A free fall

Some of us, indeed most of us, within the first year of our short existence, just when we start taking our first steps in this world, lose our balance and get our first good whack from whatever dangerous obstacle is close at hand. There are others who live dangerously and can live on their luck until, for one reason or another, they end up getting a right good smack from something or other. And then there are those who, thanks to some prank played by their “dear” friends, are caught unawares and fall with a thump to the ground which causes great hilarity to all and sundry, except to the victim of the caper, of course.

In Pamplona, in Fiestas, it is an opportune occasion for such capers. But thanks to the enormous walls which surround the old part of the town, there was a particularly good opportunity for one to get a right good “drop” and which was quite popular during a number of years, although the results were often too serious to be considered as an innocent caper. However, close at hand we have a collaborator in making designs for Kukuxumusu - Asisko Urmeneta - who underwent the experience of the “free fall” from the walls, and who can let us into the secrets of such a far-out experience. Perhaps it is no accident that he is a brother of the famed Mikel Urmeneta - our man in Kukuxumusu. In any case, some years ago, just on the last day of the Fiestas, “befell” the momentous day for Asisko.

- Well Asisko, How come you chose the final day of the 9 long days of the Fiesta to go and get a whack like that right on the 14th of July when the Fiesta was coming to a close?
-Well man, it was kind of like the end of the show…pull down the curtain on the whole scene…you know what I mean.
- How exactly did it happen?
-Well, the truth is I was well “plastered”, and of course you know how it is…..in this kind of situation, the head is in one place and the body in some other place…and the co-ordination goes a bit awry. Anyway, by the 14th you are all played out and can’t come up with anymore of anything…you’re carrying round a build-up from all the previous days’ partying…….
- Some years ago there was a kind of regular procession of bodies falling from the walls. Was it turning into another one of the Fiesta “rituals”, like the dives from the fountain in the Navarrería or what?
-Could be. The fact is, the consequences were not always the same in all cases. A year before my fall, or the year after…there was a case of a fatality and another who ended up a tetraplegia case. Some people just don’t know how to make the “drop” …there ought to be a training course on it. It’s not as easy as it seems.
- Were you conscious of what was happening ? I mean, did you have time to think as you were making your “free fall”?
- Thanks to the dope I had inside me the fall was a slow-motion sensation and a kind of far-out feeling. I can remember noticing my passing through the trees and down the wall and it seemed like it was a never-ending fall…. Yeah, it was a kind of “high” feeling that everyone should have the chance to try at least once.
- And when you hit the ground?
- Well, just like what happens in real life, you suddenly hit reality with a thump. But in a way I was still kind of out of things, I wasn’t really conscious of what had happened to me, thanks to the dope I guess. It was only later in the hospital that it all really hit me.
- What exactly did you get?
- I broke the femur in several places and also my heel and it took me about three years to get fully back to normal. I still have a large scar on my left leg of about 30 cm. Considering the mental delirium I had been in - I mean a few hours earlier I had been in some bars in the Navarrería tripping with a bunch of dead Massai and Polisarios who were parading round the streets….I was still fairly perceptive and anyway, since I am a natural coward…it all helped direct me to one of the less dangerous spots to make the long “drop”. It was a real experience, anyone who feels like getting on a high for a bit should try it out. Due to these falls which were occurring from the battlement walls in that part of the old town, the Town Hall finally decided to put up some fencing round the top of the walls in order to put a stop to these kind of accidents.