After a short drive from Benicarlo, we made our way into the random town of Bunol. After spending about an hour, in 40 degree heat, trying to find our campsite, we eventually did and made ourselves at home in the Bunol municipal grounds. We did a walk to the shop to stock up on ice and beer for the next 2 days.
The campsite was a lot of fun after making friends with our neighbours which included some Germans, Australians, Kiwis, Brits and Canadians. I don't think we would have had as much fun if we didn't meet up with these guys...
After having some predrinks in the campsite, we missioned into the town to see where the tomato fight would be taking place. Everyone who owns a shop or house in the tomato fight street had tables and chairs out enjoying drinks and dinner. They were loving the tourists and there was such a nice vibe in the town. This is obviously the only thing that happens in Bunol, so they certainly do make the most of it. After making our way through the street, we went up to the sports field for the pre-party. The music only started at midnight and goes through to the next day. A fun concept, but only about 200 people bought tickets for this so this was a bit of a let down. We made our way back through the busy street, enjoying some Spanish band on the way and made our way back to the campsite.
Lauren woke up extremely early the next day out of pure excitement and gave me a beer for breakfast. We enjoyed a couple of beers for pre-drinks before the fight before meeting up with our new friends and made our way to the centre of Bunol. What absolute chaos!!! We managed to stick together for the most part and eventually found a spot close to an offloading zone and in sight of the greased pole. The hour before the tomato fight, people can try climb up a greased pole. There is a leg of ham at the top and the first person to get the ham gets to keep it. This unfortunately hasn't been successful for the last 4 years now but it is entertaining to watch. There was a lot of singing and water getting sprayed from above before the gun shot went off that signals the start of the tomato fight. The trucks somehow make their way through the streets and all carnage breaks loose. What happens in the next hour can only be explained as pure bliss. We have never had so much fun in our lives and everything was just caked in tomato with a tomato juice river running down the street.
At the end of the fight another gun shot goes off and everyone forces their way out. We went back to the campsite, showered up and joined all our fellow campers for some afternoon drinks sharing stories about our home countries, travels, some politics and some broken windows...
I would love to go back to Bunol again to re-experience this tomato fight. It really was a fantastic 2 days, and to all our new friends, thanks so much for making it even better. We are looking forward to crossing paths in our travels in the future....
Next stop - Switzerland (something like a 1600km drive-joy)