Cádiz- Carnaval

Oh Carnaval, how there are no words to describe you. Our weekend started as the bus left the Mendez Alvaro station at 22.00. We arrived to an unpleasant surprise of a table on the bus. Now this bus would have been extremely comfortable with wide leather seats and moveable arm rests; however, those tricky bus people decided that it would be a fun idea to turn two sets of seats backwards and put a table between those and two other sets of seats. So of course, Matt and I got the worst seats possible on the bus, as there was a table instead of leg room, we were traveling backwards AND we were unable to recline because we were back to back with another set of seats. So our weekend without sleep started 8 hours earlier than planned.















However, we did make a friend on the bus, Edguardo. We found out that he was originally from Mexico, but lived in Maine for three months.




We arrived in Cádiz at 6.00 in the pouring rain. The bus let us off in front of it's "store" which was basically in the middle of nothing. We met up with Yvonne and Annie who had been there since 24.00 and had plenty of time to explore the nothingness of the surrounding area. We asked around and found that there was a train station towards the center of town and we began our hike. The station was a good two miles away and did not open until 8.00. Once we arrived, we still had time to spare, so we went to explore the town.
The town was dead, save for some random drunken straglers from the night before. It was actually quite funny to watch seeing they were all in costume. We ran into the Clockwork Orange and some cows. We found a tent in the middle of town that was open 24 hours serving coffee and churros con chocolate. We decided to get some breakfast and sit down and relax for a bit.

The Birthday Girl (Yvonne) was ready to party.

As was Zorro (Mateo)

We ate breakfast and watched the sunrise. The rain had cleared for awhile and we got to enjoy the beauty of Cádiz.

Look dad, you could have come too, there was a cruise ship in the port!

After breakfast we headed back to the train station because we had heard there were lockers that we could leave our things in instead of carrying around bags all weekend. We sorted through everything and stored away everything we weren´t going to need for the next 24 hours:

(Just kidding...)

We washed up after our long bus ride and got into our costumes.

Alex was a viking, and a rather good one might I add. Look at the fire in those eyes!

A duel was challenged: Zorro v. Alex the Viking

We left the train station at about 9.30 and started walking back to the center of town. On the way, we ran into some fellow Madrileños who were obviously drunk from the night before. They were trying to convince us that we had missed the party. They were also trying to convince some of us that we should come back with them for a place to sleep. The group at that point dispursed as each of us realized the situation that could have been. Sara and Wiggin went to find maps and tourist information, Alex, Matt and I caught up with them a few minutes later and the rest of the group finally met back at the original breakfast tent. We sat around for a bit and decided on what to do (seeing it started raining again). There was a cathedral in the area and a couple other hot spots to hit. It was about 10.00 now and the festivities were ready to begin...or maybe it was us who were ready to begin the festivities. Regardless, there were cardinal rules being broken:

The rain lightened up and we decided to explore the city of Cádiz. Everything was decorated for Carnaval, however the architecture was beautiful. I decided not to see the Cathedral because I didn't like the idea of having to pay to go into a church, but it did look beautiful.

Center of town

Again

The Cathedral

We walked around town for awhile, each exploring our own places. Matt bought a fun t-shirt to remember his trip others bought candy and made some other purchases. We met up again for lunch.

The Witch of Galicia (Monica) and Señorita Borracha (myself)

Annie made a friend (Adam) who is traveling Europe making money with his devil sticks before he moves on to Mexico. I think she may be in love.

Our Greek philosopher (aka God, aka Moses, formally known as Jordan) had some insightful words on the church steps.

But, but, we want lunch!

Moses had to part the doors to the Montaditos place seeing no one in Spain eats lunch at 11.30! (By the way, I've finally realized that this place is a chain and I've never been more excited)

After lunch we ran back into Edguardo and his friends from the bus. We spotted him across the plaza and ran after him. He was looking for sun glasses to go with his yellow wig. We helped him find some and he then introduced us to one of his other friends (whose name none of us can remember). Matt, Alex and myself went with him to meet his other friends where we had quite a bit of fun.

(Alex, Matt, myself, Miguel, a Brazilian guy who we can not remember his name, another guy we can not remember, Edguardo, and Oleg below)

This man is my hero. His name is William, he's from Oregon but he is now traveling Europe making money playing his accordian to pay for his next adventure.

