Sunday, July 6, 2008

Gora San Fermin!!!

Feliz San Fermines, or Gora San Fermini, as the Basques say! The Fiesta has begun and I have to say that it is a party like no other on the face of the Earth. I was lucky enough to stand just under the balcony of the beautiful baroque looking building where the mayor traditionally opens the Fiesta. It was a good vantage point in that, for the most part it was out of the firing zone of champagne and red wine that was dousing everyone in the plaza. The noise was deafening with choruses of Olé, Olé and a song in Spanish that went “Algo, algo (something, something) I think I’ve lost something, but I can’t remember what the hell it was!”

It’s a celebration that lasts an entire week, and I remember that at one point, as the crowd in the plaza seemed ready to explode, a few minutes before the mayor announced the beginning of the fiesta, a local man turned to me and said with a big grin on his face “and this is only the first day!”


2 comments:

Unknown said...

I was there.
We were like 17 people close to the left wall from where the pic was taken.

The songs were something like this:

Al-cohol!
Al-cohol!
Alcohol alcohol alcohol!
Hemos venido
a emborracharnos
el resultado nos da igual.
(We're here to get drunk, we don't care about the score)

Morena (Brunette)
Coqueta (flirty)
Enseñanos las tetas (show your b@@bs)

and the classic
1 de enero,
2 de febrero,
3 de marzo,
4 de abril,
5 de mayo ,
6 de junio ,
7 de julio San fermin…
a la Pamplona hemos de ir
con una media con una media,
a la Pamplona hemos de ir
con una media y un calcetin.

However, I must say that this is just (with the encierros (running of the bulls)) the most mediatic part, but there are lots of other very emblematic things that deserve to be experienced once in a lifetime.

Hope you enjoyed it.

John Hemingway said...

Thanks Eki! It's too bad we didn't meet up, it would have been great to have a beer or two with you:-)Next Year!

You're absolutely right, though, about this and the Encierro, being but one of the many, many things to see and do at San Fermin. I must have said it a milion times in the interviews I did with the press,but I'll say it again, There's nothing like San Fermin en todo el Mundo!!!!!

Un abrazo,
John