Spaniards are CRAZY

This week, Spain celebrated Los Carnavales, which is basically a combination of Halloween, New Year's, and Summer Send-Off (Kenyon reference...). It's a five-day party all over Spain, but there are several cities that go ALL OUT for this event. Like, literally, they spend the whole year preparing the festivities. Luckily for us, one of the huge spots for celebrating is only about an hour away from Salamanca. Tiny Ciudad Rodrigo is an adorable small town that everyone says is the most boring place in the world the rest of the year.

Away from the party - typical Spanish small town...

...but just a few blocks away the streets were packed

Check out some of the costumes:

priests!

chickens!

Rubik's cubes!

Mario Bros!

Zorro!

We didn't put much effort into our costumes... just bought some cheap masks (not an easy feat on the day before Carnavales - the store was packed with everyone buying costumes and it took about 20 minutes navigate our way to the check-out counter).

Los Carnavales in Cuidad Rodrigo are distinct from the celebrations in the rest of Spain because they incorporate bulls! They have an encierro (running of the bulls) and corridas (bullfights). Yes, I attended both, and I realize that some of you will never forgive me... more on the controversy later.

The running of the bulls was SO MUCH FUN to watch - there were hundreds of people participating (so many IDIOTS!!!!!). Check out these action shots:

Here they come!!!

Idiot... (also, love the guy in the wedding dress)

All guys - I think they're the only ones dumb enough to participate

WHY ARE YOU SO STUPID?

two escape routes: over or under the fence

Also, they had a fake running of the bulls for the kids - cutest thing ever:

unfortunately I couldn't get the kids in the photo (they ran by before
I even knew what was happening...)

And now for the bullfight... Just so I don't leave you all with awful Spanish stereotypes, here are some facts to consider: only about 25% of Spaniards support bullfighting, the "aficionados" are mostly old men, and bullfighting is now illegal in a few regions of Spain, such as Cataluña (where Barcelona is). So I viewed it as a dying art that I wanted to see before it disappears completely. I want to assure you all that I am against bullfighting, but I thought it was important to actually see a corrida in order to understand it better. Parts of the spectacle were really amazing to watch - the interactions between the torero and the bull were almost like a dance. It's obvious why it's considered an art rather than a sport. I hated all the other parts, though - stabbing, blood, etc.

So, if you wish, you can scroll down to see the photos (don't worry - I didn't include any gory ones)...