The trident sees all.

Crazy peoples

Things started to get a little out of hand, so we decided to press on. (Plus our friends had a lunch date)

We walked through the streets of Cádiz where we once again ran into our friend, William. He was now playing his accordian along side Devin ("That´s DEVIL with an -N") and we decided to stick around and give them a tip. They were doing fabulously that day and had made more in that twenty minutes than they had all week (or so Devin said) We stuck around a while, told a few jokes (it was easy, Matt being from Jersey, Devin from Canada)

"Why are there more lawyers per capita in California and more toxic waste dumps per capita in Jersey?"

-Jersey had first pick

"How did they pick the name CANADA?"

-They put letters in a hat and pulled out C-ay N-ay D-ay

While we were standing there, a group of guys walk by dressed as Atletico Madrid chanting 1-2-3-4-5-6 as a guy "bounced " a ball on top of his head (meanwhile it was attached to a wig all along). Everyone in the area started cheering them on. We said our goodbyes to William and Devin and agreed to come see them play again later on that day. While we continued our way down the street, we ran into "Atletico Madrid"...

There was a perfect quote in my head when I took this picture...

But they were a good time as well.

I'm pretty sure there was a good quote for this one too...

Paco was pretty awesome though (the one to the right)

Group shot

A clown came and visited us. He actually ran into us several times...once at the train station, once by the cathedral, again this time and I believe once more later that night. He refered to all girls as "guapas" and blew them kisses. He made me a balloon mouse.

Which I proceeded to get stuck on my tongue.

Matt found a Spanish version of Eric.

I'm dating St. Frances...of course he found an animal to visit.

We were quickly distracted when we "found Waldo"

Matt also found Ronny Hood who told us the story of how he made his outfit. He bought the fabric, just so happened to have the chaps, and that morning was sitting on the side of the street carving out an arrow and strung his own bow. We later got his number and had every intention of hanging out with him later. I mean really, HE MADE HIS OWN BOW!

Alex found some of his own kind.

Some more crazy peoples.

After meeting and taking pictures with half of Cádiz, we decided that we wanted to see the Mediterranean before it got dark, plus I really had to go to the bathroom. We said our goodbyes and we continued to walk to the water.

We finally arrived and it was beautiful, however it was really windy and cold and there was no bathroom.

On our quest to find me a bathroom, we ran into the rest of our crew at a little cafe. They were having coffee. We all decided to go visit William at the plaza he said he would be playing at. Before we made it there, though, we were a little side tracked. It had began to pour and we decided to wait it out in the main plaza. We made some more friends there as well.

They thought we were all crazy, so the rest of our group took our picture.

(Jose, Yvonne and Tanya in the background waiting out the rain)

Who needs a glass when you've got a sword? (The third sword of the day might I add)

This is my "guia" because he later brought us to the plaza where William was playing because I could not understand his directions on how to get there.

The birthday girl gets swept off her feet and those well deserved birthday spanks!

After the rain stopped, we decided that we were all hungry and that we were in need of some dinner.

We had a nice Italian dinner with tortellini and pizza and lots of good bread. This is the only picture I have to show for it and I don't really remember why this one was even taken.

Finally, we make it to see William.

William and Devin doing their thing.

Dancing in the rain to the lovely sounds.

Group shot.

I guess all those William Wallaces heard their Scottish pride calling and came to dance with us to the bag pipes Devin was playing.

Oh William, how I admire you.

Matt found a street that was made in his honor.

We once again said our final goodbyes, and headed toward the center of town.

Jose, Mateo, Sara, Wiggins, and Alex making the best of the rain and cold.

We found my "guias" again.

Annie seemed to be enjoying herself.

It started to pour again and Sara had to use the bathroom, so we found shelter in a little cafe. I think about half of the city had the same idea, but fortunately we sat down at the first table we saw open. We ordered some cafe con leches and rested our feet for a bit.

I am taking Sara's picture. Apparently she is a little excited about this.

I tried Zorro's hat on for size. (The original plan was that I was going to be Catherine Zeta, but we weren't quite sure how to get that across in a cost effecient way)

She is also drinking her leche like a cat.

