“Eh eh eh…Tu, De Donde Vas?”
IT’S CARNIVAL TIME!!!!! I can describe my carnival experience in Cadiz in ten words: cold, wet, costumes, broken glass, drunkenness, buses, umbrellas, singing, sleep deprivation, and fried food.
We decided to go to Cadiz in hopes that we would be escaping the cold and rain that has plagued our town but we had no suck luck. The providence that claimed to have sunshine and warm 322 days of the year LIED. If anything I thought it was colder in Cadiz because we were close to the ocean. None of us (Christen, Kate, and I) packed enough warm clothes or prepared to be soaked and cold every single day. That aside our time in San Fernando (where our rented apartment was) and Cadiz (only a 15 minute bus ride away) was full of plenty of memories.
Instead of writing my usual play-by-play of every day in detail, this time I’ll just give the highlights of my trip. So the trip began on Friday February 12th after only 4 hours of sleep. We got to the train station in Seville and had to wait in the freezing cold terminal for two hours before our train. Once we boarded we got into our seats and stored our luggage. My seat was right across from where you store your luggage so when I noticed this girl having trouble figuring out a place for her enormous suitcase I offered my assistance. I had to rearrange some suitcases and when I moved this one bag this guy who was watching us the whole time got all huffy and mad. Obviously it was his bag and he was mad that I had moved it up one shelf. When Christen and I finished helping the girl with her first bag we decided that it would be better if we didn’t move anything else because people were giving us evil looks. Apparently its better to be an asshole who doesn’t help someone in need then to rearrange a few bags. I learned my lesson.
We get to San Fernando and arrive at our freezing little apartment without any heaters at 3ish in the afternoon. We settle in and have some snacks that we brought and then decided to take a nap because we were all tired. We ended up sleeping until 8:30pm haha!!! That’s some nap. We headed to the bus station and made our way to Cadiz. We spent a better part of the night wondering around the streets to get our bearings of the area and figure out where we wanted to go tomorrow for the BIG celebration. We had dinner at Cerveceria Monoditos, the Spanish version of fast food. Apparently they are all around Spain but this was the first time I saw one. You fill out a card with the number of mini sandwiches, salads, tapas, and drinks you want that go from €1 to €2.50 at the most expensive and then bring your order to the cashier. We each got a drink and two mini sandwiches for a little less than €5. Not a bad deal at all. After dinner we found the theatre that the famous singing troops of Cadiz were performing at to determine the best group of the year. The streets were full of people drinking and waiting for the troops to get out. We stayed for a while but then we made our way back to the bus stop. Along the way we passed a group of 5 guys who said “Hello”. When we responded back in English they stopped and started talking to us. When we told them we were from the USA they got all excited and the shortest (and most drunk) guy fireman carried Christen down the street and back as she screamed and tried not to spill her drink. It was kind of funny so I didn’t do anything to stop it. Once he put her back down we talked some more. Kate and I were fed another wonderful pickup line. These two guys told us that they were gay and tomorrow in honor of Carnival they were getting married. Tonight was the equivalent of their bachelor party and the last time they were “free” so in honor of their last night as free men we were suppose to kiss them. Kate responded that they should kiss each other first as proof to their claim. When they reclined, we reclined. I give them props for originality but they didn’t put much thought in the follow through haha.
In the morning I ran out and bought some groceries so we had some snacks for when we returned from a long night out and for breakfast. Despite the rain we decided to explore San Fernando a bit. We found out first singing troops all dressed up as silver shrimp. The entire town was out and about and all the bars set up outdoor stations to serve an abbreviated menu of street food. They served popular tapas dishes as well as drinks. It looked very good but we wanted to sit inside, away from the cold wind. We found the cheap restaurant that our taxi driver recommended to us called Casa Narca. It was THE place to be but we lucked out and got a table right away. Instead of menus the only waiter/owner of the joint just recited dishes for us. He spoke too quickly for me so Christen did what she does best and ordered on our behalves. After our very cheap and delicious lunch we spent the rest of the morning/afternoon walking to Corte Ingles so Christen and Kate could purchase some last minute additions to their costumes for the night. We spent more time than we had anticipated so there was no time for a nap when we returned, instead everyone showered and got ready for a CRAZY night in Cadiz.
