How to run with bulls

1. Wear good shoes.
2. Don't be drunk (pretty much all the people that die have been drinking for the previous, oh I don't know, 100 hours).
3. Don't get stepped on. It's worse to be trampled than gored. Bulls weigh as much as a mid-size car.
4. Know something about bulls:

Here's the thing. Bulls don't have peripheral vision like you and I. They see what's straight ahead of them and not much else. So, if you're running with the bulls, and he's charging you like crazy, simply run off to the side of him and poof! you're gone. He doesn't see you, and he'll run after the next poor tourist that he can now see. Nearly all the people who die in Pamplona every year are extranjeros, or foreigners, who run in straight lines. And you cannot outrun the bull. I promise.

No, I have not been running with the bulls, but I DID go to the first day of my Spanish History/Culture class! It was more entertaining than any class I've ever had - our profe is amazingly fun!

History of running with the bulls: Back in the day, you know, when the Romans were out conquering people and such happenings, there were these little people living in the north of Spain. They tended to build their towns on hills. One year the Romans camped out to fight them - at the bottom of the hill. Instead of fighting, the people let their bulls out and drove them down the hill. Naturally, the Romans ran for their lives. Hence, running from bulls. :)

There's more legends, such as merchants driving them through the streets to cattle markets, etc, but I like that one best. In northern Spain in that time period, bulls were considered god-like. They are very muscular and impressive animals, and the people considered them "guerreros" or warriors. However, when a bull gets to be 11 or 12 years old, it gets old and decrepit and the death process is very slow and painful. The people did not see this as a fitting end for a god/warrior, so they decided that these animals should die in their "natural habitat" or, that is to say, a war. Hence the beginning of bullfighting. A suitable death for a noble warrior.

I definitely don't agree with bullfights - I think it's quite terrible, both for the poor bull and the torero (bullfighter), but it was cool learning the supposed origins of the activity.

A few more Spanish highlights:
- Spanish movies are not like American movies. They rarely have happy endings, and are not nearly as predictable as the American theater.
- In Spain, waiters/waitresses are paid normal salaries. Hence, people don't tip, or tip very little. The waiters obviously love when ignorant American tourists show up!
- The doorknob on our apartment is in the middle of the door. Very odd.
- If you get on the train at a station where the ticket machine is closed, and then get off, apparently nobody cares that you didn't pay... :S haha!

Viva Espana!