Carnaval was...wild. Cádiz definitely lived up to it's reputation as one of the craziest places to celebrate Carnival. Carnaval is a two week celebration characterized by excess, right before they begin fasting until Semana Santa (Holy Week). The period of fasting is no longer very common, but Carnival just keeps getting bigger.
I went with We Love Spain, a program here in Sevilla that takes students on excursions around Andalusia. We met in Triana (on the other side of the river from me) at la Plaza de Cuba that evening around 8:30. There were tons of people en disfraces (not costumbres!) flocking to the plaza, all college students heading to Cádiz that night. There were fifteen buses full of students just with We Love Spain. Thousands of people from all over Andulusia, the rest of Spain, and other parts of the world swarm into Cádiz to celebrate.
Cádiz is only about an hour and a half bus ride from Sevilla and we got there around 10:30 with strict instructions to meet back at Plaza de Tierra around 5:30am or we would get left behind. We started out as a big group, about ten of us sticking together, completely unsure of where we were or where to go. But it was pretty simple, we just followed the crowd and soon enough we were in the middle of a huge plaza filled with thousands of people. There were so many awesome costumes that night. Matadors, a bunch of bananas, a group of jazzercise-ers(?). One group of people was pushing around a giant paper-mache volcano (like one of those you make for a science fair). We came across a dance party in the middle of the street, a car was blasting it's stereo and people were dancing all around it (including me) and then when the song finished it just drove off. But the best part was just talking to tons of people all night. I met a lot of really nice Spaniards who offered to help me with my spanish. They would just correct me while we were talking and help me say what I was trying to say. I definitely didn't mind the help!
Before we knew it, it was almost 5am and time to head back to the Plaza to get on the buses. By this point it was just Lisa (my best friend so far here in Spain) and I. On the way back to the Plaza we could see out into the darkness, where the buildings stopped and the ocean was. So we ran out on to the beach for a little while. Lisa took off her shoes and walked out into the water, forgetting she was still wearing tights (hah). That was one of the best parts of the night, running around on the beach at 5am with lots of people in costumes.
We finally got to the plaza where the buses were supposed to be. We were bus #9, and it wasn't there at 5:30...it wasn't there at 6...not at 6:30...nor at 7am. We tried to get on different We Love Spain buses but they kicked us off. It was really cold outside by this time and none of us had jackets. So we huddled together like penguins for two hours until the bus finally got there around 7:30. We got on the bus and all promptly fell asleep until we got back into Sevilla. Let's just say, walking home at 9am still covered in face paint and glitter is not the most fun thing in the world.
Overall it was a fun night, but I won't be ready to go back to Cádiz anytime soon. I saw some awesome costumes, met cool people, and had a great time with friends...but I also so how filthy Carnival really is. Streets strewn with ridiculous amounts of trash, borrachos (drunks) everywhere, and lots of other things. I was happy to be back in Sevilla on Sunday.
Some other things...my bike pass came in the mail today! Sevilla has an amazing bike system, with large and safe bike lanes going almost everywhere in the city. You just check out a bike from one station and drop it off at another. And there are stations everywhere, it's never hard to find one. There's one on the corner right outside our apartment and several around the university so I can ride to school no problem. Also, I've booked a few trips! The first weekend in March I'm going to Venice to see Gabby! Lisa, Andrea, and Amanda are also coming with me and Gabby is going to be our official tour guide, since she lived there for six months last year. And then the weekend after that I'm going to Barcelona with some friends. We're learning all about Gaudí in my art history class right now, so I'm really excited to see the Sagrada Familia Cathedral, Parque Guell, Casa Míla, and others.
Here are a few pictures from Carnaval. Seeing as I didn't see Cádiz in the light of day at all I don't have any great pictures of people in costumes or anything...but this is what I have!
