Jonathan Knowles from Pena de Los Gatos was interviewed for the radio program, The World, a coproduction of the BBC and WGBH Boston. The World is an Edward R. Murrow award winning international news program on National Public Radio and the BBC. The July 14, 2006 edition of the program features the fiesta of San Fermin in Pamplona, Spain.

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Viva San Fermin! Gora San Fermin!

Join in as we share the sounds of Sanfermines. Fiesta is a rich texture of audio delights. Close your eyes and imagine you are here in Pamplona sharing in the festivities!

Whether it is the running of the bulls, the running of the bars, the corrida, the wandering Peña bands, sampling tapas, the singing in the streets, the parade of the giants, the dancing in Plaza Castillo, chocolate and churros, or simply an afternoon siesta, there is a good time to be found during fiesta. Stephanie and Jonathan talk about some of the highlights of Sanfermines.

Chuck, Nick, and Jonathan talk about the Corrida, or Bullfight�. The Fiesta in Pamplona is known throughout Spain as Feria del Toro, the fair or fiesta of the bulls. While there are more important and prestigious bullfights, the bullfights in Pamplona are one the biggest in Spain

Another important part of fiesta, the Gigantes (Giants) parade, starts each day at 10:00 and they dance through the city streets followed by the families of Pamplona. Today, they passed directly under the window of our 4th floor apartment.

Doug, Nick, and Bryan ran the encierro today. We did have a recorder on Nick and will post his “live run� comments soon. Here they share their post-run observations.

After the busy morning business of the encierro and the amateurs, it is time for churros and chocolate at Pamplona’s best post run haunts.

After all of the bulls are corralled, the “amateurs� begins. This tradition allows anyone the opportunity to play “torero� — albeit with “brave cows� not bulls. A couple of hundred people all crowd into the ring at the same time and the brave cow chases the amateurs around while occasionally tossing them into the air with her padded horns.

The “valiant ones� are those that gather at the outside entrance to the Plaza del Toros (as far from the start of the encierro—running of the bulls as you can be). When the encierro begins and the doors to the ring open, they enter valiantly—having never even seen the bulls.

Nick and Jonathan are sitting in the Plaza del Toros for the end point of the encierro. The “running of the bulls� is the act of moving them from the corals in one section of Pamplona to the corals at the Plaza del Toros (the bullring).

From Plaza Castillo Nick and Jonathan join in on the traditional Basque dancing with friends and family from Pamplona. Every night at 9:00pm during fiesta, the citizens of Pamplona young and old gather to participate in this group dancing event.

We have gathered in Barcelona with some of the Pena members before heading to Pamplona tomorrow. We podcast from the roof of the Hotel Majestic sipping cava (sparkling wine) before heading out to enjoy tapas. This podcast features English, Catalan, and Spanish.

Representatives from Pena de Los Gatos (www.penadelosgatos.org) gather at The Cats restaurant and tavern in the Santa Cruz Mountain foothills in the town of Los Gatos. We leave for Pamplona in 2 weeks! Recording quality is not the best tonight due to equipment issues. These issues have been resolved and all future casts should be fantastic quality!

Join us as we podcast live from Fiesta de San Fermin in Pamploa Spain in July!