PAMPLONA, Spain: Spain fans celebrate a goal during a public screening of the soccer World Cup final against Netherlands at the Plaza de Castilla in Pamplona
After picking up some sandwiches and drinks, we staked out our spots in Plaza de Castilla and waited for the game. I was ademmant about getting good seats and willing to sit for a long time for what I thought would be well worth it. Rachel, not understanding how big this was, went for ice cream only to come back and find the square packed.
La seleccion Espanola>
Right before game time>
By game time the square was a sea of white and red with the occasional Dutchie Orange in there. They brought this old guy in a weird outfit up on stage for the pregame to give a speech and get the crowd going->
The chants started, the singing, jumping up and down, Spanish flags waving everywhere... the atmosphere electric. As the game progressed, the score tied 0-0, the reaction from the crowd with every missed chance or big save only added to the once in a lifetime environment. The next day in the Navarra paper, we landed ourselves both on the cover and more clearly visible on another photo taken just after one of Spain's missed opportunities. You can see me covering my face with my hands and Aaron reacting similarly to a missed Spanish opportunity. As the game got closer to the end of final time, the crowd remained on the edge of their toes (since no one was sitting for the entire game). And then, several minutes into overtime, the moment that everyone was waiting for finally came...
(9:09 PM, July 11, 2010) "Torres... Torres balon... Fabregas, para Iniesta, Iniesta... GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLL!"
Seconds after the goal (or Win)?->
Post-goal crowd celebration^The crowd erupts in a euphoric celebration in Plaza de Castilla. Thousands of people jumping up and down... our white clothes getting drenched in Sangria and water that people were joyfully throwing about the crowd. Typical of any Spanish celebration, flares were shot off in the crowd. Fireworks burst over the government building. Like rough ocean waters, the movement of the crowd packed together like sardines through us about. We screamed, we chanted, we jumped up and down... the party was on.
There will only be one time that Spain wins the World Cup for the first time, and we were there in the middle of one of the biggest festivals in Spain, celebrating.
As the final whistle blew, another brouhaha arose from the crowd and another set of similar celebrations. Dire Straights came blaring over the speakers and the crowd broke out in air guitars (at least we did) and singing.
Post Victory/What is wrong with Bart's face? ^Captured on Aaron's camera was the perfect video... the crowd erupting after Iniesta's game winning goal, fireworks in the distance, a zoom to the big screen showing the replay... the excitement on our faces. A video that we can now only review in our minds.
As the square began to empty, and the celebration moved into the streets, the remains of the crowd, about a foot deep of trash, bottles, banners, rubble covered the ground (see picture below that doesn't really do the mess justice).
We headed for a kebab and then to a bar to join in the celebration. We danced and celebrated for a bit until the unfortunate happened. Aaron went to the bathroom, but left his camera on the counter. After going back for the camera and no longer finding it where he had left it, the mood took a turn for the worse. All the pictures of our trip to date gone. It was a pretty big buzz kill and after asking the bar if anything had been turned in, we decided to leave. With Bart tired and Troy dejected, they headed back to the parking garage that doubled as our hotel for the night and went into La Zino to get some shut eye for the big run less than 7 hours away.
The rest of us stayed out for a bit, watching the parties break out all over the city to Shakira's World Cup theme song... "Waka Waka hey hey..."
A bit later, we ourselves decided to head back for some Zs. As we were walking back, we noticed some riot police gathering. A drunk guy wandered unknowingly right towards them, after words with one of the policemen, he turned around and started walking away. After he had taken a few steps, the policeman came up behind him and hit him 3 or 4 times in the back of the head. The man stumbled away dazed and we were shocked at what we had just seen. As we would come to find out, the Spanish police we would come into contact with weren't exactly the friendliest people.
When we got back to the parking lot, it had turned into a hotel/campsite. People were sleeping on the floor next to their cars, in their seats, lying with their feet hanging out the trunk. I decided to go with the feet on the dashboard/out the front window approach and settled in for 2 or 3 hours of miserable sleep in the front seat, which I shared with Rachel and Anj. It was probably about 95 degrees in the garage, but the accommodations were quite fitting for the wild extravaganza.
At around 5, unable to sleep anymore, I got up and decided to check out the party. It was unbelievable, at 5 am, the party was ragging just as hard as it had been at 3 that afternoon or right after the game. I wandered the streets enjoying the scene and determined to find Aaron's camera. I went back to the bar and asked if a camera had been turned in. It was pretty hopeless, but I figured why not try. To my surprise and delight, the camera was there... the bar tender told me how lucky I was and gave the camera back... my faith in humanity was restored and our prized world cup video was saved... at least for the time being.
I made a nice little video on the camera about how much Aaron owed me and raced back to the van to wake everyone up. Troy was sleeping in the trunk on top of all our stuff, Bart's guitar included, Bart in the middle seat, and the girls up front. I went to the back window and pounded on the glass, scaring the bajesus out of everyone. I held up the camera and I am pretty sure Troy's mood went from 6 to Midnight. Party back on...
With everyone up and it now past 6, we had 2 hours to find a spot for the Encierro...
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