when in rome...

so we´ve decided that with the time schedule here, you can´t really count anything as an actual day. there are just periods of awakedness sandwiched by power naps. pretty much da vinci´s theory on optimizing human efficiency all over again. but anyway, during one of our periods of awakedness on saturday (i think, but in all honesty i have no concept of days right now) we ventured off to fufill one of my running subplots of eatin pizza in every city. the directions we were given from the daughter of our ¨house mom¨ conchi were ¨take this road here for a very long time.¨ so after walkin for about 2 miles, we found the pizza place she had told us about. unfortunately the owners are european and have gone on vaction from july 6th to august 10. apparently it´s currently past july 6th, so the shop is closed. we weren´t quite sure what to do next, and in moments like these you have to look somewhere else for help. lucky for us there was a monastery across the street. so we decided to ask the monk in this picture. i mean, he couldn´t lie to us - could he? he´s an honor bound person of God. and although he didn´t lie to us, per se, he wasn´t quite as forthcoming with the information we were after as we would have liked. across the street, however, there was a kind soul that was able to help us out. we thanked them for their generousity and were on our way.

after bein with us for a few days now (again, this is an approximation) j.reis hasn´t been quite as loquacious as one would have expected. well, during our return to home base we found out why. apparently he didn´t have the adequate tools to express himself sufficiently. glad we got that one cleared up.







it´s a little known fact that while the romans were here around the begining of time.... sorry, A.D.D. set in. anywho, i´m sure you´ve all heard the saying ¨what happens in vegas, stays in vegas¨, well that was the original tagline for the pamplona tourist office of the roman empire. this is a pic of jay and i in our bed for the weekend, notice how that if we lay shoulder to shoulder we don´t quite fit on the bed as well as we would have liked. and you can´t see it from this angle, but my feet are actually very close to touching the wall at the moment. apparently people in spain are either really really small, or this bed regularly provides shelter for midgets - er, small people...

so the final period of awakedness that we´d all enjoy together was upon us. we decided that a good before/after pic was needed (reference pic from last post with me and the girls)... we were all channeling our inner bull. this would be the last time we donned these lovely outfits this year (and possibly the rest of our lives) and we wanted to document it thoroughly. the whole night was comprised of the decision process on whether or not each individual was going to actually perform the well bally-hooed local tradition.

after waitin up all night throwing this debate back and forth between our heads (collectively and individually, although if you ask me some people had their mind made up when they bought the plane tickets down here), j.reis and i decided that we couldn´t pass up a such an opportunity when we had already traveled 99% of the way. we had done our homework, read up beforehand, seen the run the previous time it had occured (i would say the previous day, but i´m not 100% sure which day it was) and decided that it was a well calculated risk. only 22 people have died since 1920. we liked our chances. anyway, they use bottle rockets to signal when the first bull has left, when the last bull has left and when all the bulls have arrived in the bull ring. we ran into a colleague of mine from our sao paolo office durin the anticipation of the first rocket, the effervescent rafael hernandez was ready for his first run as well.

so after waiting for 90min outside the second turn, we were told that we had to clear out of the way. the very nice police officer was brandishing a 3ft pain stick in his right hand that i had seen operated very efficiently the prior mornin on some non-compliant spectators. so i kindly asked him how to enter the run and quickly followed his instructions. j.reis and i made it all the way to the beginnin in the 20min or so they had left us to traverse this very densely occupied territory. after pushin, pullin and jumpin our way around people we finaly made it to the starting line (and by starting line, i mean 100 yards up the route so as to provide us with sufficient headstart from the bulls). so after a fake first rocket and the ensuing chaos of whether or not we should be running, another rocket came blistering through the sky and we were off. talk about an adreniline rush. everyone´s runnin with the heads turned around so they can see the bulls. i didn´t like this strategy cause i didn´t really feel like fallin down and gettin trampled. so i watched the faces of the people runnin in front of me. and i watched, and i watched, and when i could see the whites in their eyes i knew it was time to jump onto the fence that borders the route and get out of the way of the bulls. fortunately for me, as soon as i got on the large fence and turned around i saw 8 bulls run right past me. (you can breathe again mom)

so we took off and followed them into the ring. to officially document this, i decided to take a pic from inside the bull ring (on the main floor). and as common for the weekend, someone jumped in the back of my pic. oh well, it´s par for the course. after that pic there was a little confusion when the last remainin bull entered the ring well behind the others (really confused us, by the by). anywho, i decided to jump the barrier and get to safety. bein a sittin duck for a 3000 pound animal with a headstart didn´t quite fit my theme of ¨calculated risk¨. good thing i got up and out, cause this last pic was the scene a few moments after i cleared the wall and turned back.

well, my train for z-town leaves in about an hour so i´m off for now. not sure if i´ll get internet over there or not, but we´ll see. there might also be a cameo appearance in the next entry from marcos, susana, luis, paula, bea, teresa and richard (as his children call him. see rico, you´re not the only one whose kids call by their name)...