The Spanish town of Buñol is holding one of the funnest and tastiest festivals known to the world for yet another consecutive year. La Tomatina brings together thousands of lovers of the juicy vegetable from Great Britain, Japan, the US and Spain, who participate in the joyous event.
The festival commences at 10 AM. An army of trucks loaded with cheap Iberian tomatoes arrive. The tomato fight begins as soon as a participant manages to climb up an oily wooden pole and grabs the smoked ham hanging at the top.
Usually, enthusiasts attempt to grab the meat for around 15-20 min., after which they come to terms with their unsuccess, since in all practicality the task is nearly impossible. At that point, the tomato food fight finally begins. Each participant is on their own, with the main goal being for the participants to have fun.
During La Tomatina, competitors are required to wear goggles and rubber gloves to protect themselves. The more agile and resourceful ones among them immediately climb up the trucks and earn the opportunity to throw tomatoes at their opponents from up high. But before any tomato is used as a kind of bomb, it needs to be crushed by hand.
There is one other condition that is not mandatory, that being to tear the clothes of the other festival participants. This usually doesn't happen since the festival lacks aggression in general.
Spectators get to see people covered in tomatoes fighting in the streets of the town and bursting out laughing. Once they lose every ounce of strength, the festival ends.
Then comes the great clean up. Many of the buildings are covered with plastic ahead of time since local residents are fully aware how high tomato projectiles can fly. Manholes are also covered so they don't get clogged with tomato puree.
If there happens to be any tomato juice still remaining somewhere, it's cleaned by firefighters. The entire clean up process after La Tomatina takes about 3 hours but it's well worth it considering the air of joy that reigns throughout the festival.
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