Wednesday 27/8 La Tomatina

So here it was finally, after so many months of waiting: Tomatina. I know Emma at least had been really holding out for this since mid last year.

We got up early, hoping to catch the first bus into town and thus the first train into Bunol. We were up, missed breakfast, and were out at the bus stop with others there by about 7:10am. But, the bus never came. Well, trust the bad Spanish bus system to fail us at a time like this. We waited a tad more then started to worry and moved in the direction of the highway, where some people said there was another bus stop.

As we were walking a car drove past and picked up a few of the people, to take them to a further bus stop. Well, by picked up I mean that he offered a lift and they all just piled in selfishly. The three of us, an Aussie couple and two American guys were left.

We made our way to the highway bus stop and waited for a bus. As the time went on, we got more worried and we flagged down a taxi. But, the numbers didn´t quite match, There were four spots and seven of us in total. We gave up our spot so the four of them could go. Really silly when I thought about it later, considering I was the one who flagged down the taxi in the first place. We´re all just too nice people, I guess.

The bus did arrive about 10 minutes later and we eagerly caught it. It seems that certain busses run a set amount of time late or early, rather than the times set by the timetable. But, they do these late/early arrivals like clockwork. Our bus didn´t take that long, and it got us into the city, on one of the Grande Vias like we did the day before.

I didn´t want to risk us getting a bit lost or taking too long walking, so we jumped into the nearest metro stop which just happened to be across the street. We took a few stops and got to the place where the Renfe trains left to Bunol.

We ran up towards the station. There were metal stairs leading up to the platform, and a huge queue of people waiting to get up and on. We made it up and got our tickets. It was all very chaotic, mostly because the current train was about to leave. We were quick, very quick. We got our tickets and made our way through the ticket gates and around to the other side of the tracks, where the train doors were open. The train was stuffed though and the guards wouldn´t let us on.

Hmmm...

Well, this sucked for a few reasons. First, the next train was only an hour later. Second, the festival started only shortly after that one got in, not giving us much time at all to get ourselves into it and experience it all. At this point Emma was freaking out a bit and was very pessimistic about everything. Dani and I did everything apart from slapping her to try get some rational sense into her.

We ended up having to sit and wait an hour for the train, chatting to all the others that didn´t quite make it, like us. There were lots of people from around the world, as well as some Spaniards. 40 minutes into our wait the train came. I was overjoyed. We got on and found seats, and 15 minutes later it left the station and started on its way to the small town of Bunol.

The trip had a few people on edge, it seemed. Some Spanish guys were loud and in the mood already, but I could see Emma stressing over it all. When we finally made it out and onto the Bunol platform, we speedily made our way out into the town, trying to move faster than the people surrounding us. We´re actually quite a nimble bunch, we are.

The first few things we saw were shops set up near the station, selling cameras, goggles, food, beer, and clothes. We had wanted cameras but gave it up in favour of getting down to the event quicker. At this point it was just coming up on 11am and the fight must have already started.

We traversed the hill, making our way downwards on the winding street. In the distance I could hear shouts, screams; all those general festival noises that you might expect to hear. It seemed like such a long way down. I didn´t know how much further it would take us before we would actually get to the big tomato fight that we were hoping so much to reach.

When we got to the bottom of the hill we made our way through crowds, up to a big solid mass of people. I wasn´t sure if this is what it was. Emma was really uncontrollable at this point because she was so eager to get into it, and she was moving much faster than Dani or I. We had to call her to slow down so we didn´t lose her.

We squeezed through the mass. There were people like us, trying to get further into it, and there were people heading out, covered in tomato. Also in our way, and probably the reason for the crush, were large trucks on their way out, having delivered their loads of tomatoes into the festival. We had to squeeze against walls to avoid them, and also move to the side of the people in front of the trucks, trying to push us back out.

We kept struggling to move through it. After some time the crush became a bit...well, bad. People couldn´t move, and we were all swept along in the direction of travel of the pack. I felt really unsafe at some point, and both Dani and I were worried about Emma. The crush was really scary after a while.

