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| The gorgeous view from our plane, 33,000 ft above sea level! |
The sound of a woman's voice on the loudspeaker woke me up from my slumber. Chris tapped me on the shoulder and told me we were just about to land. I looked out the window to the beautiful scenery of Valencia. We packed up our items for landing, and waited until it was okay to get up. We had landed in Valencia Airport. Valencia airport was incredibly beautiful and large. Looking around at the other people reuniting with their families made me a little homesick, but helped me take my mind off it. We ate quickly, then headed to our rental car. As we drove out of the parking deck, sunlight flashed in our eyes as we took in the beautiful view around us. After our drive, we checked into our hotel, Hotel Expo, dropped of all of our luggage, then immediately hit the road to attend the La Tomatina Festival! The festival lasts all day, so of course we spent all day celebrating! We traveled to the small town of Bunol in Valencia, which took roughly around 35 minutes.
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The beautiful small town of Bunol in Valencia.
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We were all dozing off when suddenly we heard the loud screech of burning rubber, and our car lurching forward abruptly. Large trucks filled to the brim with tomatoes whizzed by our car. Just the sight of them had our adrenaline pumping. As we arrived, we saw a mass of people swarming to the town center, so we joined the pack. Tyler was becoming very nervous at the fact that his new Asics might be ruined, but we warned him beforehand. Weather: The weather was also very nice since September had finally arrived, which meant the cooler air was now coming in. Valencia also has mild temperatures year-round, with lowest temperatures being around 50 degrees in winter. We were waiting in a crowd of people with crushed tomatoes in our hands (to prevent injuries), patiently waiting to hear the gunshot. I had my tomatoes trained on Chris and Rohan, ready to pelt them first. A countdown started as we all went into a defensive stance. Suddenly, the gunshot went off with a loud "bang!". Before I could even move, a tomato pelted me right in the face. I wiped it off and saw that it was Mason. Laughing, we spent the rest of the day pelting each other with tomatoes. I guess you could say we had a "smashing" day. The festival was extremely vibrant with people constantly pelting each other with tomatoes.
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| La Tomatina Festival in full-swing |
It was nothing like I had ever seen before. It is believed that this holiday once started because a mob of angry people attacked a councilman with tomatoes. People enjoyed the feat so much that they decided to continue it, even to this day. The festival had completely worn us out, so we decided to stop at a nearby restaurant for food. We came across a soup called Gazpacho, a meal indigenous to Spain. The refreshing bowl of soup left us with lots of energy to complete the vibrant celebrations of La Tomatina. After a couple more hours of fighting, we again heard the loud "bang!", signaling the end of our battle. Soon enough, fire trucks came to hose down the streets. A kind resident of Bunol offered to wash us down, which we graciously accepted. Considered to be the "World's Largest Food Fight", with over 100 metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes, and 20,000 people waiting to fight, La Tomatina is definitely a festival you do not want to miss. Again worn out from all the festivity of the day, we decided to grab a quick bite for dinner, then head back to the hotel to finally get some rest. We all had a great time, maybe except for Tyler, whose new Asics had been drenched in tomato juice. That gave us a good laugh.
We are waiting for many more fun events to come!
History: La Tomatina
There is no one definitive version of how La Tomatina started,
but the tradition of a tomato fight has taken place in Bunol since at least 1944, although the festival was banned during much of the Franco years for having no religious significance - it was revived with gusto in the 1970s. Theories on why the first tomato fight took place include a food fight among friends, a juvenile class war between bare-footed Trotskyist macarras and upper class pijos from Madrid on summer vacation, a volley of tomatoes from bystanders at a carnival parade, the rubbishing of a bad musician, a democratic protest against the city council and the ensuing aftermath of an accidental truck spillage.
(From: Barcelona-Life.com)
Indigenous Meal: Gazpacho
Gazpacho has ancient roots.
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| Gazpacho |
There are many theories of origin, including as a soup of bread, olive oil, water, and garlic that was introduced a long time ago. It dates all the way back to the Roman times in the Iberian Peninsula. Over time, it has become much more popular, and there have been many variations made. The recipe is listed below:
Roughly chop the cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, and red onions into 1-inch cubes. Put each vegetable separately into a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until it is coarsely chopped. Do not over process! After each vegetable is processed, combine them in a large bowl and add the garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix well before serving. The longer the gazpacho sits, the more the flavors develop.
(From FoodNetwork.com)
but the tradition of a tomato fight has taken place in Bunol since at least 1944, although the festival was banned during much of the Franco years for having no religious significance - it was revived with gusto in the 1970s. Theories on why the first tomato fight took place include a food fight among friends, a juvenile class war between bare-footed Trotskyist macarras and upper class pijos from Madrid on summer vacation, a volley of tomatoes from bystanders at a carnival parade, the rubbishing of a bad musician, a democratic protest against the city council and the ensuing aftermath of an accidental truck spillage.
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