My trip to Spain went by unnoticed and unwritten about. To tell you the truth the most exciting part was La Tomatina 08! This food-fighting, human soup of a festival takes place annually on the last Wednesday of August, in a small town called Bunyol, just outside of Valencia.
I joined a tour group 'Fanatics' for the experience and we stayed at the Red Nest Hostel in Valencia. A bus picked us up early Wednesday morning to deliver us safely in Bunyol. My travel buddy, Carly, and I walked with the flow of the pack through the towns outskirts and into the heart of this small, pretty village. The local Spaniards laugh at our large group, and guess our nationality with incredible ease. It seems Australians really enjoy this particular event. Personally, I blame 'Getaway' for its glossy travel exposes!
The tomato fight began at 11am. Before commencement we stood in a large crowd in the centre of the main street, toughing the rough crowds to watch the ritual of strong men, weak men, little men, big men and only a few brave girls try to clamber up a lard-basted pole in a fury of passion, attempting vaingloriously to be the victor and bring home the triumph of knocking down the honorary Jamon, which had been tied precariously at the top. It was like a well greased coconut tree, but there were no talented islanders around to produce the coconuts! Yes, unfortunately, no one succeeded in bringing it home this year. And apparently not last year either. It's virtually impossible.
While we watched this drama unfold for a good couple of hours, locals threw buckets of water over us from their balconies and everyone got amped up for the tomatoey goodness that was about to ensue. And ensue it did! A ruthless, dirty, juicy orgy of tomatoes that eventually mixed into a knee-deep puree. Delicious!
Approximately ten trucks of tomatoes are brought through the main street of Bunyol. Volunteers of the community happily sit atop their moving kingdoms as they throw the ripened fruits at us - the eager crowd waiting to get our hands on them so we can squish them into the hair and faces of our friends and enemies.
A friendly moment found me rubbing tomatoes over a young Spaniards naked chest. Unfortunately for me, revenge is a tomato dish best served cold, and at some unfriendly point I was hauled over the back of an XXL Senora, while his friends poured tonnes of tomatoes down the back of my pants....enough said!
After twenty minutes, and four trucks only, the set was unrecognisable. I remember stopping for a moment to watch the crowd in motion, bouncing, heaving and with everyone stained pink, while grappling for tomatoes underfoot and launching their fruity granades back into the frenzy. The street flooded with tomato juice and exhaustion lapses over me. It was amazing fun, an unbeatable experience, even in the painful moments like copping an unripe tomato to the eye, or the stinging acidic juice making its way into the eyes, or T-shirts being used as weapons, along with anything else that could be found and thrown at people.
The fire department provided a power-shower to help clean us up after, but this was futile as the walk back to the bus proved to get messier and uglier. We were like children enjoying getting dirty, but the clean up was an arduous task that no one wanted to deal with once the fun is over.
Tomatoes were in my ears, eyes and nose for at least a week! Well worth it! So, if you're ever in Spain for the last Wednesday of August, get yourself to La Tomatina for a mad, grievous, hilarious and exotic experience that you won't find anywhere else!
Some people may have been put off tomatoes for life, but not this girl! Viva La Tomato!!!!!!
