Run for your lives

End of July and early August marks fiesta time in Aielo de Malferit, the nearest town to us. We are not particularly interested in their parades, since they are the same as ours, but we do love to watch their bull running.

There is a stretch of road closed off, giving about 400 meters by 40 meters for the cows/bulls to run about in, along with the fools that dare to enter. For the first two days, we played safe, and sat on top of one the A-frames, but on the third visit, we joined in - never straying too far from one or another of the safety cages.

On day one, the first bull ran the full length of the course, along the back, where we were and then back to the beginning. I laughed and said to Ed, "that might be the last we see of it" and it was! As it ran back, it caught someone, threw him right into the air, and he came down on his head. Everyone ran to save him, and the bull was taken back out for safety. Thankfully, although hurt, he will live to fight another day.

Later on, Ed saw one of the bulls 'ragging' someone, and said, "it's got someone". I didn't think so, as, usually, everyone screams when something bad happens. It turned out, that someone had made a scarecrow for the bull to play with.

We saw lots of funny things;
1. One big bull managed to get his head under an A-frame, and lifted it off the ground, even though there were 20 people on top.
2. Two lads, running from the bull would have given Usain Bolt a run for his money. They were running really fast. As the one with the lighter t-shirt managed to get ahead of his friend (leaving him as the potential victim), the second lad ran even faster. Very funny. They ought to have tried out for the olympics.
3. One lad jumped up an A-frame, but only had 1 leg on the 3rd rung - the other leg being on the second rung. The heiffer hooked his leg and pulled him off. He actually rolled over the back of it, before landing on the floor. Thankfully, it was then distracted, so his only injury was from landing on the pavement.
4. When we were in with everyone, whenever the bull came close, 3 lads kept shouting 'quick' 'run' 'lookout' and things like that, to panic everyone. It was really funny. If you looked at them when they shouted, they were trying rally hard not to laugh while the girls would scream and run into the cages, even though the bull was still quite far off.

This was the third year we've been there and we have just discovered a stall underneath one of the stands selling drinks and crisps. He did a roaring trade throughout the night. The prices may not have been Lidl prices, but they certainly weren't Ryanair prices either!