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Published: September 5th 2005
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Wow how can I describe LA TOMATINA except ABSOLUTELY CRAZY MADNESS. How to describe it all. It was sooo crazy. Firstly I´ll start with the tour group I decided to do to participate in it. We all checked into the hotel on Tuesday & I immediately made friends with my room mates who were some crazy fun girls. The group of nearly a hundred was mainly made up of Aussies and Kiwis an a smattering of other nationalities. We started with a pub crawl through Valencia which was not bad but I had been to a couple the night before and I wasn´t really up for drinking again but it was still cool, met heaps of people. headed home around 1ish to get up bright and early for the big day.
31st August 2005. Got up and was at breakfast at 7 for a huge buffet which for those who know me well wouldn´t be surprised for me to say that I took full advantage of it. 7.30 we all trekked off to the train station for the 1 hour trip to Buñol. The train was absolutely packed but i don´t think anybody cared, half were tired or hung
over. On arrival in Buñol it was like cattle moving through the town all you could do was go with the crowd. By the time we got to the main square it was already packed but we did manage to get right in the middle.
The beginning They start with a big pole which has a ham hanging at the top. People try to climb up to get the ham. When the ham is finally obtained the festivities start the only problem is that the pole is really slippery and people pull each other down as they want to be the one who grabs it. This part took about an hour so it was interesting but it meant patience was in order. Once the ham was won it all started. Firstly all the boys started ripping off each others t-shirts. Seeing this happen most of the girls took theirs off because no one wanted to risk losing a bikini top while having t-shirt being ripped off. Then the t-shirts were thrown everywhere. At 11.00 the gun went off and the water started. People with firehoses in a cage just started squirting everybody. Crazy stuff. The problem with that was that the ripped t-shirts became wet and when tied up in a knot really hurts when thrown at your head. At 12.00 the next gun goes off and then the real fun begins.
LA TOMATINA
A huge dump truck comes through with people on the back throwing tomatos at the crowd. We some how got a great place in the middle of it all and ended up with the truck right next to us with the people just pelting us with tomatos. My god it was bizarre. As the hour goes by a total of 6 dump trucks go through the crowd and everybody is just going crazy. Tomatos being crushed on your head by strangers. Friends just slamming tomatoes into your face. Weird as. Oh yeah and just to add to the craziness and we musn´t forget all those lovely Spanish men who thought that they would add our fun by trying to rip all the girls bikini tops off. Don´t worry I did manage to keep mine but I had to be vigilant. hard work though. At 1.00 the gun goes off again and it all stops. We head back to the station through deep tomato slush and try our best to get hosed off by the locals. You can´t get on the train unless you´ve had some sort of wash. The town is covered in tomatoes. It is just red mushy stuff everywhere. On returning back to the hotel all you could hear were showers. I think I washed my hair 4 times and even then that didn´t seem enough. You would think you were clean then you would find a tomato bit somewhere, they seemed to constantly seep out of ears though. Grose. I had to throw out my clothes, I really don´t think they could of been saved and really I didn´t want to try. I had intended a siesta following my return to cleanliness but that didn´t happen. the afternoon went really quick and before you knew it it was time for dinner. We went to the beach which was lovely with this weather. The only problem was everywhere served seafood and as most of you are aware I am a vegie. I decided to opt for the tortilla. Well as filling as that sounded they are quite different to back home, basically I had an omlette with some chips on the side. oh well but the sangia was fabulous. After dinner we headed to this great club right next to the beach. It went all night and played heaps of different music. There was a bit of salsa which I got into. They sort of did this follow the leader type line dance with salsa which was fun. Especially watching the guys from our groupl with no coordination. We were the only tourists there which was great.
Well we partyed on there until sun rise and headed back to pack and get organised for check out. As you may have noticed sleep was not mentioned there at all, basically I´m writing this blog after being up since 6 o´clock yesterday morning. I spent the day finallising my trip to Seville and lying on the beach. I tell you it´s a hard life here.
Well I´m about to board my bus to Seville so I will update you all following the next leg of my journey. So it is time for me to say Adiós to you all and to Valencia.
P.S. as soon as I can I will send on the photos of the tomato fight.
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