From 1923 to 1929

He visits Pamplona for the first time, already a correspondent of The Toronto Star, while he was living in Paris, where he had already met people like Picasso and James Joyce.

On his first visit to Pamplona in 1923, Ernest Hemingway was looking for material to finish off a series of twelve short reports. His impressions of Sanfermin, especially after the running of the bulls on the 13th of July, are approving and they are reflected in the report printed in The Toronto Star on 23rd of October and later in his own literary work.

In 1924 he returns for a second visit, accompanied by his wife and a group of friends, among them Robert McAimon, Donald Ogden and John Dos Passos. In Pamplona he meets Juanito Quintana and he also takes part in the running of the bulls. He is a witness to the death of the first mortal victim in the running of the bulls, Esteban Domeño. A false rumor is spread abroad that both Hemingway and Donald Ogden had been gored by the bulls.

In 1925 he comes to Sanfermin fiestas with the idea of gathering material for a novel, encouraged by his friend in Paris, Gertrude Stein. Hemingway was a witness of the comeback of the bullfighter, Juan Belmonte and he becomes a fan of Cayetano Ordoñez. He begins to write Fiesta.

In 1926 Hemingway was back again in Pamplona for the fiestas and this year he discovered Casa Marceliano and favorite dish of "ajoarriero." In October, his novel is published under the title "The Sun also Rises" in Europe and "Fiesta" in The USA. This novel had a successful impact on both Pamplona and Sanfermin as it opened the fiestas to a world-wide public. Hemingway was witness to the inept performances of El Niño de La Palma, (Cayetano Ordoñez) and he would later publish the account in Muerte en la Tarde.

In 1927 he is back again for the Sanfermin fiestas. This year he comes without his first wife and accompanied by Pauline Pfeitter, a journalist who had accompanied him and his wife on previous visits. He was a now a familiar figure on the terrace of the Iruña, in casa Marcelino and the lobby of La Perla hotel. In his bullfighting book, Muerte en la Tarde, he would later write about the bullfights he saw on the 14th of July that year, with a gypsy, Cagancho as protagonist.

In 1929 Hemingway arrived by car to Pamplona from Paris with his now-wife, Pauline. Fernando Huarte quotes in his book, "Cien años y una huella" a story told by a old employee of the Hotel Quintana, Eustaquio Ardanaz. Here he relates how, while Pauline was sleeping, Hemingway appeared in a rather drunken state at the hotel, accompanied by two women. Soon afterwards the two women were seen fleeing from the place with Hemingway chasing behind them in his underwear and shouting for them to come back. Juanito Quintana, the manager and friend of Hemingway, had to have a serious talk to him and warn him that any further behavior like that would mean throwing him out of the hotel.

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