my flight to Madrid without incident. I had wanted to go straight to Pamplona, but the trains didn't work out so I planned on staying for the night in a Madrid. When I arrived I found the place without a problem (the metro here is awesome; pretty much just like the London Underground), but they had cancelled my booking because of a mix up with the reservation through HostelWorld.com. What they did have was a cot in the common room for only €13. I took it, but wasn't allowed to enter the room until mid-night and had to be out by 7am. There were a few other people in the same position as me, but we were all exhausted and just passed out right away. This was great, until about 45 minutes later when the LOUDEST snorer I have ever seen fell asleep. I was up the rest of the night. Oh yeah, Dublin hadn't been warmer than 18 degrees in the time before I left and it was now in the high 30s - I was roasting. I had to be up and out of the hostel by 6am to catch my train anyway, so it wasn't all bad. When I was leaving I was hoping to book another room for a few days time when I am back, but as I have learned now, Spain is pretty much booked up for the rest of July and Aug. Finding accomidation has been a daily quest, but more on that in a bit.
Arrived back at the train station and was ready to hop on the 7:15 train. Too bad the information desk doesn't open until 8am and nobody else speaks English (or is willing to). I had to get my pass validated and my reservation traded for an actual ticket. I stood in a line, only to be told that they couldn't help me. After waiting in that line it was now 7am. I found another ticket counter and was told to go to customer service, who told me to go to information, who told me to go back to the ticket window... 7:10am. Finally back at customer service they told me to run to the train and just get on. I pulled a runner to the departure gate, got through security and took off to my gate. It was 7:13am when I got there and the train hadn't left yet, but they weren't letting me on. Couldn't understand the reason, but at that point it didn't really matter.
I sat and sulked for a few minutes, and caught my breath after running around in this scortching terminal with a 30lb bag on my back.
I made my way back down to the customer service desk to see what my next step was. I was contimplating skipping going to Pamplona now, but didn't know what else I would do. When I sat down at the desk to explain my situation the 3 woman talked amongst themselves for a minute then told me there was another train leaving in 2 and a half hours and they would give me a free reservation! I was now back to feeling pretty good (aside from the pit in my stomach worrying about where I was going to stay the day after next).
Killing time in the terminal I saw 3 guys with Canadian flags on there bag and sat with them. They were all from Montreal and packing around for the summer. They had been to the running of the bulls the day before and told me a bit of what to expect. As we were sitting there another guy stopped by and it turned out that he was going to Pamplona on his own too, so I now had a travel buddy. Glenn was from Jersey and seemed to be having just as hard a time getting to Pamplona as I was - missed a couple trains and buses. He passes right out on the train, but I couldn't fall asleep. As soon as we got to Pamplona we met 2 Kiwi girls and a guy from Seattle to complete our group and we made our way to the city square. The place was unreal. Everyone dressed up in the same white shirt and pants with red bandanas and sashes. We dropped off our bags, got some sangria and kalomotxo (cheap red wine and coke) and started to make friends. There were random parades through the streets all day, carnivals spread throughout the city and people drinking everywhere. We wandered, met people and hung out until about 3am, then found a nice little patch of park to "sleep" in. Turns out people aren't just wimps, and it actually gets killer cold at night. I crashed for about 20min before waking up shivering. I spent the rest of the night walking around to keep warm, but cut out the drinking (unlike most people). The parties were still going all night, streets were full and bars were blasting out the music. I have never seen anything like it - a full 8 days of non-stop partying. After my day I had enough, but met a few people that had been there since the very start. At 5am I walked the course that the bulls were set to take and decided that there was no way I would be running. Seeing so many people bandaged up and partying the night before, then trying to walk on freshly washed cobblestones (felt like walking on ice), I just didn't think it was worth the risk. Plus, after meeting some of the people that were planning on running I didn't exactly feel that if something went wrong they would be there to help me out - I was definitely going on be on my own.
I opted to stake out a spot at the end of the race to watch and stood my ground from 6am until the start at 8am. The atmosphere was amazing, but in the end it was hard to see much of anything (as you will see by the pictures). I haven't had a chance to see the last days run on YouTube yet, but I'm sure it's there. Nonetheless, I was there and had a great time. I was going to stick around at the end to see a bit more of the festival, but had now gone about 60 hours on 2.5 hours sleep and was exhausted. I collected my bag and took the next train out of town. This just happened to be to Zaragoza (wasn't on my itinerary, but figured it was worth a try).
Once again, the most random spots have turned out to be my favorites. I found a private room with sink and shower for only €30, 4 course meals for €10 and amazing city atmosphere to fill the days. I have spent 2 days here now, but will head to Barcelona to camp tomorrow before going West to Portugal.
I know I have left out quite a few details, but if there is anything you want me to elaborate on, send me an e-mail. Internet is only about €1 per hour and the cafes are just about the only things open during sietsas.
I'm off to take advantage of happy hour beside my hostal, which has €1 beer - Spain is great.
PS - Mom, you'll be happy to hear that you cleaning expertise has rubbed off and I skillfull removed a number of sangria stains from my new white shirt... hahaha
I'll post new pictures whan I go on a computer that actually has USB ports, hopefully tomorrow before catching the train to Barcelona.
I would love to go into tons of detail and tell you all about the past couople of days, but there is more to see here than the inside of an internet cafe.
