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| Crowded Plaza of Bunol |
La Tomatina is a festival held in the Valencian town of Buñol, a
30 minute drive away from the city. Participants gather to throw tomatoes at
each other, and get involved in a huge food fight purely for the fun of it. Roughly
50,000 people attended in 2011, and it is the largest recorded food fight in the world. Held on
the last Wednesday of August each year, the activities commence around 10am.
Now, here is a rundown of the day’s schedule- First is the ‘palo jabón’, or “greasy pole”. The goal is for
people (usually drunk young guys) to climb and the reach the top of a greased
pole with a large ham on top. As this happens, the crowd works into a frenzy of
singing and dancing while being showered in water from the hoses of residents
with balconies. Once that lucky someone is able to drop the ham off the pole,
the “start signal” for the day is given by firing a shot in the air, and trucks
loaded down with tomatoes make their entry. The signal for the onset of the “fight”
is at about 11am when a loud shot rings out, and the chaos begins. Several
trucks throw tomatoes in abundance in the Plaza del Pueblo. The tomatoes come
from the region of Extremadura,
where they are less expensive and are grown specifically for the holiday, being
of inferior taste. For the
participants the use of goggles is recommended (tomato juice in the eyes? ouch!). According to the “official
rules” the tomatoes must be crushed before being thrown so as to reduce the
risk of injury. The estimated number of tomatoes used is
around 150,000, and after exactly one hour of insanity, the fight ends
with the second shot. The whole town square is colored red and
rivers of tomato juice flow freely. Fire trucks hose down the streets and
participants use hoses that locals provide to remove the tomato paste from
their bodies. Some participants go to the pool of “los peñones” to wash as well.
After the cleaning, the village cobblestone streets are made pristine by the residents, due to
the acidity of the tomatoes.
As you can see, it might sound super fun, but I’d heard
about its drawbacks from experienced friends. Luckily, I prepared myself for
these by wielding goggles, and wearing close toed shoes with clothing that could
be thrown in the trash after. Being that I am a tidy and non-aggressive person,
the only things convincing me that I should partake in this this were that #1
I’m near the city at the right time of year (destiny) and #2 YOLO (you only
live once) so I might as well do it, and #3 “It’s all about the story”- This
quote applies to many things in my life that I don’t want to do but end up
doing, because it makes for a good story!
So, for my Tomatina experience, I had made plans to ride to
the pueblo of Buñol with Whitney in her boyfriend Raúl’s car. They picked me up
from my piso early that morning, and we made the drive to the small industrial
town. With its narrow cobblestone streets and unassuming location, it was
surprising that such a small place was able to hold so many extra people for
the fight (over half of which are foreign tourists- primarily Australian and
Japanese). Miraculously, Raúl found us a parking spot and we
headed into the depths of the town. People were selling food, t-shirts,
goggles, and plenty of alcohol to commemorate and prepare for the event, and it
was definitely fun to people-watch. Many participants even had “teams” with matching
shirts, how cute! Also, it is an unofficial rule to wear white as
well, so that you can see how far from white your shirt will be at the end. While
walking around in the hot morning sun and taking this all in, I noticed that my
camera did not have its memory card in it. Huge error! I was the designated
camera person of the day, equipped with a plastic bag and waterproof carrying
case from Raúl. I felt so bad upon realizing this, but before I knew what to do Raúl had already offered to run back to the car and get Whitney’s camera. I
felt terrible about that, but while he was gone Whitney and I discussed how sweet of
a guy he was for doing that. We also watched several drunk people make fools of themselves :)
As it was now close to the time for the fight to start, we
decided to make our way over to the main square. The city is much more compact
than I realized, and somehow we found ourselves trapped in a crowded alleyway
full of sweaty, drunk people. I felt really claustrophobic at that moment, and
to make it worse the locals of Buñol who have balconies just hang out and
pour buckets of water on us poor people below. Somehow, we finally
managed to escape this torture alley, and that ,was when I was separated from the
group. Raúl
and Whitney somehow made it into the “thick of things” and I stayed more near the
outskirts so I could try to take some photos without ruining my camera. As I
have been told though, there is really no “going to the Tomatina just to watch”
option. I learned this the hard way.
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| Raul and Myself : Post Tomatina |
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