On our way out we all needed to stock up on some cash so we asked where a Santander was. The lady gave us directions and we found it in the mall connected to the Corte Ingles. I tried my card but the machine said it couldn’t process my transaction. Here we go again… Christen asked the man at the desk if there was anything wrong with the machine and guy told us no. Kate and Christen then each tried their cards and got the same message. We then asked the man at the desk if we could take out money from him but he replied that the bank was closed. Then why are you sitting at a desk and answering our questions when you are “closed”??!!? He then told us that for a surcharge of €10 we could use the other Santander machine on the opposite end of the mall. To make things better we saw a Spanish man use the machine without any problem. Why is everything ten times more difficult for foreigners in this country??!?! Christen just about lost it. I was use to it by now so I didn’t let it bother me that much.
Our goal was to be out of the house by 8:30pm so we would avoid really crowded buses and get to Cadiz in time for the alleged parade that was supposed to take place that night at 9pm. Instead we left at 8:50pm and had to wait for the bus for another 15 minutes. It wasn’t that bad because it didn’t rain (FOR ONCE!). It was really cold that night but it was Carnival and I didn’t want to wear a bulky coat or sweater to block any part of my costume so I wore what I could and just grin and bear-ed the cold that awaited me the whole night. Plus the additional “alcohol” coat added another layer to my costume. Because I forgot some sort of purse or bag for the entire trip I tried to bring as little as possible that night since I now didn’t have any kind of pockets. My lack of sleep and packing for this trip at 1am was to blame for my lack of purse, errrrr. Anyways I originally was going to take €20 in cash and just my camera but Christen insisted that I should bring my credit card because they had a Santander in Cadiz and my ID just in case. So I left the house with my credit card, drivers license, €20, camera, and extra batteries all squished into my mini camera pouch. I was also in charge of the bag of booze since Christen was already carrying a large bag with everyone else’s things and we didn’t trust Kate with it. I told everyone that, “No matter what happens my goal for the night is to not lose my camera.”
The bus to Cadiz was full of people in costumes. It was really entertaining. Once in Cadiz we decided to get dinner since we found out the parade wasn’t until the next day. Our meal was WAY more expensive than we had planned and together we didn’t have enough money so Christen volunteered to hit up the Santander with all of our credit cards. Little did I know that was going to be my very last transaction made with that card. As we waited for Christen to return Kate and I saw three “gypsies” go into the women’s bathroom together and I’m pretty sure they weren’t going in their to use the toilet hehehe. When Christen returned we paid for our meal and headed to streets to get our night started. We didn’t really have a plan, we just walked around and took pictures with people in interesting costumes. As we were making our way through the crowded streets we found a group of people dressed up as Musketeers too and so we stopped, took pictures, and chatted for a while. I think our costumes were better despite the fact that they had bought theirs.
I wasn’t planning on keeping any part of my costume after that night so I was rather relieved to have lost my hat and sword early on. I remember exchanging hats with the other Musketeers but I have no idea how I lost my sword. We spent the rest of the night in the same spot just enjoying the night and talking to our new “friends”. It was so crowded that there wasn’t much point to trying to move unless it was for food or the bathroom. It was my turn to seek out a bathroom and I’m pretty sure it was at that moment that I let go of the booze bag and took only my camera with me. When I returned much later I asked everyone where the bag was but nobody knew. Unfortunately I had left my camera pouch with my credit card, ID, and money in the bag. We spent the rest of the night searching every Corte Ingles bag we could find but we had no luck. I retraced my steps and had a following of people help me look for it but it was no use. Everywhere we stepped it was littered with bottles, cans, and more detritus about 3 inches thick so the odds of finding that one specific bag was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Surprisingly I wasn’t freaking out. I had succeeded in holding on to my camera the entire time and that was my main concern. I had some money and my passport back in the apartment so I wasn’t poor or unable to provide identification if I needed it. I was more concerned that someone could easily use my card since it came with an ID or try to steal my identity. However Christen made a good point that nobody would look through the trash after tonight so I shouldn’t worry about those things.
After a while I officially gave up looking for my stuff and I noticed that the crowd was trickling down so that meant it was time to head back home. We said goodbye to our new friends and followed the mass of people to the bus stop. It was so late and we were freezing that we got on the first bus we could find that said San Fernando. However we learned that we got on the North bus when we really needed the south bus so it took us an extra half hour to get home because we had to figure out how to find our apartment without a map and at 6:00am. I remember plopping down in my bed when the clock read 6:30am. Oy vey!
