Pamplona is crazy. The San Fermin festival, aka Running with the Bulls is held every year here. At 8am, anyone sober enough to run lines up in the streets and runs along side (well... gets passed by) 7 bulls (I think it's 7...). And then every night.... the entire city comes out to party. We took a really long train ride to Barcelona on the 5th and stayed there a grand total of 8 hours until we took a 7 am train to Pamplona, which is in north western Spain. Everyone.... EVERYONE wears all white with a red bandana and a red sash (see photo). On the 6th, there was no running. But the opening ceremonies are held, which is really just a huge party as far as we saw. This party includes saturating everyones white outfits with red wine or sangria. Nick and Ted were planning on running on the 7th (the 1st day)... but lets just say we were out a little too late and they missed it. Rach and I woke up later than expected and couldnt really see. We were supposed to take the 5pm train back to Barcelona... but we all really wanted to see/participate in the running so we stayed another night. Went out all night, went back to the hotel to clean up, and at 3:30am, we went back into Pamplona to get good seats. And we did. Nick and Ted ran. Don't worry... they made it safely to the end. Rach, Heather and I got front row seats... although we felt it was a little overrated because it happens so fast. The running really is a strange thing. Because everyone parties in the streets all day and night, they are covered in filth and trash. So the streets are already slippery and then the street cleaners proceed to spray the streets with water to wash away the grime. You can only imagine how slippery they are and we were right at the turn where all of the bulls slip, as well as numerous runners. The race starts with one rocket for the runners to start and then a second rocket when the bulls are released. We were a little confused today because a few other bulls were released shortly after the others. No major injuries as far as we have heard. The festival really is a lot of fun and full of people from all over. The parks/grassy medians/parking lots are full of people passed out in sleeping bags. The festival goes on for a few more days... but I think we've had enough. Our (as in the girls) favorite part is all of the little little kids dressed up in red and white. Happy birthday to Rachel!!!! Today is her 21st so we are heading to Barcelona to celebrate tonight and then off to Nice the next day. We are all beginning to get sick and fatigued from the extreme lack of sleep, so hopefully in the next few days we can get some rest in.