Packed my stuff and left Dublin Thursday moring (rain, again - over 6 weeks straight) and caught my flight to Madrid without incident. I had wanted to go straight to Pamplona, but the trains didn't work out so I planned on staying for the night in a Madrid. When I arrived I found the place without a problem (the metro here is awesome; pretty much just like the London Underground), but they had cancelled my booking because of a mix up with the reservation through HostelWorld.com. What they did have was a cot in the common room for only €13. I took it, but wasn't allowed to enter the room until mid-night and had to be out by 7am. There were a few other people in the same position as me, but we were all exhausted and just passed out right away. This was great, until about 45 minutes later when the LOUDEST snorer I have ever seen fell asleep. I was up the rest of the night. Oh yeah, Dublin hadn't been warmer than 18 degrees in the time before I left and it was now in the high 30s - I was roasting. I had to be up and out of the hostel by 6am to catch my train anyway, so it wasn't all bad. When I was leaving I was hoping to book another room for a few days time when I am back, but as I have learned now, Spain is pretty much booked up for the rest of July and Aug. Finding accomidation has been a daily quest, but more on that in a bit.
Arrived back at the train station and was ready to hop on the 7:15 train. Too bad the information desk doesn't open until 8am and nobody else speaks English (or is willing to). I had to get my pass validated and my reservation traded for an actual ticket. I stood in a line, only to be told that they couldn't help me. After waiting in that line it was now 7am. I found another ticket counter and was told to go to customer service, who told me to go to information, who told me to go back to the ticket window... 7:10am. Finally back at customer service they told me to run to the train and just get on. I pulled a runner to the departure gate, got through security and took off to my gate. It was 7:13am when I got there and the train hadn't left yet, but they weren't letting me on. Couldn't understand the reason, but at that point it didn't really matter.
I sat and sulked for a few minutes, and caught my breath after running around in this scortching terminal with a 30lb bag on my back.
I made my way back down to the customer service desk to see what my next step was. I was contimplating skipping going to Pamplona now, but didn't know what else I would do. When I sat down at the desk to explain my situation the 3 woman talked amongst themselves for a minute then told me there was another train leaving in 2 and a half hours and they would give me a free reservation! I was now back to feeling pretty good (aside from the pit in my stomach worrying about where I was going to stay the day after next).
Killing time in the terminal I saw 3 guys with Canadian flags on there bag and sat with them. They were all from Montreal and packing around for the summer. They had been to the running of the bulls the day before and told me a bit of what to expect. As we were sitting there another guy stopped by and it turned out that he was going to Pamplona on his own too, so I now had a travel buddy. Glenn was from Jersey and seemed to be having just as hard a time getting to Pamplona as I was - missed a couple trains and buses. He passes right out on the train, but I couldn't fall asleep. As soon as we got to Pamplona we met 2 Kiwi girls and a guy from Seattle to complete our group and we made our way to the city square. The place was unreal. Everyone dressed up in the same white shirt and pants with red bandanas and sashes. We dropped off our bags, got some sangria and kalomotxo (cheap red wine and coke) and started to make friends. There were random parades through the streets all day, carnivals spread throughout the city and people drinking everywhere. We wandered, met people and hung out until about 3am, then found a nice little patch of park to "sleep" in. Turns out people aren't just wimps, and it actually gets killer cold at night. I crashed for about 20min before waking up shivering. I spent the rest of the night walking around to keep warm, but cut out the drinking (unlike most people). The parties were still going all night, streets were full and bars were blasting out the music. I have never seen anything like it - a full 8 days of non-stop partying. After my day I had enough, but met a few people that had been there since the very start. At 5am I walked the course that the bulls were set to take and decided that there was no way I would be running. Seeing so many people bandaged up and partying the night before, then trying to walk on freshly washed cobblestones (felt like walking on ice), I just didn't think it was worth the risk. Plus, after meeting some of the people that were planning on running I didn't exactly feel that if something went wrong they would be there to help me out - I was definitely going on be on my own.
I opted to stake out a spot at the end of the race to watch and stood my ground from 6am until the start at 8am. The atmosphere was amazing, but in the end it was hard to see much of anything (as you will see by the pictures). I haven't had a chance to see the last days run on YouTube yet, but I'm sure it's there. Nonetheless, I was there and had a great time. I was going to stick around at the end to see a bit more of the festival, but had now gone about 60 hours on 2.5 hours sleep and was exhausted. I collected my bag and took the next train out of town. This just happened to be to Zaragoza (wasn't on my itinerary, but figured it was worth a try).
Once again, the most random spots have turned out to be my favorites. I found a private room with sink and shower for only €30, 4 course meals for €10 and amazing city atmosphere to fill the days. I have spent 2 days here now, but will head to Barcelona to camp tomorrow before going West to Portugal.
I know I have left out quite a few details, but if there is anything you want me to elaborate on, send me an e-mail. Internet is only about €1 per hour and the cafes are just about the only things open during sietsas.
I'm off to take advantage of happy hour beside my hostal, which has €1 beer - Spain is great.
PS - Mom, you'll be happy to hear that you cleaning expertise has rubbed off and I skillfull removed a number of sangria stains from my new white shirt... hahaha
I'll post new pictures whan I go on a computer that actually has USB ports, hopefully tomorrow before catching the train to Barcelona.
posted by Trevor Schofield at 12:16 p.m.
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