This week I participated in what proved to be my messiest Life List item yet. The tomato-only fight, La Tomatina is the world’s biggest food fight. Every year, the small town of Buñol, Spain, closes down one of its main streets and drops off 10 truck loads of tomatoes. The result is all out tomato warfare.

Tips for Participating in La Tomatina

  • Stay the night in Valencia (AirBnB is a great cheap option!) so you can enjoy the city and travel the 30 minutes to Buñol the day of the event
  • Don’t use the official transportation. I used Spaintastic for my event and bus tickets. While they did get me from point A to point B, it was a very long day. If I could do it again, I’d get my own transportation (a rental car) from Valencia to Buñol.
  • Don’t wear anything of value. Everything you bring will get soaked and trampled.
  • Expect to be squeezed in tight if you choose to stay on the main street during the event. If crowds are not your thing, avoid this event.
  • Bring friends! While everyone I met at the event was friendly, it was much better having friends with me to to share the experience.
  • Only spend about a third of your time on the main street. I found that the most fun part of the day was food fighting in one of the side streets that ran perpendicular to the main crowd.
  • Don’t bring camera accessories. Due to the danger of an actual fight breaking out, police were strict about confiscating anything they deemed to be weapon-like. (This included a telescoping pole I brought for my camera)
  • Bring extra clothes. The organizing groups offer paid lockers. It is well worth your money to store extra clothes and your valuables.

Video Notes

Ultimately, my goal is to become a world class storyteller. Right now I am focusing on video storytelling. I still have a lot of work to do and I know the way to get there is by filming and editing an incredible amount of original videos.

For this week’s step forward, I decided to go with a different video format than my usual instructional format. My criticism with this week’s addition is that it lacked a story. It did a good job of expressing an emotion to a goofy jingle but it didn’t show any change or development. Even still, I am happy I made forward progress. Let me know what you think of this intentionally Point of View driven format in the comments below.