Running of the Bulls: A Girl’s Guide

When I was a kid, I watched the movie City Slickers for the first time. After watching the opening scene that highlighted the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, I asked my mom if people really did that. When she confirmed that they did,  I told my mom that I was going to do that one day.

Fast forward to 2015, and my dream became a reality…sort of, but I’ll get to that later. Last summer, I backpacked through Europe with three friends, and our whole trip was planned out the event in the middle of our trip.

Since 1591, the Running of the Bulls happens every July in Pamplona, Spain and is called the San Fermin Festival. There are several “running of the bulls” events around Spain, but the San Fermin Festival is the most famous because of Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway visited Pamplona in the 1920s and used his experience for his book The Sun Also Rises.

The Festival of San Fermin was one of the highlights of our trip, and we had a great time celebrating with strangers and Sangria, admiring fireworks, gasping over poor runners falling, and enjoying the city of Pamplona.

Even though we had a lot of fun, I was very mindful of the fact that we were four females traveling to a festival that has a history of sexual assault. No matter where you travel, sexual assault can happen, and I believe being prepared is the best method of prevention. I think we all need to look out for each other, so here is my Girl’s Guide to the Running of the Bulls with a lot of general information too!

Running of the Bulls: Girl’s Guide

Travel in Groups (even to the bathroom)

After the 2015 festival, the people of Pamplona protested sexual assault at the festival after a girl was assaulted in a bathroom by a male that had followed her in there. Be mindful of your surroundings and have a buddy.

There are two Squares: Party Square and Family Square

The original square is where the party is at. When I say Sangria flies, I mean that literally….like people bring pesticide sprayers filled with the fruity wine. We spent an hour in the Party square, but with 15 minutes before the fireworks, the crowd can be suffocating and starts pushing to start a wave like effect. I’ve embedded a video below…just watch the first 30 seconds. What looks really cool can sometimes be terrifying. At first, I was in “stand your ground” mode, which is not effective. If you decide to stay, the best advice that I can give came from our friendly drug dealer “move with the crowd, or you’re going to get trampled.”

Watch your drink

When you enter the square, the police make you remove any lids from your bottles. While in the square, there were several guys that approached us with different offers, including ecstasy. As the crowd started moving, it would have been easy to drop something into one of our drinks. Luckily, that didn’t happen, but I was also mindful to watch my drink any my friends. 

Wear sunglasses

As I said earlier, there are fountains of Sangria in the party square. My friend, Lindsay, got sprayed in the eyes with Sangria. With the already crowded conditions, it was an overwhelming moment for her. Luckily, there are always seem to be helpers when you need it, who offered dry pieces of cloth for her to wipe her eyes and some water. After that incident, Lindsay put her glasses on like the rest of our group and didn’t have any further problems.

Don’t get on someone’s shoulders

When a girl gets on someone’s shoulders, the guys surrounding her will take that as their cue to rip her clothes off and grope her. Not a joke.

If you are separated from your group, have a meeting place.

This was the mistake our group made. We were separated after leaving the party square and had no cell phones to reconnect. Because we had been traveling for 4 weeks together, we kind of already had a game plan for meeting up. We found an open area near the entrance to the square and stayed put until all the members of our group found us.

Family Square

Much more spread out. No pushing and shoving. Instead of Sangria, families spray Champagne in the family square. If you come out of the party square covered in Sangria, you may get looks from some parents like “we know what you were doing.” 

General Observations for the Running of the Bulls

Stay hydrated

Spain in July can be brutal, and many of the hostels don’t have A/C. With all the Sangria, make sure to drink plenty of water. In the picture below, you can see where we were double-fisting with Sangria and gatorade. 

Rent a balcony

My original dream was to participate in the Running of the Bulls by actually running with the bulls, but a knee injury left me skeptical about the practicality of that choice. My mom was worried that I would change my mind about running (probably would have happened) and suggested we rent a balcony for the event. We found a balcony on AirBnB right at Dead Man’s Corner.

For Runners

If you do choose to run, there were a couple of things that we noticed as we watched.

• Because there are so many runners, security will have different starting points for runners. However, you have to go to the starting point by 8 am, and they will take you down to your new starting point. You can’t just hang out half a mile from the main starting line.
• When the gates start to shut, don’t try  to push your way through them. The police may forcibly try to stop you from getting through the gate when it shuts….like grab you by the hair and pull you back force.
• If you fall, stay down. A lot of people get injured trying to get back up. The bulls will actually try to jump over your body, but they may kick you in the head if you try to get back up.
• If you wear a red sash, do not knot it. One of the most terrifying moments for us as viewers was watching a man’s sash get hooked on a bull’s horn. The man was then dragged by the bull for several feet. 

Day 2 is a Holiday.

On the second day of the festival, we needed to re-stock some supplies at the grocery store, but it’s a holiday in Pamplona. All the grocery stores were closed. We grabbed some food at a local restaurant, but it was more than we planned on spending for bottled water.

Know what happens to the bulls

The run ends in a bullfighting arena, and the bulls die by the end of the day. We had originally planned to buy tickets for one of the bullfights, but we watched one of the earlier performances on TV and decided that was not for us. They can be bloody and gruesome.

Have you participated in the San Fermin Festival? Any additional tips? Share below in the comments!