I woke up first at 12pm but then I told myself that that was only 6 hours of sleep so I went back to bed. It wasn’t until Kate and Christen got up at 2pm that I got up as well. Christen found out that the parade was suppose to start at 6pm so our goal was to be at the bus stop by 5:30pm. We left the house at 4pm in search of something fried. I was fine with eating the local, cheap, street food but it was really windy and drizzling so Kate insisted that we eat inside. We headed back to Casa Narca and had a good lunch. After lunch we got to the bus stop but ended up having to wait a good 45 minutes for the bus to come. By the time we got on the bus it was 6pm. Punctually wasn’t as high on our list as food that day. In spite of that we ended up seeing most of the parade. In my opinion it wasn’t as exciting as the parade in Seville but it was cool to watch the colorful outfits and listen to the different music. I was thankful that this time we were out of the range of candy so there wasn’t any chance of enhancing my headache. After the parade we mingled with the people from the parade and asked a few locals what we should do or what else was going on for the night but nobody was really helpful.
We decided to just hit up the same areas we had been to already and try to find the singing troops that Cadiz was known for. We ended up finding 5 that night. They were all a little different and had awesome funny costumes to match their colorful songs. I enjoyed listening to each group for a song or two but I didn’t understand what they were singing about so it was hard to keep my attention. I hate the feeling when everyone is laughing at something and you have no idea what they are laughing at and that happened all night long. It kind of put me in a bad mood because I was cold, wet (from the rain), exhausted from standing all day, and tired of not understanding anything. Christen and Kate weren’t making any decisions about what they wanted to do for the rest of the night so I made the executive decision to head back at home. We luckily caught the last bus of the night at 11:05pm. While we waited for the bus we all got soaked because the rain in Spain is horizontal thanks to the wind. I also had to share my umbrella with Christen so the entire right side of my body was drenched by the time we got home.
The next morning was rainy and gross so we had a long brunch and just chilled out until the rain stopped or lightened up enough for Christen and Kate to walk without umbrellas. Meanwhile Kate tried to call her phone company and retrieve her pin number so she could add minutes to her phone but she wasn’t successful. The first time she called the lady told her that an account under her name didn’t exist. The next time Christen called and again was told that Kate’s telephone number didn’t match the name they had on record and when Christen probed further the lady hung up on her. The third time Christen called and asked to speak to the manager but the lady wouldn’t put the manager on the phone so they got into a shouting match (in Spanish). I’m not sure if she ever did get to speak to the manager but after twenty minutes of yelling she found out that the passport number on file for Kate was incorrect. Instead of fixing the problem by phone the person told Christen that Kate needed to fax over a copy of her passport to the store in order for them to fix it. When Christen reiterated for the fiftieth time that we were on vacation, didn’t have access to a fax, and couldn’t wait another week to do this the person on the line told her there wasn’t anything she could do. Talk about frustrating; because some moron typed in the wrong passport numbers Kate’s phone was useless for two weeks. There wasn’t anything would could do at that point but just laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation.
We finally headed out to Cadiz in the mid afternoon/evening. Again we hit up the same area of Cadiz in search of more singing troops. We found a few more and listened to them for a long time. After awhile we got some street pizza and beer. The pizza was really good, reminded me of Armand’s Pizza. After our “snack it was back to La Vina neighborhood in search of more singing. It was past 11pm so I knew that we were going to be stuck out here until 5 or 6am so I insisted after a while that we find a place to sit down because I couldn’t stand that whole time. We found a popular joint ordered some tapas and drinks and parked our selves there for the next two hours. At dinner we started reflecting about our trip, talking about personal/intimate subjects, and then tried to play Quarters with Kate’s left over pence’s and Christen’s plastic beer cup. That entertained us for a while haha. Finally the restaurant kicked us out because they were closing at around 2am.
