Ernest And Me

The Plaza del Castillo is a bustling place during the Festival of San Fermin.  Most are not familiar with San Fermin but know the fiesta as “Running the Bulls in Pamplona”.  There are many bull runs in the world but none compare to Pamplona  for it’s pageantry and mystic.   The tales of Pamplona have been chronicled for years in Stories of courage, risk, and bravado.  None compare to Hemingway’s account of the fiesta in the Sun Also Rises.  Hemingway became an iconic part of San Fermin many years ago.  Today his books and likeness are spread all over the central city in Pamplona.  What would this kind of party be without a look a like contest.  

My encounter with the Ernesto came on a lazy Wednesday afternoon on the Plaza.  People had slowed from the Adrenaline packed morning of the run.  Even the fluffed up details of the near death runs had died down in the warm Spanish sun.  I first noticed a group of men all resembling Ernest standing near a table filled with Tapas and wine.  Some looked more like Papa than others but all were a pretty decent likeness of the man.  Little did I know the contest had just ended and the winner had been crowned.  

Securing a choice table near the Bar Txoko I was well into my third Kaiku, a strange vanilla and cognac mixture,  when Gian Paolo Bonomi strolled by accompanied by another Hemingway clone.  The conversation was still hot from the earlier competition when he noticed that I had raised my camera.  Not missing a beat he turned repositioned his scarf and smiled for the photo.  A mutual smile and nod and Ernest was gone.  An hour or so later the mysterious Ernest wandered by again only this time alone.  I caught his eye and motioned him over.  A drink was in order as it turned out for the number two Hemingway in Pamplona that day.  Gian Paolo was a travel writer who was in Pamplona for the second time.  He had traveled all over the world taking photos and jotting down notes about extraordinary places.  Pamplona would be a great entry he said to me in broken English.   There really is no joy more intense than sitting with a new friend in a beautiful place trying to overcome a language barrier with laughs and smiles and strange hand  gestures that no one ever understands.  Gian Paolo and traded cards and it was only then as he looked at the card I gave him that he realized that I was somewhat in the family of wandering adventurers.  Gian Paolo’s card was one your grandfather would have made on the new “Desk Top” he got for Christmas.  It had a sincere quality to it that was hard to match.  Simply a man who loved to travel and wanted to tell his Italian friends about it and maybe the world if it would listen.

Over the last couple of years, I have asked Gian Paolo many questions about romantic places in Italy.  What makes the best pasta?  Favorite travel destinations.  His responses always begin with, “well, it depends”.   After that he has always come up with some unique locations that were worth the effort.   Gian Paolos website can be reached at www.gianpaolobonomi.it  There used to be English there also but now I’m not sure so enjoy the puzzle of Italian.