Fireworks open Pamplona bull fiesta
Date: 07-Jul-04
Country: SPAIN
Author: Emma Ross-Thomas
Just before noon, red and white confetti was pumped from the town hall on the crowds below and a massive firework or "txupinazo" at midday officially opened the week-long San Fermin festival, Spain's most renowned.
Leaping party-goers spurted champagne over each other - advertised on shop fronts as "champagne for throwing" - and the air filled with the sharp smell of wine and explosives.
Locals and foreigners - drawn to the festival made famous by Ernest Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises" - were all dressed in traditional white with red neckerchiefs and sashes.
Before long, they were doused in sangria, eggs, flour and mustard.
People packed rooftops and balconies wrapped in plastic sheeting to watch the party below and throw buckets of water on to revellers.
"This is sick! It's awesome," 20-year-old Toronto student Adam Dodds shouted, a bottle of champagne in each hand.
Each morning from Wednesday, six fighting bulls and a handful of steers are released on to the cobbled streets to run an 825 metre (2,707 feet) course to the bullring where they fight that evening.
Adrenalin-seekers run the course alongside the half-tonne bulls, with just a rolled-up newspaper to defend themselves.
Australian plasterer Grant Connor lost his trainers in the midday chaos yesterday and was walking the streets, traditional Spanish leather wine flask in hand, with plastic bags lined with cardboard on his feet.
"I was wearing good shoes, but I lost them ... It's madness, the craziest place I've ever been to."
"It's out of control," said Anna Flynn, a 25-year-old primary school teacher from New Zealand, blood streaming down her leg, her shirt covered in mustard, flour and ketchup.
After an initial bout of partying in the square, thrill-seeking foreigners made their way to a nearby plaza to climb to the top of a fountain and throw themselves off. Crowds pelted one man with eggs before he stretched out his arms and dived into his friends' arms below.
"I heard about the running of the bulls and the sangria but I hadn't heard about this kind of mayhem," Kiwi helicopter pilot Lance Oliver said.
Shards of glass and corks lined the streets and pieces of clothing and a pair of glasses floated in the puddles of alcohol. Two people were taken to hospital with gashes, and another five need stitches, a Red Cross spokesman said.
"It's my third time. If I can, I'm going to come back every year," said Andrea Minardi, 34, from Parma, Italy.
