"The bulls have escaped!”
The last time we heard these words we looked up to see a
bull charging at us from 50 feet away. It
was one of those terrifying moments you remember all your life, kind of like
fraternity initiation but without the branding iron and the funny hats. But today it was just a case of bulls
swimming out to open water.
Yes, it’s bull season in Provence, with lots of events like
the Course Camarguaise (the non-lethal French
bull fighting that features Val’s beloved young men in their tight white pants.) Bulls run around in arenas, along country
roads, through downtown, and usually go where they are supposed to. But not always.
This year we were excited to go to our first Gaso de Taureaux, where the bulls are driven
through a lake. Why? Who knows?
Maybe they want to freshen up before the bullfight.
Many of the bull events are displays of horsemanship – can the
French cowboys get the bulls to go where they want them to? For the Gaso,
several bulls at a time are let out of a truck while a dozen cowboys on horseback drive
them toward a lake, stopping just at the edge while the bulls plunge into the
water. Two ropes mark the path that the
bulls follow before leaving the lake on the other side and being corralled.
There were probably a thousand people at the Gaso, many of them in boats along
the guide ropes. There were sausages
being grilled, lots of wine being drunk, bands playing – the crowd even did
the wave. It was kind of like tailgating
before a Stanford football game, except the bulls aren’t quite as big as some
of our offensive linemen.
Finally the first group arrived! Several tons of bull, horse and cowboy came
charging towards the lake. As the horses
screeched to a halt the bulls plunged ahead and swam to the other side. Success!
Except when the cowboys all took off at high speed to capture a bull
that had somehow escaped.
Soon the next group of bulls and cowboys raced towards the
lake. All those hooves pounding were loud! This time one of the horses forgot to stop and
plunged into the lake along with the bulls.
His poor cowboy desperately hung on to the saddle, looking very nervous
at being surrounded by four seriously pissed-off bulls. Somehow he got back
aboard as his horse left the lake.
Now the third and final group arrived! The horses stopped, the bulls kept going into
the lake, and everything was ok. Until
the bulls decided to make a break for it and made a sharp right turn, breaking
through the line of boats and scattering the spectators. They swam toward open water while several
boats full of drunken fools gave chase.
One guy even jumped on a bull and rode bareback for a while.
Luckily, the fire department was prepared for this, with a
speedboat at the ready and several steely-eyed pompiers geared up for action.
Unfortunately, they had forgotten to prime the engine and spent precious
minutes swearing and trying to get it started while the bulls receded further
and further into the distance.
Eventually, the boat got going and the pompiers roared off to coordinate the capture of the bulls with the
cowboys.
We expect the bulls will be clean and fresh, if a bit
waterlogged, for the Course Camarguaise.
The crowd eagerly awaiting the bulls
The cowboys discuss strategy
The bulls swim away!
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Which way did they go?
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