The craziest 10 minutes of my life!

The craziest 10 minutes of my life!

whatyoumissed-v2-divider.jpg

An epic adventure wrapped around an epic party. You ain't ready, fam!

The Festival of San Fermin happens every year July 6 through July 14, so that's when we had to go. Although you can purchase tours, guides, and packages to watch the running of the bulls from the safe heights of any of the hundreds of balconies that line the old street, I wanted to run, not be a spectator. And everyone asks, "Did you run?" Of course I ran. (Watch the clip to see what it was like.) For 7 months, I was growing the pair to actually do it and now that I was there, I was not about to not run. It's all of 10 minutes but the anticipation and anxiety leading up to the releasing of the bulls (including getting to the starting point an hour or two early, sober) was exhausting. And then there was the stadium, which lasted another 20 minutes. After all that, I got back to my room, slept, and woke up later for the bullfighting (however you might feel about bullfighting, in Spain, it's obsessed over like soccer is in other parts of the world, or football in America. And if you don't like soccer or football, you probably shouldn't go to Spain, or America, or anywhere). Throughout the rest of the week I was there, I'd hop on a 2 hour bus to do some epic surfing in San Sebastian or sightseeing in other coastal towns.

where-we-went-divider_v2.jpg
 

Day 1. Arrived in Madrid. Took bus to Pamplona. Settled into Airbnb room.

 

Day 2. Sightseeing. Got lay of the land in Pamplona.

Day 3. Kicked things off at El Txupinazo. Partied in San Fermin!

Day 4. Running. Bull fights all day long.

 

Day 5 through 7. Got on bus to San Sebastian, arguably, the BEST surfing in this part of the world! (Swimsuit optional).

Day 8. Bus back to Madrid.

Day 9. Departed Madrid.

for-da-gram-divider_v2.jpg

Today. Is. The. Day. For 7 months I'd been planning to be here during #SanFermim for no other reason than to #RunWithTheBulls. And I did. I fell and rammed my back into some gate. My hand was bloody and I couldn't tell if it was mine (it was). I was kicked while I was on the floor. And that was before things went from dangerous to scary af. Two extremely large and pissed off #bulls decided to turn around and chase runners in the opposite direction, nailing a bunch of surprised runners. The mob got chaotic, started screaming and scattered for their lives leaving me in the direct line of sight of one of these bulls. FML. As he starts charging at me, I sprint to my right faster than I've ever run in my life and crashed right into a small group just waiting to see who the bull chose to charge next. As the crowd moved up, I dashed to the left side of the narrow #Estafeta street only to see that same bull that was targeting me turn, slip, and hit the cobbled street. Some blood came out of his mouth. But he was getting back up and looked even more pissed off so I ran past his face and with no breath left, limped-ran into the stadium where supposedly we would be safe. For about 5 minutes. Before they closed all the exits and released the smaller, but even faster bulls. Then things got worse. #whatsAluptonow #RunningOfTheBulls #DeadMansCurve #Encierro #iamaCorredor #whatthef_ckwasithinking #thisaintnogame #thesebullsarethetruth No cameras were allowed. Cops were confiscating right out of runners' hands. I could only sneak a few on my phone before and after. But I had my GoPro hidden and on the entire time. Let's see what came out...

A post shared by Al Berrios (@alberrios) on

outerthere_reviews-divider-extended_width.jpg

"I mean, everything exceeded my expectations. Located 15 minutes from the airport, it totally made the difference on whether I had a great start of the week or a bad one. Thank you, Artiem!"

Read the rest of this review on TripAdvisor

come-out-italics-divider.jpg

This is what it's like to try every cold weather activity in 3 days

This is what it's like to try every cold weather activity in 3 days

The 72-Hour Costa Rican Adventure

The 72-Hour Costa Rican Adventure