La Tomatina = insanity covered in tomato sauce

Wednesday, August 26th

Annie, Jordan, Koke, Dini, and I went to one of the craziest and most famous festivals in Spain - La Tomatina. Basically it is a huge tomato fight that occurs annually in the city of Bunol, which is about 30 minutes outside of Valencia. This year around 45,000 people attended and more than 200,000 pounds of over ripe tomatoes were thrown. The event occurs at 11 am and a lot of people go the night before to party through the night and up until the event. All of us were extremely exhausted after spending several festive days in Valencia so we made the VERY wise decision to get a good night's sleep and go in the morning. We arrived around 9:15 and it was the perfect time to be there.

Unsure of what to expect we prepare ourselves with an early morning drink (I think the only other time I have consumed alcohol before noon is in Norman on a game).

Team Blue (because of the color of our goggles)...nice and clean and ready to go.

Koke, Dini, Xamu (who came the night before and was definitely not walking as straight as the rest of us at this point), Me, Jordan and Annie. We parked the car, had a few drinks and then headed towards the street where all the action would take place.

I have never been in such an intense crowd. If you can imagine the most packed place you have ever been (such as in the middle of a mosh pit in a concert) and multiply that by about 100, that's what it was like. There was one point where I couldn't really breathe because my ribcage was so compacted and I was fearful that if I fell I would be trampled. Thank goodness Annie and I were there with the guys and the four of us just held on to each other like our lives depended on it (I believe they did). Once 11 am came, huge trucks came through the streets to dump and throw the tomatoes over the side. I had thought it was crazy before but at this point we had to make room in the streets (in which we previously couldn't move because it was so tightly packed) for the huge trucks to come through. Crazy. But we survived, had a lot of fun, threw a lot of tomatoes (at least Jordan did...I never did quite have the courage to bend over and pick one up. I just held on to him. I did throw a couple that he handed me though), and after we were completely covered in tomato juice and pulp followed the migration of people towards the river to bathe and play. It was a very unique and fun and crazy experience!

Tomato Fight!!

Intense crowd and the trucks that came and dumped the tomatoes. I believe at least 5 trucks came through.

The perfect expression to describe the madness.

Making sure we didn't lose each other.

The aftermath as the crowd begins to dissipate.

Cleaning off in the river.

We changed clothes, drove back to Valencia and went directly to the pool at Dini’s house. We all found a nice place in the shaded grass and took a nap for an hour or so and then played in the pool and ate. What a great Spanish day.

We were exhausted!