The,Biggest,Tomato,Fight,the,W travel,insurance The Biggest Tomato Fight in the World
Torres del Paine is among the biggest of Chiles national parks, occupying almost 600,000 acres (242,000 ha) of land in the south on the border with Argentina. It is also among the most important, receiving a significant proportion of domes Like any American, traveling occasionally is just what I love doing and I bet you share the same stuff with me. But traveling does not mean that you would be safe. Escaping from our job and other stressful activities is just something that w
If throwing squashed tomatoes turns you on, I know just theplace for you. Bunyol, near Valenciahosts its annual La Tomatina festival, and it has to be the biggest Tomatofight in the world. The festivities begin early in the week, but the main eventoccurs on the last Wednesday of August around 12 Oclock. High noon in aValencian village; I can just imagine Gary Cooper walking through the townsquare with his tomatoes cocked. This absolutely absurd, wonderful happening has grown to beone of the most popular Spanish festivals, with people visiting from all partsof the world. Its refreshing to know that there are still enough nutty peoplearound, to turn a sleepy village of 9,000 people into a horde of tomato stainedlunatics numbering 30,000. Every hotel and guest house room is reserved duringthe event, so either book early or drive in on the day. Alternatively, youcould take one of the hourly trains from Valencia, which is some 40kilometres distant. Bear in mind, that if you are using public transport or arented car, it may be a good idea to take a change of clothing. The sheerweight of numbers means that you are unlikely to get anywhere near the townsquare, but dont worry, the party spills over into the adjoining streets, andif you really want to be pelted by soft tomatoes, Im sure youll find a way. Ifyou do manage to find yourself in the town centre at the start of proceedings,youll witness the strange custom of trying to retrieve a ham from the top of agreased pole, which is supposed to signal the beginning of the fight, but inreality it is very rarely claimed. This is just another quirky part of thisvery unusual festival. As is often the case, no-one knows for sure how this bizarreevent took root, but the most popular theory dates it back to 1945, when theannual parade of Gigantes y Cabezudos was passing through the village.Apparently, some youths attempted to join the procession, but only succeeded intoppling one of the big-headed giants. The enormous figure took exception, losthis cool and took the route of retribution, but being the lumbering monsterthat he was, couldnt catch the youngsters. As a final act of humiliation, theboys took some tomatoes from a nearby vegetable stall, threw them at the ogreand kept doing so until police arrived to quell the herbaceous outburst. Thatshould have been it, but the following year, the youngsters returned to thetown square with their own tomatoes, and started the whole thing again. Oncemore the police had to intervene. The town council tried to nip the trend inthe bud, but the custom grew and grew into the biggest tomato fight in theworld. The only person who managed to halt the tradition was Franco, who bannedit because it had no religious content, but after his death the festivalreturned as did many other activities which had been stopped during histenure. There are in fact a few rules applied to LaTomatina by the town council. Bottles are forbidden and it is frowned upon torip clothes, a rule which is ignored wholesale, whether the victim is male orfemale. It is also considered good practice to crush tomatoes before they arethrown. The wearing of eye protection is encouraged, though not mandatory, andits a good idea to keep a wide berth of the lorries that deliver the tomatoes.The final rule is that you cease throwing tomatoes immediately upon hearing thesecond rocket that signals the end of the fight. When the event is over and the streets are hoseddown by fire trucks, the acidity of the tomatoes ensures that the roads andpavements are perfectly clean for another year.
The,Biggest,Tomato,Fight,the,W