A fun fight with tomatoes

I  came to know about La Tomatina for the first time when I was a child, while browsing through channels. I was amazed to see people throwing tomatoes at each other and having fun, but I had no clue what it was and where it was happening as I was too young to understand TV programmes. Later, I saw the festival again in films and news. After growing up, I set it as one of my life goals to take part in it. After graduation, when I got a chance to study in Poland, the first thing that came to my mind was this, since Spain is also a Schengen country. So, I started doing part-time jobs and saving money to travel to Spain.

Bibin Raphael

Tomato fight
La Tomatina has been taking place on the last Wednesday of August at Bunol, since 1945. It originated from a quarrel between local boys who pelted fruits and vegetables at each other. The boys came back next year on the same day and engaged in a preplanned quarrel. They had brought tomatoes with them. Although the police stopped them, the tomato fight went on to become a tradition. Even though the festival was banned in late 50s, the protests gave way to making it official in 1957. In 2002, it was declared as Festivity of International Tourist Interest by the Secretary, Department of Tourism. However, due to overcrowding, participation has been restricted through tickets only since 2013. The festival lasts for only two hours and is strictly monitored by the police.

Train to Buñol
I flew down to Barcelona and spent the day touring around Camp Nou, Gothic Quarter and other beautiful parts of the city. As a budget traveller, I got in a night bus to Valencia so that I don't have to spend for accommodation in Barcelona. I reached Valencia by early morning and took the first train to Buñol. The train was full of tourists, all dressed in white T-shirts and carrying small bags that contain action cameras, selfie sticks etc. I reached Buñol by half past 7 in the morning. The streets were almost getting filled up with people who were queuing up to collect tickets and lockers. A party mood had already captured the entire area.

 As I had booked my tickets online from the official site, I could skip the long lines, but had to collect the bands from the venue. There were also waterproof cases for sale at the venue, which are a must if one wants to take mobile phones and other valuables inside.

The festival happens on a narrow street near the town square. I got into the premises with my action camera and mobile phone inside the waterproof case. The welcoming and friendly nature of the local people of Buñol needs a mention. This also helped me forget my nervousness and tension of being alone  and I was soon imersed in the spirit and fun of the festival. I understood that everyone present there is only concerned about fun and that there is no reason to stand out of the crowd.

The festival starts with getting a slice of ham hung on the top of a greasy pole in the town square. The goal is to climb the pole and retrieve the slice while being showered by water. A siren rings by 11 am and four trucks full of tomatoes entered the streets and then began the real fun. Around 150 tonnes of tomatoes were thrown at around 25,000 people present during the festival. The tomatoes used for the festival are low grade and are generally not used for consumption. The festival ends with another siren at 1 pm. By the end, one will be ‘tomatified’ from top to bottom as you can see in my photos.

Locals pump water and arrange public showers for the tourists. They also sell authentic Spanish dishes and drinks like paella, sangria etc to quench the thirst and feed the stomach, which is very essential after a n action-packed two hours of  pelting tomatoes on people around you. After two hours of fight with tomatoes, hunger took me down, and I devour a portion of paella which tasted very similar to biryani. Apart from this, parties are also arranged by the officials. At 3 in the evening, I took a train to Madrid, from where I flew back home the day after.

Altogether it was a lifetime experience. The people who attend the festival make it great. Surprisingly, there were many tourists from Asia, which shows the popularity of this European festival across the continents.