La Tomatina
!!! Bunol,Spain.
La Tomatina Bunol,Spain it's known as Europe's Biggest
Foodfight Organised in a little town called Bunol around 35 Km from Valencia.
The Weapon used for the fight are Tomatoes.For this year it
was estimated around 200,000 Tomatoes were used to Fight.
Well you might be thinking what is this DESI Doode doing in
the La Tomatina Spain Can't he Play HOLI in India.
Well there are many reasons for that but before I get into
reasoning let me make one thing clear HOLI cannot be compared to Tomatina !!!
Holi is at completely Different Level both in my heart and my Mind ...
The Reasons :
1>
When I was kid like in the 8th or 9th Grade or so I used to watch the show in
the discovery channel know as travellers I don't know if guyz remember it or
not. It was like there are 3 people who go around the world to attend special
events. One of their shows was about spain The Bull Run, The Tomatina etc. So
that's when I decided That I had to do this. So reason 1 can be that it was
life long dream it's not because of the film "Zindagi Na Mille Dobara
!!!".
2>
I have moved to Luxembourg because of work so I was not able to Play HOLI this
year and I absolutely Love Holi ... Tears start to roll out of my eyes when I
see the song "Rang Bharse Bheege Chunar Waali Rang Bharse !!! " . So
reason 2 is that I went to tomatina as an Alternative to HOLI (But it was no
where near to HOLI).
3>
And Last but not the least 20 Years from now I want to tell my Kids
"Bachoo Tumhara Baap Bond hain !!!
Woh Tomatina Bhi Khel Ke Aya Hain !!!" to Translate "Kids your dad is
a bond (Metaphorically not literally and yes BOND 007 one.) !!! He has played
the Tomatina !!!". So Reason 3 is for Future Reference of My Greatness to
my kids.
The Arrangements !!!
As I am currently staying and
working in Luxembourg So I don't need a VISA or something special to Enter
Spain. I have a residents permit which I can use to Travel teh Countries of
European Union with some minor checking. So My VISA cost and all was not there.
So the 2 things left were Transport and Accomadation.
For Transport I booked a Low Cost
Airlines called RYAN AIR you are allowed to Carry one Hand Baggage in your
ticket. The Ticket from Brussel Charleroi Airport to Valencia was around 48
Euro's Which was good enough. Brussel CHarleroi is very near to Luxembourg its
like 3.5 Hrs by BUS. The Bus cost's around 17 Euro's more.
For Accomadation I booked a Hotel
in Valencia known as IBIS Hotel it's part of accor group. I did not get any
place to stay in Bunol as there are no hotels or something over there ... Also
even if there is something there it will be pretty expensive. So Valencia was
fine.
This Year that is 2013 there was
something new introduced in Tomatina which I came to know just in time. This
was the first year in the Tomatina history that they charged the Event,it was
because To Many People come to the Festival that the authorities can handle. I
came to know about this just in time as I got one of the last 30 Tickets or
something. I booked it from Spaintastic tours Website as they were also
providing Pick Up and Drop for the event from Valencia so it was pretty good
deal. The Entry to Tomatina as charged by the Counsel of Bunol was 10 Euros and
the Bus Ride from Valencia and Back was around 25 Euro's.
The Travel !!!
We started from here around 3:30 Am
in the morning to catch the shuttle from Luxembourg to Brussel,Charleroi.
From there we caught our flight to
Valencia. I was sleeping all the way what did u expect I was up until 4:00 Am
not sleeping. So forgive me if I don't tell you how the Take Off and Landing
was. Only thing that I know is that we reached Valencia ON TIME because the
RYAN crew kept shouting about it on the Speaker.
Valencia !!!
We Reached Valencia on the 26th Aug
2013. Since it was a Monday and the Tomatina was not Until Wednesday We decided
to roam around the city and meet some more Couch Surfers for the next 2 days.
Well the First day we just walked
around the City Center had my First Pallela (Spanish Dish) and Sangria (Spanish
Cocktail) Well the Cocktail was good it was Sweet and it had like a Strawberry
Flavour. However the DISH the Pallela well imagine a Biryani Without it being spicy and hot but only the Color and Chicken Pieces Floating on Top of the Rice well it’s a
pretty good. Well firangs (People outside india)
please don't Judge the pallela based on my Review well I am from India and we
are used to having some high quality stuff (BURN !!!). Moving on then we walked
along the centre for some time looked at the amazing buildings and returned to
our Hotel.
