Beneficio

We were lazy. And there were four of us (Johannes, Sam, Ori and myself). So we caught a bus. From Valencia to Orgiva. From there we walked up to Beneficio. Friggin hot walk too! Or Jo and I walked, Sam and Ori hitched up. Actually, Jo and I walked up and past it before we realised what we had done. Then we walked back down and met the others.

I entered down a dusty trail. A driveway with sparse vegetation on the sides heading towards a house? But just when it seemed I was to ring the door bell, the path swerved off up to the right around a crumbling cliff side. Up and over a slight rise and I found my eyes settling on a carpark full of decrepit cars and campers and rubbish surrounded on each side by trees. Was this what a hippy camp was like? I had expected nature and colours and laughter (o:

We wandered on (Sam, Ori, Jo and myself) and soon we had passed the carpark, passed an aptly named Shit Pit 1 and had entered a forest of gums. Up we travelled, through and out of the forest and on into an open grass field. Further we pushed still. We had heard of a big communal kitchen somewhere and it was here we hoped to meet some others and learn a little before finding a spot to build our home.

Further on we came across a big house. Was this the kitchen? We went to say hey and found it was someones house, haha. Edgar's. But he has been there for years and was able to answer a few questions.

Still summer in Spain, we walked up to the local watering hole and jumped right in (o: Ahhhh! So good! Quick soak and then back to the gums to find a place to nest for the night. An open spot near the big lodge served us well and with Ori's tent up, the rest of us settled around to pass a cold but soundly slept night nonetheless.

Before we settled down we did head to the big lodge for dinner. This is a place everyone meets at night. We arrived thinking "cooking? Is this the communal kitchen?" We sat down and observed for a bit first to see how the cooking was done. Only no one was cooking? Figuring something was amiss, we decided on muesli for us and soon headed off to bed as most people were quiet and ill disposed to talk (not that we tried much, if at all, ourselves).

Valencian beach

The med. Almost a year in Europe and we had only now managed to reach the med for a swim. The moment we hit the beach we were in. Bags thrown to ground with tshirts, pants and shoes following in quick succession and making a haphazard line towards the water edge.

And it was B U T Full! So warm. So refreshing. Keep in mind we are still covered in tomato. The locals hoses had done their best but behind our ears, down our backs and in all those other not so often seeing sun places, we were still nicely tomatoed.

Quick scrub, bit of a swim and we hit the beach for dinner. Tortilla, tomatoes, ice cream, and tinto de verrano.

As dusk settled upon us, we drank heartily from our 50c wine casks and lent back into the sand to enjoy the suns setting. We threw up the tent, bundled in our valuables, locked it up and wandered off to say hello to the other groups of wanderers lazily sprawled out on the beach around us.

The night passed with us wandering a good while. Meeting and greeting a heap of other people, watching scores of skinny dippers strutting their stuff and then, after Sam and Jo were told they could not enter the bars (the bouncer didn-t like their beach style of dress with jandals and shorts), and I found myself falling asleep in the next cirlce of people we came to, we all decided to hit the sand and steal a few winks.

La Tomatina!!!!!!

48 000 people
100 tonnes of tomatoes...

Woken by Germans
Pump up the tortoga
Wander in with German girls and Hawaiian guy
Get place by water / cold
Move to more tomatoes / less water
Greased pole / Each guy wants to be he man / never gotten
Crush at end as everyone chases final truck
Sandals, jandals, shoes lost, glasses, passports, wallets lost
End with locals washing with hoses
Head to Valencia to find german girls
Free kegs on way to train station
Crazy train with drunk kiwis and russians
reach beach, time to relax!

Bonyul

Jo turns up
meets us in town
crazy arm wrestle kids
buy some oregano
rides / bored looking girl / good laughs
tomorrow is fight

Time to ditch and make a move to hitch

Hitch to Bonyol
Lift to edge of Portugal / one day
Lift the width of Spain / one day
Turn up, find park to eat, meet Ori, head to town, find camp place on way (sewage, figs, blackberry, orange, tomatoes), go to town, festival,