The scraps of tomatoes were being thrown about, but nothing major. Well, except for a seemingly whole tomato that was ditched and hit my neck. It didn´t hurt too much, but got me a bit more aware to watch out for projectile vegetables. I was hoping that this wasn´t what Tomatina was. I thought it was meant to be more like the pictures, with space, and fun, and all that.

Somehow, we got pushed to the side and into another street that wasn´t part of the moving pack of people. Yay, finally. I wanted to take a breather but Emma was off again and almost getting out of sight. I rushed after her. We went through a few more streets and turned and there it was.

Tarp sheets covered walls, and wooden boards were over windows. Locals lined the roofs and poured buckets of water over onto the crowd. Liquid tomato and bits were thrown from person to person. Laughing and shouting was heard. We had reached the tomato fight of Tomatina.

The first place we saw to go was a narrow street, like a ramp, leading up somewhere. There were people moving up and down it, and there was a red stream of tomato/water mix flowing down like a torrenting river. It was crazy. We slowly made our way up the ramp, stopping for ages to throw tomato at each other, at others, and get our own helping back.

What fun!

At the top was a main street where the fight was taking place. The street itself was a river of red. When we stepped into it, it went up to my ankles. Icky but awesome. We stayed there for a long while. It was just so much fun. The tomatoes we picked up to throw was bits and pieces but that was great. Everyone was just so in tune with each other, and having fun and nothing else mattered.

I headed out after a long while, to a side street where water was being poured down. Just after the girls emerged to where I was, we heard a loud noise that signaled the end of the fight. I´ve really never been in anything like that before. I was truly crazy and a once in a lifetime experience (well, you could go again but it wouldn´t have the same effect).

We walked around, through the streets. The locals were there, every few doors down, hosing down passers by. It wasn´t too effective but it was fun, and made you feel like they were having as much fun as we were. I hoped they were because I really didn´t want the festival to be one of those things where the locals would be cursing the damn tourists who came every year and messed up their nice little town.

We found our way to an area set up with temporary showers. We all washed off. Most of the tomato made its way out of our clothes and our hair, but I still didn´t feel very clean at all. We wanted to make our way out and back up to the train station then.

We climbed back up the way we came and into the town. The town was set up like a maze though, and we got very very lost. Everywhere I could see the townspeople starting the cleanup efforts, taking down coverings and hosing or sweeping tomato water into drains.

While walking down a steep street Dani slipped and grazed her elbow. Oh dear. Luckily, there were some friendly locals nearby that helped us to a doctor´s room. There, we waited until he was free and then he cleaned Dani´s injury up. She sat for a bit since she was feeling somewhat lightheaded (probably the reason she fell in the first place). In the meantime Emma was chatting with the doctor and the nurse.

When Dani was adamant about getting up we headed off. We were still a bit lost but we found our way out eventually to where we started. We stopped at a bakery there to get something to eat. At this point we hadn´t had breakfast (since we left quickly in the morning) and no lunch yet. We got a variety of pastries.

We kept making our way up towards the station. The streets were getting a bit more full now with people with beers in hand, and I thought it was probably a good time to head back to Valencia. We bought some cokes to cool us down and we waited in line for the train. Well, by line I mean a huge pack of people trying to get in at once.

It took almost an hour to get through the ticket gates, by which time Dani´s shoulders were a tad burned and we were all tired. Eventually, we made it through and onto the platform. We still had about a half hour wait till the train got in and we could board it.

This time we were on a very full train and we had to sit on the floor. There were mostly clean people around us but some people had somehow got on still messy and I tried to avoid rubbing against them. The ride didn´t take that long, but in our condition of tomato-ness it wasn´t too pleasant.

Back at Valencia we got off and stopped in at a nearby cafe for some coffee. We needed the perking up, and also wanted to wait for the metro queues to calm door a little. We caught the metro back and then the bus to our hotel. The bus however arrived nearly an hour late. Well, mabye we had just missed the previous one.

Before crashing for the evening we stopped in at the supermarket near us and we picked up lots of food and goodies for the night. Back at the hotel we all showered, ate, and really just sealed ourselves in our room for the evening. Sleep was good.