The second day that was 27th Aug
2013 Tuesday was basically the same we went out had some sightseeing we went to
the Mordern Part of Valencia which is like this Completely new city with really
awesome building. We went into Europe's Largest Aquarium in Valencia well it
was expensive for 28 Euro's but it was good.First time I saw a white whale for
real. That was nice. Also saw trainers feeding the seals that was nice
too.However the highlight of the aquarium were No! No! not the CRAB PEOPLE but
THE SHARKS !!!! Yea !!! Just to see The Great White Moving easily over your
Head was just simple Awesome.
After the aquarium we met some
couchsurfers who were also in valencia for the Tomatina festival and here comes
the weird part Not even a single one was from Spain. It's like Holi being
played only by Firang's (WTF!!! No Chanas in HELL !!!). There was this girl
from Israel,3 guyz from Egypt and they were sitting and talking to each other
that was kewl !!! I was feeling like there rite at that moment that there could
be a thing called as World Peace !!! Met a few Desi's too 2 Guyz from Tamil
Nadu and 1 from Nashik. So all of us decided that we will meet tomorow at the
event and we all will be together well we met nobody at the Event Except for
this German Guy and his Sister.
The Day of the Tomatina !!!
The Day of the Tomatina began Early
as we had to get up Early to catch the BUS. We got up around 4:45 Am to catch
the Bus as I had booked the 5:30 Am bus.
We had to go to the Jaquin sorolla
Station to catch the BUS to bunol. It took the Bus around 1 Hr to Reach Bunol.
My first impression of the Town was that it was so small Unlike any town in
India it was very small, The Streets were narrow, A lot of proper houses, a
very few apartment buildings I had a feeling that it was a very small town to
host an Event of this magnitude.The Spaintastic Tour Guys had setup Camp on the
Garden of an Apartment Building Complex. We had to register first showing our
ID and Proof, This part pissed me off because all over their website they were
crying and shouting warnings that if you don't bring your ID you will not be
allowed to Enter and all that bull.And when they were checking the Proof they
did not check anything Bloody Shit !!! and I had bought my passport as proof
Arrgghh !!! So to save my passport from getting lost or spoilt I had to take a
so called locker so that I can put my passport safe I also bought a spare Short
so that I can Use it for the Tomatina and then throw it away.So after waiting
in a long queue for putting all our Stuff in the Locker we went into the town
as I had said before it was small Town with narrow streets and with white
Painted walls of all the houses.
The Tomatina !!!
It was around 8:30 Am in the
morning and crowds of people were rushing into the streets of bunol.Most of
them dressed fancily like Little Red Riding Hood,Some as Tomatoes,I also saw
the Mario Brothers 2 doodes from Japan Dressed as Mario Brothers that was
good.The Crowd was from all over the world
Australia,England,US,Canada,Brazil,Argentina,Nigeria,Egypt,South
Africa,Russia,Japan,China,etc. So we were following the crowd deep into Bunol
then we got to point when we could go no futher so we stopped over there in the
middle of the street in with lot more people crowding up behind us and we were
then STUCK at that place so we decided that this is the Place that we will MAKE
OUR STAND.
The Grease Pole !!!
Well I had done some research on
Tomatina and I guess I had forgotten about this before the trucks filled with
Tomatoes Come in there is this contest.The Contest is that there will be a
Giant Piece of HAM Hoisted on a POLE and people have to climb the pole and pull
down the HAM.Well the Catch is that the POLE is completely covered with
Grease.The Pole was bit far away other wise I would have tried to get on it
also I did not want to loose my group it was too crowded that I would not have
made it back to my Group.However I was able to see the whole contest from Far
away and you could see all the People Trying Desperately to get to the top
using someones Face,Neck,Back as a stepping stone to get to the Top.It was
around 9:30 Am and we were still still waiting for the Trucks someone told us
that it would take another hour or so. So we stood there watching the Pole
Contest and laughing about when suddenly it started.
Small drop of landed on my Cheek I
thought that it could be someone throwing around Sangria or something Like
that,Then an another on my head and before you know it was pouring down from
the Heavens the Gods had decided to add some Awesomeness to the Festival,Even
before the Trucks with tomatoes came we had started the festival. The Rain
Started pouring down Heavily the people were all wet specially the girls
started to look reaaly hot all WET. Then suddenly at a distance it started I
could only faintly hear it and I was trying to recollect where I heard it
before it was the greates chorus of all time from the song "Seven Nation
Army - White Stripes" and in a matter of seconds 20000 people joined in it
was absolutely AMAZING "OOOOO AAAA AAAA OOOOO OOOOOO".
