I've spent some time visiting with friends on Terciera. They had us come for festival ("feshta") season. The bulls for Portuguese bull fighting (in which the bull typically lives to fight another day) are raised there.

During feshta season, each village puts on a bull run.

In a village, houses come right up to the street, so it's a lot like open to the sky corridors. The bull run organizers paint a line across each road that exits the village - the bulls are not allowed to go past that line.

You might wonder how they do that. I certainly did. Turns out the bulls all wear ropes around their necks. These are large diameter ropes (over 1 inch) - and they had about a 50' length trailing behind the bull.

There was a crew of bull handlers who'd run behind the bull, grab the rope as the bull approached the line, pull him to a stop. At that point, the stopped bull would turn around, and with what appeared to be a "what? you guys again?" attitude, would charge the handlers. They, in turn, would dive through open windows and over garden walls - and the bull would charge back towards town center. After a moment, the crew would re-emerge on the street and run after the bull - so they could stop him again.

The crew wore what was clearly traditional attire: black skimmer hats, Romeo-style shirts, black and white checked pants (looked a lot like a houndstooth pattern) - with the addition of Nikes on their feet. (seemed a perfect opportunity for Nike to create a commercial; no idea if that ever happened).

The Azoreans I've met here in Massachusetts are from Terciera or Sao Miguel. Apparently a lot of folks from Terciera end up in California as well.

If you ever have a chance to visit the islands - go. Folks are beyond wonderful, food is spectacular, and the islands themselves are beautiful.