El Salvador - Great Balls of Fire!

August 31

Hello everyone!

Every year, the people in a small Salvadorean town commemorate a volcanic eruption. They do this in the obvious way…by lobbing balls of fire at each other. 

Bolas de Fuego

El Salvador's very unique 'Fireball Festival'

Welcome to Nejapa, a provincial town which has little reason to visit for 364 days of the year. On August 31st, however, it becomes the centre of one of the more extraordinary festivals in the world, let alone El Salvador. Bolas de Fuego: The Fireball Festival.

A parade through the town before the fire-throwing

Even the telegraph poles show the connection!

It is the town’s very interesting way of remembering the eruption of El Playon in 1658. This forced the village to evacuate and relocate to its current location in Nejapa. There’s also a more religious story about how the place’s saint, Jerome, fought the devil with fire balls during the eruption.

The church is the main building in the town

A statue of a fire-thrower

Whichever origin story you prefer, its accompanying festival has seen fire flung up and down its main street since 1922. You may have realised that it makes this year quite a special occasion: the 100 year anniversary.

It hasn't happened since 2019 due to Covid

I think this poster details the two 'origin stories'

A large group of us went north from San Salvador, heading up, around and finally down our local volcano. Nejapa itself is only about 15 km from our school in Santa Tecla (though the drive is more like 25 km), allowing us to head towards the town after work.

Heading inland, away from the ocean

The city of San Salvador as seen from its volcano

The size of the crowd, the throngs of beer sellers and pupusa stalls, the incredible amount of tat available to buy: it all added to the feel of a big event. This was enhanced with local bands and dancers parading down the single street.

Strolling down the main street. Couldn't have done that later...

This woman was making a milky brew, which was very sweet.
You could then add a liquor of your choice. 

One stall offered an experience rather than something to put in your mouth. You put something in your hand - well, in your glove. The ball was quite warm and a bit heavier than I expected it to be.

Oven gloves: required

Looking like a natural

I also tried a new drink whilst we were waiting. It’s called a ‘Michelada’ and is associated with Mexico. Essentially it’s a beer…with tomato juice…spices…and something on top. Being an idiot, I went for ceviche (raw fish). This was at least kept separate as it was in the lid on top of the drink. I don’t need to buy another one.

They say ceviche, I say prawn cocktail

Not overly impressed

The main event was supposed to start when it got dark. We found a spot on the side of the road, sipped our beers (not micheladas, no one else was silly enough to get one) and waited. And waited. The crowd grew, space became a premium which no one had, it began to drizzle…

Hard to estimate but easily thousands in attendance

Rain protection. Highly flammable...

Suddenly fireworks start soaring from behind the main church. Next thing we knew, a man started running up and down the street with what looked like a pig-shaped pinata on his head. Which shot fireworks, naturally.

Fireworks streaming into the sky

At this point our ‘teams’ entered the fray. Most had a face covering, with some looking more ridiculous than others. After seeing the ‘south’ team come down the road, I partly expected their opponents to be sporting the Guy Fawkes masks from V for Vendetta.

Taking the cheers of the audience

Some were a lot scarier than this -
try to find the clown in later videos!

And so we begin, at around 9:15pm. I’ll caveat this next section by saying that I had not seen any multimedia of this event before coming. I soon realised quite how insane it is, probably after the first fireball flew at quite a low trajectory down the rather narrow road. 

Contrary to what you may think you see
in the picture, it's not a flamethrower

When a fireball almost landed in the crowd across the road a few seconds later, I realised that we were in quite a dangerous situation.

This one landed by my feet at one point

I was a couple of people deep, therefore slightly away from the road. This made it a little bit safer…unless a stray fireball came towards us. As there were so many people, it was quite difficult to move. 

There seemed to be at least 10 people on each side

There was a moment when a few of us started moving out of the way as an increasing number of fireballs were flying off in errant directions. As we were squeezing through the throng, I felt something hit my head. It didn’t feel that hard and I thought little of it…until I looked up and saw that a man near me was wearing a hat…which was on fire. It hadn’t been moments before. I’m not sure whether that ball glanced my head on the way or if a stray hand had hit me on the noggin in sheer panic. Either way, a scary moment!

The balls, which seemed to be tightly-bound rags,
are soaked in kerosene before being launched

Meanwhile, the battle raged on the street. Sometimes they take it in turns, with one group advancing and the other retreating. At other times it’s a free-for-all, with balls of fire streaking across our eyes, all accompanied by screams from the crowd.

Doing the Thriller dance?

Preparing to hurl two balls of fire

They took a break after a while; as I said before, those balls aren’t light and repeatedly hurling them must take its toll. At this time they play to the crowd, allowing them to walk the street and hold fireballs for a photo. They also cool off by showering themselves with water, which seems sensible.

I'm glad he didn't get excited and throw it

You may be realising from this that health and safety…well, I don’t need to finish that sentence, do I? There were quite a few firefighters and paramedics about, guiding people to the ambulance if a ball came a bit too close to them. One of our friends got licked on his leg for a while so spent some time in the ambulance.

Participants were generally covered with their clothes

Ambulance: busy

After the second round, we called it a night. I’m not sure how long it went on for. I was in bed by midnight, which made the next day of school (5am wake-up) a challenge. 

The clean-up operation must be fun

Bolas de Fuego is one of the most extreme, intense events I have been to as a traveller. The trepidation of being hit by a stray fireball is too much for many, which I completely understand. I was certainly out of my comfort zone; however, I thought the experience was brilliant. I’ll just be sure to find a spot a bit further back next time!

It looks a bit like the apocalypse in this picture!

(Fire)baller

Love you all,

Matt