We were walking around when it started pouring so we ran to the nearest awning and I ended up sharing my umbrella with some strangers out of generosity. We started talking and they mentioned this place called Cabra. It was this huge tent that served as the largest discoteca in Cadiz and it was only available during Carnival. As long as they played good dancing music I was all for it. The place was pretty cool: it had strobe lights, two DJ’s, half the length of a soccer field long bars and enough empty space to dance. It wasn’t packed but there was a decent amount of people. At first I didn’t enjoy the music but then they played some better toons and we all got into it. The best was when they played an American song everybody but us stopped dancing. I wouldn’t even call it dancing though, they just kind of stopped moving haha. I swear nobody in Spain knows how to dance. I was enjoying myself but I could tell Christen was ready to go so we dragged Kate out and headed to the bus stop to catch the first bus of the morning at 5:30am. We got home at 6:15am but I didn’t hit the bed until 7am because I wanted to pack up all of my stuff before I went to bed. I got a full 2 hours of sleep before I had to get up and get going. We had to catch an 11am train and we wanted to walk in order to save money but the station was at least a half hour away. Well midway through our walk the characteristic rain of Cadiz hit us so we ended up taxiing it in the end.
We arrived in Seville an hour later. Nobody had any more money so we had to walk from the train station to the center of Seville. I had to walk to the bus station but Kate and Christen had to walk to their Hostel. They were spending the night in Seville and then taking a plane the next morning at 7am to the Gran Canary Islands. Cadiz was already more expensive then I had hoped so I decided not to go along and just recuperative and chill out back home for the rest of the week. Along the way we passed a Santander so Christen helped me cancel my credit card and get them to send me a new one in the mail. YEAH!!! I felt a lot better after that. Christen and Kate got more money and I used my emergency card to get some much-needed money. I had a good four more hours before my bus and there was no way I was going to survive that time without something to eat. After the bank we had a good lunch at this cheap tapas place and then I said my goodbyes to my friends as we parted ways.
I would end my entry here but I have one more wonderful story to tell. So my bus back to Valverde was supposed to leave at 5pm, so at 4:10pm I headed to the ticket window to buy my ticket. There was only one person in front of me and in the middle of her transaction I noticed a brief electrical power outage. It was more like a flicker. Anyways I get to the window and I tell the man what I need and he goes to enter my destination in his computer but it doesn’t respond. The internet doesn’t work any more. I notice that every computer is dealing with the same thing so I don’t freak out, yet. The man tries to restart the computer a bunch of times but the internet still won’t work. Instead of calling a superior, trying to restart the internet connection, or doing anything proactive about the situation the man behind the desk fiddles with his thumbs, texts, and counts his money. Okay its now 4:30pm. I ask him if he can just write me a ticket you know, by hand, but he insists that he can’t do that. He NEEDS the internet to print tickets. Finally he just tells me there’s nothing he can do and I should just wait. WTF??? I ask him if I can just buy the ticket on the bus and he says “NO”. Well the whole line that had now formed behind me all tried to get tickets but only people with this special card was capable of getting tickets. I was really upset but there wasn’t anything I could but wait, so I just sat in the lobby with a bunch of old ladies who were in the same position as me until it was time for me to go. I kept hoping that the man would try to do something to fix the problem that was causing a LOT of people issues, but no. The incompetent man just sat at his desk fiddling around with his f*ing money and telling people he couldn’t give them tickets without his precious internet.
Do these people receive no training or no protocol for when something like this happens??? I mean at least ATTEMPT to try and fix the problem instead of looking like a fool the whole time. I mean seriously, a god dam monkey could do his job—better probably. Finally it was 4:50pm so I went up to his window again, with tears in my eyes, and asked him if I could just give him money and he could just write something on a paper for me. FINALLY he says that I can just buy my ticket on the bus. Why he couldn’t tell me that to begin with I DON’T KNOW? If there weren’t Plexiglas between us I would have strangled him. I then asked what number gate the bus was because the TV screens with the gate numbers were also out because of the power surge. He didn’t understand me so I started shouting it and then these old ladies, who understood what I was asking, tried asking him for me. After hearing it 5 more times he finally “understood” and told me gate 15. I thanked THE OLD LADIES, who gave me an understanding look, and I sprinted to my bus. This moron wasn’t going to make me miss THE ONLY direct bus to my town. I was about to go to 15 when I noticed that the bus in gate 14 had a sign to Nerva (the equivalent of Valverde). I asked the few people in line for the bus if it went to Valverde and they reassured me it did. The moron couldn’t even read off a piece of paper properly. I was fuming but happy that I didn’t miss my bus. The bus was about to pull away when this girl, who was originally right behind me in the ticket line, ran to the bus and begged it to stop. She had gotten on the bus at gate 14 because that’s what the guy at the ticket window told her. Like I said, a MONKEY!!!!!
