Pamplona

Shortly after the start of day 3 we came across a man who asked us to stop for awhile so that he could get one of his bulls (the wild one) lassoed and sent down the path ahead of us on its way to market. This man´s little farm was at the top of a fairly high plateau and the plan was to run the bull down the narrow path. Basically, one of the man´s kids was to follow the bull down the path and make sure that it kept moving. But obviously the bull could get out of control and hurt anyone in its way so we waited for them to leave ahead of us. Some other more docile bulls followed shortly after us. Hmm, perhaps now is a good time to speak of the trails themselves...the trail was very narrow in places. Maybe two feet across in many areas...and after that two feet there was nothing but a long way down to the bottom. And the trail was very rocky and unlevel in many places...although the rocks came in handy given how muddy things were in the non-rocky areas. Anway, these bulls aren´t the same size bulls you´d see in the States but still pretty good size. I don´t really know how they stay on these paths but they do it somehow. Miguel did mention to me that it´s not unheard of for a horse or mule to fall and die.

At any rate, it was amusing to see the way the bull kind of dragged the kid down the mountainside. At one point, Miguel and I had finished tiptoeing our way across a stream/waterfall when the wild bull came up behind us. I didn´t realize we had passed him, but we didn´t waste any time taking off running for about 200 meters until we found a clearing where we could get out of the way. My own little ´Running of the Bulls´. Pretty exciting but no real danger I don´t think...but then you never know I guess.