Bunol
TOMATINA
**FYI** I am having the hardest time getting our electronics to work for this blog. We now have my sisters computer so we will see if this is worth lugging around for the rest of this trip..
Let's just talk about the most exciting part of our trip so far. Taylor and I were lucky enough to partake in the giant tomato fight festival, Tomatina!
We woke up at 5:30am to begin our trek form Valencia to Bunol. While hoping our tickets were legitimate, we walked a mile or so to meet up with a group to take a bus to the festival. There is a limited amount of people who get to attend the festival and knew we were at risk of being scammed. Fortunately for us, we weren't!
There were a lot more people waiting than I was expecting!
While waiting for some order in this chaotic moment, we met some lovely people. It was a bit disorganized but eventually everything was worked out. We made it onto a bus and were headed to Bunol.
Once we arrived, we were given bracelets and t-shirts. Tay and I wore black and ended up changing into the white t-shirts they gave us. We were excited to see how red we would be after the fight was over! We got giant cups of sangria and were ready for the festivities to begin!
Only 5 euros each!
Our little group of 6 made our way through the city and towards the pole with the ham on it. The homes and businesses that were along our walk had tarps, wood, etc covering their windows and doors in preparation of the messy fight. After experiencing Tomatina, I completely understand.
We made it to the crowded area where the pole with the ham on it was located. This is a tradition of Tomatina. There is a pole that has been completely greased from top to bottom with a ham stuck at the very top. The idea is, someone has to climb to the top to retrieve the ham. As you can imagine, this is not an easy task and in recent years it is hardly reached. If the ham is retrieved, the person who got to it gets to keep it. Also, if the ham is reached before the time the fight is supposed to start, the fight will start early. No one got to the ham but it was fun to watch them try!
We were in this crowd for quite some time before moving out of the center. It was a becoming more and more packed and we wanted a little bit more breathing/throwing room.
And then the fight began. There were 6 trucks in total that came through the street. Each truck was FILLED with tomatoes and people to smash / throw them. The fight itself lasted exactly one hour. It was such a fun time!
And just like that the fight is over! Everyone is completely covered in tomatoes. As we walked back to our bus we were hosed down by some locals. We were very appreciative of this as the line for the showers were way too long. We really had no choice but to hose down what we could and the let the hot sun dry us off as we had to be "clean and dry" before we could get back on the bus!
Once we were back in Valencia, Taylor and I were still covered in tomato. We smelled pretty bad as well. We had already checked out of out hotel and had to catch a plane in the next couple hours. We asked the hotel if we could use their restroom and did as best as we could to wash up in the sink. Needless to say, we still had tomatoes in our hair when we walked out of the hotel. We were tired and hungry after this ordeal and celebrated by having a couple drinks before we left Valencia.
All in all, this was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Tomatina was high on Taylor's bucket list and I couldn't be more grateful!
Peace & Love,
Savannah