La Tomatinaš ććććć£ć¼ćš
- Yoko Moriya
- Aug 26, 2016
- 6 min read
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Around this time of the year, I have great memories of "La Tomatina".
La Tomatina is the 'World's Biggest Food Fight' where more than one hundred tons of tomatoes are thrown into the streets. This festival has been held traditionally on the last Wednesday of August in the town of BuƱol, Spain.
Back in 2013, I was lucky enough to have been assigned for an international assignment in Switzerland for my previous job, so there was no reason for me not to attend this festival. I didn"t tell a lot of people that I was going or even that I went, just because it sounded a little crazy going to Spain (for the first time in my life!) to throw tomatoes to strangers.
I signed up for a bus tour which took us to BuƱol from Valencia. Once arrived to BuƱol, I hung around with some people I met on the bus and waited for the festival to start.
The houses on the main street of the festival were covered by blue sheets to prevent tomatoes from being thrown into them. As you walk by, you see a lot of "locals" also enjoying the pre-party by spraying water on everyone who pass the street.
Just a little before the tomatoes arrive, pre-fight ritual, takes place which called "palo-jabĆ³n".
People try to climb up this soap-greased pole with an entire jamĆ³n (prosciutto) perched on top. The person who climbs to the top and grabs the jamĆ³n is the winner and he/she gets the jamĆ³n for free!
Those who were brave enough to take this challenge kept trying....not sure if anybody had made it that year.
By this time, the main street is completely filled with people waiting for the tomato trucks to arrive.
And here comes the truck!
This might have been the worst time of the festival, as we all had to clear off the street and there was no space to move away....glad I did not get squashed earlier than the tomatoes.
The main part of the festival began as people on the truck threw tomatoes to people on the street, they pick up tomatoes on the ground and threw them back to others....and this is what the festival is all about.
There were 3 trucks filled with tomatoes that came through the street and by the time all the trucks were gone, all you see is crushed tomatoes covering your entire body and plentiful tomato juice everywhere. I think I absorbed enough vitamin C for the next few days.
Did I enjoy it? YES I DID. I was also quite happy that my tomato proof (aka. water proof) camera worked great in this trip. Not sure if I'd do it again but I could definitely put a big check mark on my bucket list.
Last and not least, would you like to know how it is like to be thrown tomatoes at you? One of the official rules say;
The tomatoes have to be squashed before throwing to avoid injuries.
....well, I now know by experience that non-squashed tomatoes are quite painful!
(especially when thrown from unexpected angle š šØ )
Thanks for reading and see you next time!
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