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By Root 816 0

of the capital hide a heap of indigenous villages where the locals love to gather once a year and get gouged by an angry bull. Each town has its own patron saint party on a certain weekend where brass bands take to streets playing jaunty military tunes and kids light bonfires on the corners, burning effigies and parading in costumes. Otavala, 95km (59 miles) north of Quito and just across the equator, is one such place. This famous artisan market town has proud Indian routes where the men wear long straight black hair in distinctive ponytails and women wear multi-stranded bead necklaces, their short round bodies wrapped up in ponchos and petticoats and topped with a slanted bowler hat.

For the festival, a rickety wooden stand is built around the central plaza and a set of stockades set up around a newly laid sand pit. A tall greasy pole is raised at its center and crowned with a sack full of goodies. Inebriated men jump from their seats and race across to the pole, which they hopelessly attempt to climb while a bull storms into the arena. Mayhem breaks loose as the bull makes a bull’s-eye of the man’s hind quarters and charges for it. Other members of the public rush from their seats to distract the animal and are subsequently chased to the surrounding walls where they leap the fence just as the animal’s fiercesome horns crash into the woodwork. Just as proceedings are getting a little chaotic, another raging male cow is released into the arena for good measure and general pandemonium breaks loose; inevitably one of the public slips and is tossed in the air like a rag doll. Blood streams from his forehead as he rushes to the stockade with his hand held forward. People try to help him jump but no, he does not want out, he just wants a sip of their beer.

Ecuadoreans love a good party and are some of the most committed drinkers on the planet, frequently fired up by $1 bottles of industrial alcohol. No doubt such beverages have an influential role on who is brave enough to leave the stands and take a chance across the arena. The great thing about bull running here is that nobody gets hurt, at least those who don´t deserve to. That includes the bull who survives to gouge another day in another nearby village. —CO’M

Exploring Ecuador (www.exploringecuador.com).

When to Go: June. Check local normals for exact dates.

Quito (95km/59 miles).

$$$ Hacienda Cusin, San Pablo del Lago, Otavalo ( 593/6/2918-013;www.haciendacusin.com). $$ Hacienda Pinsaqui, Pan-American Hwy. Km 5, Otavalo ( 593/6/2946-116;www.haciendapinsaqui.com).

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The Great Knaresborough Bed Race

Bed Fellows

Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, England

A team of six men push a double-decker London bus up a river. Take a closer look and you’ll see the bus is actually a cleverly disguised bed with a woman on it. The men struggle through the water and up a muddy bank. They must hurry. Santa Claus and his six reindeers are in hot pursuit despite nearly capsizing in the water.

The Great Knaresborough Bed Race is exactly what it sounds like, a bed race through the North Yorkshire market town of Knaresborough. Six runners take a bed and make it road worthy. They then put a member of the opposite sex on it and race up steep hills, across a park, and down a river. Beforehand there is a parade of the 80-odd quilted roadsters that come disguised as trains, planes, and automobiles, even the occasional house. The fact that they must travel 30m (98 ft.) up a deep river gives a whole new meaning to parade float. Thousands turn out to see this colorful spectacle with much cheering and jeering as the different teams struggle over the 3km (nearly 2-mile) run. Some take the race very seriously and complete it in less than 13 minutes. Others take as long as they like to complete this four-poster caper.

The race first started in 1965 as a bit of fun between teams from the British Army, Navy, and U.S. Marines. It has since morphed into one of the major annual events that takes place in the beautiful and rugged North Yorkshire region. With 40% of this Northern England county covered