Carnaval

Don’t worry. That is not a spelling error on my part. Carnival is spelled carnaval in spanish. But back to the topic at hand. I apologize again for the delay but as you may have guessed, I have been quite busy with even more travels and have either been unable to or not felt like updating this during the little rest I had in between. But here I am. Back to my stories.

A little over two weeks ago now, I went back to Cadiz for the second time to partake in the world-famous Carnaval celebration that takes place there every year. Similar to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, it is the festival that precedes Lent and is thought of by many to be a time of sin before the 40 days following that are defined by the opposite.

This time around, I decided to take a slightly different route to Cadiz. Instead of nearly missing the train from Cordoba, I hopped on a bus to Jaen, where I easily made the train departing from there. I arrived that Thursday night and met Russ at the train station with his friend Erin. From here we made our way back to Russ’s apartment where I could set my stuff down. After a quick rest and saying hi to some friends, we hopped back on the bus and headed down to one of my favorite spots from the last time I visited, The Pirate Bar. I’m not sure if I described it in my previous blog about Cadiz, but it actually has nothing to do with pirates, except for the fact that the bartender (named Lechuga or lettuce for you non-Spanish speakers) looks exactly like a pirate. Here we met some of the best friends I met before, Shane and Aoife. Shane’s older brother Paul and another friend were visiting for the week as well. After chatting for awhile and enjoying a couple drinks, we headed back to Russ’s apartment where we headed to bed.

Friday began with a late start as I was a bit tired from my day of traveling. However, after getting some food in our bellies, we did what anyone does after coming to Cadiz. We headed to the beach. Here we sat and enjoyed the beautiful view for about an hour before getting ready for swim practice. My second experience training here with Russ was just about as successful as the first one. Not very. I made it through it, but was in substantial pain as Russ can attest. Following practice, we decided to wander the streets for awhile, to look for some additions to our costumes for that Saturday night. After picking out some items and some food for dinner, we headed back to his place and started cooking.

Our activities this night centered around the famous “chirigotas”. I’m not sure if there is an english translation but according to Wikipedia they can be defined as “well known witty, satiric popular groups which train for the whole year and sing about politics, news, and household topics, with all the members wearing the same costume.” The first Friday of Carnaval is the main competition between the top groups. From what I am told, everyone watches and I would have to say that it is pretty accurate. Just looking out onto the streets that night from Russ’s window, you could see that everyone was busy elsewhere. The competition takes place at a theater in Cadiz, with the rest of the city and I’m sure many more throughout the country watching from their homes. Starting at 9:00, the competition goes all the way until 6:00 AM. As we had a big night ahead of us on Saturday, we went to bed a couple hours before the exciting end. However, we had a great time eating and drinking with many of Russ’s and his roommates’ friends.

That Saturday was the main attraction for the weekend. After a lazy start to the morning, Russ and I made some lunch before heading back down to the beach. Here we met some of Russ’s good friends for a wonderful afternoon, all of us enjoying the weather and our good fortunes to be where we were at that wonderful time. Similar to my visit in December, we listened to music, talked, watched the ocean, and began to get excited for that night. After a nice afternoon, we parted ways for a couple hours while we each went back to our apartments to eat some dinner and prepare our costumes for the festivities in front of us.

Around 9:00, Russ and I headed over to Shane and Aoife’s apartment where we enjoyed a drink and made our final adjustments to our costumes. Mine being eye liner, courtesy of Aoife. I had planned to join Russ and some other guys as leprechauns, but due to a last minute package that did not arrive in time (thanks for the effort mom) I had a change of plans and went the easy route of pirate, with some added accessories from Russ. After quite awhile trying to get everyone organized and together, we departed from the apartment and began our journey into the night.

I’m going to preface our night with one small piece of information. The population of Cadiz is roughly 120,000. And the biggest reason for this limited population is the fact that Cadiz is located on a narrow peninsula and there simply isn’t room to expand. With that in mind, the estimated numbers that I heard after the night was that over 400,000 filled the streets for that one night’s festivities. Hopefully that will help to paint you a better picture. Due to this immense influx in population, we hopped on the bus for a short time and after realizing that we really weren’t going anywhere due to all the other traffic, we hopped off again and decided to walk. Right before you enter the old part of the city, there is an enormous entrance in the old city wall. On top of the wall, they lit up a large Carnaval sign that you can see in the picture here. Immediately after entering through this entrance, we were surrounded by crowds. We started out in one of the plazas right near the entrance before moving on to another location. What we quickly found was that literally every street and every plaza were completely filled with people. With our rather large group, we made the choice to form a human chain each time we moved so as not to lose each other.

One of the biggest such crowds of people was in one of the main plazas outside of the cathedral. Luckily we were able to maneuver ourselves onto the steps and got some great views of all the people. Simply incredible. More people than I could ever have imagined. For the rest of the evening we wandered from plaza to plaza and street to street in search of the next party. On our way we encountered many friends, made some new ones, and enjoyed the music and events of each location. Finally, early in the morning, we decided that it was time to call it a night and head back. Although that proved to be more difficult than simply leaving. First we had to make our way outside of the crowds and then we had to make the long walk back towards the apartment. Over and hour and a half later and very sleep deprived, we arrived at Russ’s apartment at roughly 9:30 AM.

I quickly hopped in the shower before gathering my stuff together and hopping back on the bus towards the train station. After a quick stop for some churros and chocolate at a Carnaval street vender and a quick survey of the destruction caused by the previous night’s activities, I said my goodbyes to Russ and got back on the train headed for Sevilla, just like my last trip back from Cadiz. I enjoyed a little walk around Sevilla during my two hour layover, although this one was a bit different as I had not slept in more than 24 hours. Finally at about 8:00 that night, nine hours after leaving Cadiz, I arrived back in Baeza. After quickly Skyping with my parents, I collapsed in bed and enjoyed a wonderful night’s sleep before reporting back to work that following morning.

Kind of a whirlwind I know, but a great trip and experience that I won’t be forgetting. Next up in just a few short days........Belgium and Amsterdam. Stay tuned because I hope to have that up here shortly!

Hoping you are all well.