The Tomatoes have Arrived !!!
It was about 12:00 noon or 11:30 am
I dun't know what time it was I don't remember the time as I did not care I was
having too much FUN. There was group Australians behind us who were realy into
it one of them Pointed to the Direction and Shouted "MEN !!! Prepare for
Battle !!! FOR TONITE WE DINE IN HELL !!! " the others and I responded
with "AHU AHU AHU " then I looked at the direction where he had
pointed and there they were THE TRUCKS !!! THe whole crowd had gone WILD and
there was frenzy people pusing shuving to be near the TRUCKS ... the Organizers
pushing everyone back to make way for the TRUCKS .... and the people on the
TRUCKS Hailing Tomatoes at US. Suddenly the same Australian Guy shouted again
"Men !!!! Give me nothing !!! BUT TAKE FROM THEM EVERYTHING !!!" we
started catching Tomatoes and started throwing it back to the people on the
BUS. I think got one aunty rite on the HEAD and on guy on the Eye YEAAAHHH !!!
AHU AHU AHU !!!!.The Truck stopped right in front of us and opened its behind
to let some tomatoes come out and that was all the information that the people
needed the whole crowd pounced on the Tomatoes and started throwing it
everywhere. There were no more
friends,Brothers,Sisters,Wives,Husbands,Sons,Daughters there were only Targets.
Even I did not hold my self behind ... I gathered around 5 - 6 tomatoes in my
hand and shouted the famous Indian War Cry "HAR HAR MAHADEV !!!! "
and Hit the first person I saw it was an Middle Aged Aunty ... Hit her right on
her face .... But I did not have any regrets or remorse because this was WAR
and Everything was Fair ... "BRING ON THE TOMATOES !!!!". Then The
Aussies pointed out a guy standing on a pedestal he was built and shooting with
a camera with no shirt and showing off his 4 Packs and his muscle one of the
Aussies shouted "Let send that MF Back to the GYM" we all replied
"AHU AHU AHU" within seconds the guy was hit on every single part of
his body and he felt the pain believe me guys he felt the PAIN "REVENGE OF
THE UNFITS".
The Second Truck came and everybody
was pushed aside the back of the Truck opened and they dumped some tomatoes on
the ground there was a Pile of people who wanted to pick up the tomatoes it was
such a crowd that people who are first to pick up the tomatoes ended up in the
pile of Tomatoes ... it was pure chaos and I was loving every bit of it. The
chaos continued for 2 more trucks then we came to know it was Over ... I
thoought that it went on for the whole day but sadly I was mistaken. In the
chaos my friend lost his camera that meant that there are no pictorial proof of
me going to the Tomatina other than the Wrist Band that I wore to get in. So
then people started moving out of the city.
We waited there for sometime to
search for the Camera and all of a sudden from no where someone hit me with
Tomatoe filled T-SHIRT right on my Head.WTF !!!.
I turned to see it was and I found
no one so then I realized that it was my turn now. So I wrapped the T-SHIRT UP
into a wet tomato filled Ball chose my target it was this girl who was on this
Pedestal who just sitting there and throwing tomatoes whatever she could catch
a cute little thing ... just playing along with the water,and the rain and then
BAAAMMMMM !!!! rite on her Head the T-SHIRT Landed. Yeaaahhhh !!! I got my
revenge ... I was Happy and I now I could go ....
The Long Waits !!!
After the festival we had to get
our clothes back and eat the free payeya and sangria and believe after all that
chaos you just don't to wait in a queue.
However we had to and that too for
2 hrs to just our clothes back the organizers had messed it up and people had
to search the clothes in a big mess.
We Finally got it then ate the
payeya and sangria. caught the bus and head back to our hotel.
Lesson Learnt for
Tomatina !!
Well in this Trip I learnt the following :
Ø
Always go with a Friend.
Ø
Always make freinds before the Tomatina so you will have more targets during the event.
Ø
Valencia is a very beautiful city spend some time exploring it and meetingnew people.
Ø
Wear clothes to the Event that you don't want.
Ø
Just take the Tickets to the Event and xerox
copy of the passport.
Ø
Don't keep anything in the locker go to the
event empty handed just the ticket and the copy of ID proof.
Ø
Rent a car if possible and park it outside bunol
its better this way because then after the event you will not have to wait for
the BUS.
!!! And Last but NOT
THE LEAST !!!
Absolutely Show NO MERCY
because you will not get any.