We headed back out to the street. It was freezing cold and the dampness was getting to us all. We walked around the city and watched the throngs of people wander in and out of the crowded alleys and cobblestone streets. Matt and I had a friend who had a hotel room and offered us a blanket and some space to sleep and were going to retire for the night; however, we decided that we were going to tough it out with the rest of the group.

Jo Jo, I found you some Smurfs! They actually traveled in packs and there must have been hundreds.

We also found the bird flu.

It was way too cold though.

Alex had only worn a pair of flip flops and board shorts, my shoes were soaked along with everything else I was wearing and we were all tired, cold and cranky. We headed back toward the tent that we had been in that morning, but it was miserably cold. Sara, Matt, Alex and I hung out in the tent for awhile, expecting to rest up and wait for the train station to open so we could get to the locker and get some dry clothes, but that was at least three hours away. We checked out Burger King in town to use the bathroom and maybe warm up a bit. I can not describe to you what I saw there. Unfortunately (or fortunately) my camera was broken and I couldn't take a picture, but there was pounds of grease caked onto the floor. There were bags and garbage all over the sides and on the floor. The place was packed. This description only alludes to the true level of disgust that was Burger King.
We couldn't take the cold anymore. I was shivering and my face was starting to get really hot. My toes were frozen. We decided to call our friend, Adi and see if his offer still stood. We started to find our way to his hotel, however we had no idea how far it was. Apparently it was in the next town over, so we began the search for a cab. After about half an hour in the pouring rain, we finally flagged one down. We didn't care where it took us, we were finally dry.
The cab driver brought us back up familiar streets that we had walked down the morning before. We passed the bus station and the ride continued. We had no idea where were going and it wasn't a short ride. About fifteen minutes later, we ended up in front of a hotel lobby. We called Adi and found out that we still had a way to go. His hotel was actually duplex and it was down a long narrow road. At this point it hurts to walk and we can barely see straight. Adi's directions don't follow through and after another half hour of wandering around this street, we finally find his room.
The hotel room had a big bottom floor with a couch, a bedroom, a bathroom and eating area. It was beautiful, but trashed. Adi led us up a spiral staircase into another room with two beds connected to bathroom and another bedroom. He had laid out a blanket and had an extra sheet for Alex, Matt and myself to all share. We didn't care. It was dry and very warm. We slept for about three hours, put back on hour wet clothes and started the last leg of our journey: the ride home.
We went to the front desk of the hotel that we were let out of the cab from. They immediately told us that they didn't have a phone line and that we could take a train back to the city, but it ran every 30 minutes. It was 8:30 already and Alex's bus left at 9:10. It was cutting it very close. We continued our search. Walking back down to the main road, we saw groups of people just retiring for the night. We saw the entire cast of Star Wars, including a full sized model of R2D2. We walked down to the train station where the man at a cafe in the station told us once again, that he did not have a phone. We searched the streets for a cab, but could not find one. We finally saw one with a McDonald's advertisement on it and figured we'd walk back up to McDonalds by the hotel and see if they had anything to offer. It was closed. The only people in sight was a group of women who were dressed to the degree that they looked like they were in drag. We asked them if they knew where they could find a cab, but they said they were having difficulty finding one themselves. Just as we said this, a cab drove down the street and we all thrashed our arms and ran after it screaming for it to stop. We hopped in and told him to punch it. (Not in that many words, but you get the idea). We barely made it, but Alex got on his bus and made it home.
Just as our cab was pulling in, we saw a bus that was coming up from town. The rest of our group gets off it, and I can not describe how beautiful a sight it was. Annie was carrying my bag with all of my clean, dry clothing. Matt and I walk down to a gas station and I change my pants and shoes into sweats and slippers. It was seriously the most amazing feeling ever. When I came out of the restroom, who else to we see but our friend Miguel. The maniac was still carrying around his bottle of Whiskey and was still partying from the night before. We head back to the bus station and sit down at a cafe and Miguel and his friend Oleg bought Matt and I a cup of coffee (that however was after Matt ran about half a mile to find an ATM that his bank would allow him to take money from and upon his return found that Oleg had paid for his coffee).
We count down the minutes to our bus's arrival and finally board it. The sun was shining and for the first time that weekend, we resented it. We closed the blinds, made ourselves as comfortable as possible, and napped the 8 hours home. (Well, as many of those 8 as we could).