¡Carnaval en Cádiz!

February 27th,

I woke up at 8:00, showered and put on the one set of clothes that I would be bringing for the weekend.  With my toothbrush and sleeping bag in Heiko's small backpack, I was set.

Waiting a few minutes at the bus stop, I caught the 33 to the Estación de Autobuses.  At the bus station, I met up with Blake, Sarah, Rachel, Debby and Alexis my friends from the program who I would be going to Cádiz with.  We put the girl's suitcases in the luggage compartment and boarded the bus.

The bus took an indirect route from Granada to Seville and then to Cádiz.  I slept and looked at the countryside which was quite beautiful with olive groves and fertile valleys.  The area around Seville was an emerald green. 

 The perfect weather form the week before had gone away and we arrived in Cádiz to cold, grey skies and wind.  We didn't have a set plan, this second weekend of Carnaval, so we decided to embrace the idea of playing things by ear.  Debby and Alexis had booked one hotel room that we would all be sleeping in.  They took a taxi to the hotel to check in and store every one's stuff while Sarah, Rachel, Blake and I went to explore Cádiz.

Cádiz is a beach city in Southern Spain and by some historical accounts, possibly the oldest city in Europe.  Like a fist jutting into the water, the city spans across the peninsula.  Our hotel was in the new part while all of the main tourist sites and Carnaval events were in the old part.  The old city was separated from the new by a giant wall and ancient fortification.  It was decorated with a giant sign saying Carnaval and the watchtower had been turned into the face of a clown.  Traveling with Blake was cool as he had lived in Cádiz for a month during the UCEAP, Pre-Ilp and knew the city pretty well.

From the bus station we walked to the old city and saw the tribute to the signing of the Constitución of Cádiz of 1812 and then walked through the quaint, narrow streets to the Plaza of the Cathedral.  Beautiful, with a "shell" theme and lined by palm trees in an open square, the Cathedral was the centerpiece of the city.  

We called the other girls and walked to the hotel Rachel and Sarah went up to change.  Blake and I didn't need to go up to the room, so we decided to walk along the beach to the stone bridge that jutted out into the ocean.  At then end of the bridge was a stone fort and old lighthouse.  We walked along the beach wall until we came to the stone bridge.  The waves crashed against its side and the salt spray licked my face.  There were other people milling around and picnic-ing.  Blake and I talked to a group of crazy Spaniards who took a picture with us and then left.  We walked back to the beach where we met the girls.  From the beach, we cut back into the old city to explore.  Exploring Cádiz was a lot of fun as there were little plazas with fountains and small parks spread out throughout the city.  The girls had brought the food with them so we found some benches in one of the little plazas with views of the ocean and had a picnic dinner.

Back at the hotel, we had a café in the restaurant before going up to the room to change into our costumes.  Carnaval in Cádiz is a huge 10 day spectacle that overwhelms the city with music, theater shows and costumed merry-making in the streets.  We were to be Greek Gods and had made an easy, but great costume of togas and golden-leafed crowns.  Once we were all ready we headed back into the old city.

Winding our way through the plazas of the old town, we saw some of the concerts and singing troupes.  Throughout the 10 festival there are hundreds of groups that put on skits of song and dance.  The groups are judged and the winning one receives a large prize.  There were a lot of people in costumes which made the whole scene a lot of fun.  The plaza of the Cathedral was packed with people drinking in public in their costumes.  We then went to a larger plaza where we found a spot to watch the concert on the huge stage.  Different bands took turns playing their set.  By the time the concert was over around 2:00am, the streets were packed with people in costumes.  We decided to walk around and eventually make our way back to the hotel.  2 hours later, Debby and I had been separated from the group due to the mass of people crowding the streets.  There were people in a myriad of different costumes and themes and they filled the streets with hysterical antics.  At 4:00am, we decided to head back to the hotel and we were lucky enough to run into an older Spanish couple from Cádiz who said they lived right next to our hotel and could show us the way back.  The first to arrive back at the hotel by 4:30am, I quickly fell asleep.