Lets Get Saucy

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Let’s get saucy

My first entry!

I love festivals and in my lifetime I’ve been to a few although none as brilliant, fun and exciting as La Tomatina. La Tomatina is the largest tomato war on the planet! It that takes place in a small village called Bunyol based closed to Valencia, Spain. On the final Wednesday of every August this little village of 9,000 inhabitants gets ransacked by 30,000 well breakfasted and prepared for action Tomatina goers. Anna, Elliot and I set off from Ibiza airport at 11.00 am Tuesday 30th Aug 2005 and landed In Valencia shortly after, none of us knew of that laid ahead….

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Preparation starts the night before when locals dress their buildings in plastic sheeting and troops get very drunk and dance the night away in the evening Fiesta!

10.30am...Ouch! Just 2 hours sleep, a head that hurts and a very loud Anna who’s not only getting Elliot and I up but by the sounds of it the entire village. Just half hour to go. Check begins, a pair of old socks, a pair of old trainers, old t-shirt, bikini top (very important), old pair of shorts/bottoms and the must have accessory, swimming goggles (This is a must have, you want to able to see a thing with out them. They get sold on the day)

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10.50am: 10 minutes to go, glassy eyed and high-spirited as we stand on the street of Bunyol along with 30,000 equally excited tomato goers. In preparation water gets thrown over you (not sure why this is, if anyone knows please tell me) as you’re wobbling along to the sounds of marching footsteps and drums you start to feel a someone pulling at your t-shit, what the hell is he doing! I turn to see what is going on and as I do see this a young Australian guy is pulling my top off, same thing is happening to Anna and Elliot. I turn back again to face the Oz and he says let the fun begin……

11.00am: above the sounds of all the singing and chanting a very loud horn gets blown...now it’s time to get saucy! Five very large trucks start to make there way through hectic street releasing large quantities of tomatos, people scramble to the ground picking up as many tomatoes as they can, here we go….

11.05am: Ouch! First hit, and another and another. I look and see thousands of tomatoes being rocketed and whistling through the skies landing on buildings, people and anything else in their way. It’s a frenzy of flinging, slinging and lobbing. It’s every man and woman fpr themselves. This is the most fun I’ve ever had I’m almost wetting my self Anna is on the floor smothered in tomato juice, Elliot is trying to get his sister off the ground before she drowns and I’m slinging as hard as I can to get the most out of this experience.

12.00pm: Smelly and warn out we make are way up to our camp, time to rest. The aftermath of La Tomatina is like a scene from a horror film, don’t count on recognising your mates or them recognising you for that matter. Within hours the village get transformed back to it’s old self.