Quick and Easy Salsa, or Part 2

Where did I leave off? Oh yes, being watered down by fire hoses.....Fun times.... After the 9th truck of tomatoes drove through the town the fighting slowed down. A whistle indicated the throwing of tomatoes was to stop. That was when some idiots decided it was a fab time to throw sopping wet clothes at everyone. Cindy got a black eye from an errant shirt. As we were on steps against a wall we literally had over 50 shirts at our feet by the end of la Shirtatina.

The walk out of the square was nothing short of Tailhook. People throwing things at each other, you had to hunch over to avoid getting hit. people were missing shoes,putting on the ones they found on the ground. I saw the wedding dress,lonely and stained with tomatoes on the ground. I really hoped the guy waering it had something else on, cause man was he large!!

We proceeded to the local flat that was kindly holding a garden hose out their window to clean us off. There were 'showers' by the train station but being covered in tomato skin,seeds and muck for another minute was unthinkable. We tossed our shirts and walked to where our clean clothes were in our bathing suits. It was a real trick to get chenged in public, but resourceful as flight attendants are, we managed.

Now for the ugly wait for a return train home in the hot sun. I felt like I was waiting for the last flight out of Saigon. One hour after joining the masses, we were let in the station after the workers checked that we were clean and had shirts on. Luckily, oh so luckily,we got seats. The ride home was quiet, we were all EXHAUSTED and sore.

Once we made it to the sweet relief of the hotel showers, further salsa and seeds fell out of places we never expected. Dinner and cold beers ended the wonderful day that was la Tomatina. Would I do it again?? Probably, but in costume this time!! (I am thinking hula skirt and leis!) It is not often you can put aside all the responsibilities of adulthood and just engage in pure FUN and PLAY for a few hours. This is one of those places. But be ready to get dirty. And do not wear flip flops!!

And Now....La Tomatina Part 1

Since I have taken another holiday and not yet documented the folly of la Tomatina- here goes....


Tomato throwing begins at 11 am. We took a 7am train filled with other tomato throwers. There were men in tuxedos, a fat man in a wedding dress,people dressed like cops,people in togas. (Note to self, plan a team 'theme' if you attend again)The train was as packed like a sardine can, people sitting on floors,on laps, wherever there was a random space. After 1 hour of jostling and bumping, we arrived. Bunyol is truly ( no disrespect intended) a little nothing of a town that comes alive one day a year, then goes to sleep again.





There are places to stow your clean clothes and rucksacks ( well worth the small fee!). Stands popped up with T shirts to commemorate the throw,food and drink to sate you,but curiously no postcards. Maybe the typical thrower ( which would be Australian apparently) is too frugal to buy a card. maybe digital cameras negate the need. We found a spot to sit and ate a sandwich before heading into town.

As we headed down the hill in a sea of strangely dressed folk, 2 caught our eye. A matador and a Spanish seniorita were filming everything. Both were men and the seniorita has the funniest fake teeth in his mouth. He picked up our friend Jim and spun him around. The buildings in the town center were covered in plastic and window shutters were closed. They knew what was coming. Did we??



In the edge of the square was a greased pole about 20 feet tall with a ham on top. The throwing could not begin until someone, anyone got it down. Men and women gave it a go, but the thick white fat slathered on the pole all knoched them off. There were other people climbing a coconut tree nearby which was more humorous as they got up quite high, then splintered the bejesus out of themselves as they slid down. There must be a local 'ringer' for someone climbed up just before 11 am and got the ham down.

Soon the crowd bean to get very loud, those in the front saw the brightly colored trucks each with over a ton of tomatoes in them. Locals sat on the top of the trucks and threw the tomatoes into the crowd. Let the melee begin!! Each truckload was good for about 5 minutes of no holds barred fun!! You threw at your friends, at bald heads, people that had annoyed you on the train, whoever you could hit in the TIGHTLY packed space. We were glad to be wearing the goggles ,it got messy and ugly. In between the truckloads of tomatoes people began throwing hats, shirts ( those HURT!!) even a bra or two was tossed around. The fire department hosed us down with their fire hoses, it cleaned the salsa off and cooled you down in the incredibly packed crowd.