La Tomatina Festival, Buñol, Spain

We lounged on the beach in Valencia, went skinny-dipping and sipped sangria on the sand. Even at night when the breeze grew cool and the ocean black, the water held the warmth of the day. These friends. The ones that feel like family, laughed and played and splashed in the waves.

I lay back and allowed my thoughts to drift. Back to the chaos of La Tomatina. I could still feel the tomatoes stinging my eyes and the rancid smell emanating from the stones below my feet.

The stars twinkled above me as the breeze tousled my curls.

My spine shivered and memories of dump trucks that loomed in the narrow streets filled my mind. People were shoved in so tight that there was scarcely room to breathe. Rock hard tomatoes interspersed with furry-rotten ones flew at my face, burning my eyes and bruising my skin.

I took in a breath of fresh salt air.

As the trucks shrank into the distance, the tomatoes, now trampled by thousands of feet were a more manageable soupy mess. People spilled into the road and for the first time I could reach the floor. I scooped up some slop and hurled it. Aiming for Anouk and Rick my toss went wide and found its place in the centre of another, tomato covered face.

The street ran red, clumps caught in the gutters and welled before breaking and flowing away. We lay on our backs, the Spanish sun burning down on us and made tomato angels with our arms and legs. Now thoroughly marinated, we slid down the hill on our bottoms letting the tomato soup soak our underpants. The childlike joy of being covered in food filled every face, laugh and toss.

Another delighted squeal brought me back to my place in the sand. Anouk and Rick, leapt over waves and their backsides caught the moonlight before disappearing again. We were up and running, clothes dotting the sand like sprinkles on fairy-bread.

From the city of really hot sunshine,

Tate x

Tips for Travellers:

- There are a lot of fake La Tomatina tickets. There are also a lot of different La Tomatina tickets. We looked on Trip advisor and booked through their suggested company. You can book tickets through tomatina.es and chose the package with the bus transfer. We didn't book any free sangria or paella and I'm glad we didn't, because it is so disorganised, chances are you will get free sangria or paella anyway. Tickets for 2019 are already on sale, but we bought ours about 1 month in advance, and a lot of places were starting to sell out.

- If you are looking for accomodation in Valencia, book closest to the beach. If you are facing the ocean, left of the City of Art and Science is best as the right side is quite industrial with the harbour and has a lot of container ships.