Carol Schmidt
Sep 27, 2003, 3:16 PM
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Last year, our first in SMA, we paid $45 each for a seat at El Pegaso, a great restaurant along the bulls' route, for a paella dinner and three hours of space and restroom accessibility. No way could I have lasted three hours crowded in the streets along the route without being able to get to a bathroom! We saw the bulls close up, took lots of photos, were not exactly impressed, and this year decided to watch it on TV.
Much better. And much easier to see why I dislike this event intensely, although as a gringa I'm not about to campaign for a change. Many gringos do speak out about this time of year against the SanMiguelada, as it is called, and get put in their place--we are not here to change Mexico, if we don't like parts of the culture, turn our eyes. So I'll just report what I saw, not too objectively.
The event is supposed to start at noon. Around 11 am all the access into the Jardin and surrounding streets is cut off, and spectators must be behind metal fences which are placed along the streets for such events. People were trying to get over the metal fences, one guy losing his pants as his friends tried to hand him over, on TV yet! (He recovered his pants and tried again.)
After noon the car parade of queens and advertisers started. At 1:30 the 8 bulls were released from the truck one by one, and they tore down the streets responding to every waved cape and T-shirt. Thousands of young men and a few young women flooded the six blocks or so along the route, all taunting the bulls. A few do get gored each year. One year someone died. Many get tossed or hit by the bulls and just get back up and keep taunting.
After about 20 minutes the bulls are tired and their tongues are hanging out, and they are not responding as much. The crowd gets more frantic, trying to draw responses. They hang onto the bulls' tails and jump on their backs. The bulls get more and more bored or confused or just give up and circle the streets, five of them this time forming a pack.
After about an hour, the bulls are lassoed and drawn back into the truck, one by one. And then the partying begins, for the rest of the weekend. (No alcohol can be sold from around 3 am to around 2:30 pm Saturday.)
This year there was some concern that the SanMiguelada might have to be postponed until Nov. 22 because of the flooding in the region--emergency services were being used to care for problem areas and access to hospitals would be more difficult because of the roads which have been closed or are flooded. It would cost much more than was in the tourism budget to provide the needed services privately.
The local tourism industry came through with pledges to pay for the private ambulances, two planes for airlift, more EMTs, etc., and the event went on as scheduled. I haven't heard yet whether anyone was seriously injured this year and needed these advanced services. I saw on TV at least four guys being put into ambulances, probably for care at the two local hospitals.
The event looked like a big success on TV, with a huge enthusiastic crowd, and I bet it brought a million dollars to SMA for the weekend. (10,000 visitors at $100 US each average for the weekend, some much more, some much less.) And it is one of the most popular events in San Miguel. I just don't like it.
My partner says that maybe the bulls aren't that upset, it probably is an interesting change from standing around a pasture, and it is only for an hour and the bulls don't get hurt. It isn't as huge and rough and violent as Pamplona where the bulls run down a street to the bull ring and hundreds get hurt. I don't know, I just don't like it. But then it's not my party.
Carol Schmidt
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