One Angry Bull
An excellent adventure...
So on the evening of Oct 6 we gathered at the south gate for the bandido to conclude that day's festivities. The bulls would be run back through town to the meadow where they started the day. This spot is a magnet for photographers and is the same place I've used on my two previous efforts at photographing the bandido. Pictured below is Jana, a Swiss lady who we met on one of Cecile's photo sessions. She was staying in a hotel just a few blocks down the main street where the bulls would run and she decided to photograph the bandido from there because it had an arched entryway that provided a place of retreat. It was of course, inside the steel barriers. I would be taking up my favorite spot by the archway. This place served well not just for the pictures but because right behind me was a gap in the barrier through which I could readily escape.
The bandido began with the usual announcements on loudspeakers in French, English, and German, proclaiming, "We are releasing wild bulls into the town. If you remain inside the barriers it is at your own risk!" Of course, there were throngs of people inside the barriers. There were throngs of people everywhere. This was opening day of the festival so it was the biggest crowd we had yet seen.
The first group of gardiens and bulls came through.
I noticed that this group is larger than they have been before. Instead of one bull escorted by three or four gardiens, this was five bulls escorted by maybe six horsemen. The ratio has changed. But this group went through normally.
Here comes the next one.
But with so many bulls to manage one had escaped from custody. Not to worry. I'd seen this before, several times. Getting the bull rounded up shouldn't take long. But it did. I stood there at the archway quite awhile waiting for something to happen, either bringing him back through the arch and down the street, or at least chasing him somewhere else. So I finally gave in to curiosity and walked through the archway to check it out. Here's what I saw.
I don't know who he has down there but he soon turned his attention to this gentleman.
After working this guy over he ran off to find another victim. He liked to attack the horses.
The gardiens did not seem very aggressive or perhaps competent at getting this animal under control and I decided none of this was going according to the script I had signed up for. Prudence required that I retreat to my spot inside the arch.
And when the bull started for the archway without a gardien escort my thought was, "This is the reason I have an escape plan." So I stepped through the steel barrier and went down to the corner where Jeanne Marie has always watched this show. Until now.
I then remembered that as the bandido was starting she had let me know she was tired of trying to get a glimpse of the action through the crowd and would be going inside the barriers. So she is now in there with this wild, angry bull. I ran back to my spot inside the barrier. Below is the scene on the street. The bull is in the middle of that cluster of people and has two people on the ground. Jeanne Marie is in her chosen "safe spot" between those columns on the left, just behind the lady in the teal coat. The raging bull is three feet away.
Here he goes after the horses again.
But why am I telling you this. Jeanne Marie can tell you all about it herself.
I was grateful that she left us a video, as it would give me something to play at the funeral and maybe the kids wouldn't blame me.
Here is what she saw. The first video below is the first group of bulls and gardiens.
Then the wild bull arrived.
Sorry if these videos are sideways. I can't figure out how to rotate them. But the woman who was knocked down amazingly got up and walked away with just a scratch on her nose. And I am immensely impressed that Jeanne Marie not only held on to her phone but kept filming as well.
So the bull is still loose and our friend Jana is watching all of this from her hotel further down the street.
She was in the archway pictured above and decided that this was no protection from this particular bull. The kitchen to the hotel opened into this covered space so she ran into the kitchen and grabbed the nearest worker and told him what the bull was doing outside. He waved her away with assurance that she was safe in the kitchen. With that, the bull ripped off one of the kitchen doors, charged into the kitchen, and pinned this same kitchen worker against the refrigerator between his horns. Jana was two feet away, trapped in a corner, and had to scramble over a high counter to escape.
The lower right door is missing, courtesy of Mr. Bull.
The bull did leave the kitchen on his own and shortly afterward the gardiens got ropes on him and out of town. The entire episode had taken about seven minutes.
Jeanne Marie was feeling triumphant. She had faced down the bull and had the video to prove it. Poor Jana though, was completely rattled. She met us the next day to photograph the course camarguaise but as soon as the first bull ran out and started chasing people she had to leave. We've stayed in touch and she told us recently that the nightmares have finally subsided.
So yes, it was an excellent adventure.
