Fiesta de Picasent

For all the people among us that love partying, Costa de Valencia organized a trip to the “Fiesta de Picasent” . This is a smaller and non-violent type of the famous and popular bull-runnings in Spain.
In a converted store room we had breakfast start with. It consisted of baguette with ham and cheese, as well as beer and sangria. Even some music has been arranged. Then we went to the actual event. which you have to picture it like this:
Some of the streets and house entrances are cordoned off with bars and small tribunes are set up. The bars are big enough for people to slip through it quickly and easily. Alongside the streets are improvised clubs in which the people are dancing and partying from early in the morning until late at night.
The actual highlight, however, are the bulls. A starting shot signalizes the people that the animals – in this case 3 – are let in to the street and are wandering at large. From now on everyone is supposed to be careful. It is still possible to walk around at the streets, but if a bull is coming around the corner you should better take to your heels and flee behind the bars. However, the party atmosphere and alcohol pushes up the people and makes them careless. It happened more than once that a wanna-be-torero could escape the bull’s horns only just, but only because the bulls slipped on the asphalt. After 2 hours another shot signalizes the end of this spectacle and while the bulls are fetched again, the party on the streets is going on. This whole thing will be repeated two more times.
I have to admit that this was a special and different experience, but in the end everyone has to make up his own mind about this part of the Spanish culture.
By the way, isn’t it a good topic to discuss in your Spanish classes?