Cadiz Carnival 2012

Oh hey there blogging world! No, I have not forgotten about you (even though it might appear otherwise). I've just been bogged down with momentarily hating my job, (but let's be honest, if you read my other post you know its not really momentarily), and being super stressed because I always get unnecessarily stressed out before I travel somewhere.

But since tomorrow I am headed off on a 9 day adventure to Madrid and the CANARY ISLANDS (!!!!!), if I didn't catch up on everything now, I would probably give up blogging when I got back due to the sheer amount of cool things I'd have to update you all about.

So. I'll give it a start. Last weekend I went to Carnival in Cadiz.

Oh. my. god.
Where do I even start with this?
Cadiz Carnaval was one of the wildest, most unique, strangest...things... I've ever been to. My friends and I rolled into Cadiz Sunday afternoon around 2pm, not sure what to expect because Spain is well-known for completely shutting down on Sundays. Apparently Carnaval is an exception to that.

The streets were hoppin'! Little kids in costumes holding onto their well-dressed and completely normal looking parents hands, teenagers still drunk from the night before wandering the streets in the remnants of their costumes, kids (yes, kids!) holding a beer in one hand and a sandwich in the other, and most importantly, people pouring off the incoming buses (all dressed in ridiculous costumes) to get started on their day of enjoying the party. It was an utterly unique experience to be a part of.

I had been a little hesitant to go on Sunday, because the night before is supposedly the big costume night when thousands of visitors pour into the city and stay up until the crack of dawn. I wasn't sure if the city would be in recovery phase from the night before. Thankfully though, the party was in full swing. A friend (who had gone a couple years ago for the night) even said that going on a Sunday was the better option!

Carnival in Cadiz is considered to be in the top 3 Carnivals in the world. (#1 is in Río de Janiero and #2 is in Santa Cruz de Tenerife). The one in Cadiz is also famous for being funny, witty and satirical, and people dress up in costumes that are flat out ridiculous and fun, versus in Río and Santa Cruz where its necessary to be dressed up, tanned, and in shape. Here, you can read a brief overview of the history of Carnival in Tenerife and Cadiz, if you're interested.

Since I don't want to bore with the complete day's events, //and quite honestly some of them are a little fuzzy for me//, I'll highlight the best parts with pictures.

A chirigota - a group that performs humorous or satirical songs during Carnival. Cross-dressing is a popular costume choice.

I was a vaquera, or cowgirl. Like my hat?

Okay, can we talk about this picture for a minute? This guy clearly knows what's up, considering he's 1) Spanish and 2) not just jumping on the Giants bandwagon for winning this years Superbowl. the only thing that would have made this more impressive would have been if it was Farve's jersey instead of Rodgers. 

No words...

Need a wig? Or 4?

Missing Larken, who was dressed as a viking.

Sun, wine, and the Mediterranean sea.

Another chirigota.

Just to give you a small idea of the crazy costume choices. At what point where they sitting around discussing costume choices and someone said "Hey, what about...snails? That'd be cool, right?"

Packed alleyways, and an awesome costume choice.

Knowing where the bathrooms are could be the difference between a happy Carnival and a miserable Carnival. 

Ending the night watching the sunset off the coast.

Finally, here's a shout out to all my friends who went to UW-L with me. Coming from a state where case races and chugging a 40 are perfectly normal Friday night activities (but I've never done either thank you very much), watching Spaniards stand around chit-chatting in groups while sipping beer out of skinny plastic cups naturally caused the Wisconsinite in me great pain. I decided to out-shine them all by drinking wine straight from the box. 

.........

I did out shine them, and also all my previous hangovers to date. I've learned my lesson. 

Carnival 2012, thanks for a great time!

Cadiz, Jerez and Orientation Day.

The Spaniards sure aren't timely in anything they do, but at least they get around to it eventually. After a week and a half of living in Spain with out a clue about how to get my residency card, how was I was going to get paid for this "job" I had apparently moved here for, or really, without any idea about what I was actually going to be doing for the next 9 months, the Ministry of Education finally decided that it might be a good time to get together for a little chat.

Orientation was 4 hours long, about 3 hours longer than necessary. But all in all, there was some solid information thrown in. I learned that I technically already have a NIE number, since I am here under the government's protection, but I still have to go through the ridiculous paperwork and time to actually get the number in my possession. FABULOUS.
The guy who was telling us this also told us in a conversational tone that the paperwork necessary and how strict the process is will also completely depend on the worker that you talk to. Hence, some people fly through the process with no trouble, and other people get migraines trying to get everything done. You know Spain, you're really backwards about somethings.

I also learned that there is a 3rd auxiliar in Algeciras! Unfortunately I couldn't see who was talking, and so I have no idea who it is. But I will keep my eyes and ears peeled for another American.

Anyway, enough about orientation. I ALSO spent the 2 days "sightseeing" in Cadiz and Jerez. I put sightseeing in quotation marks, because I was mostly too depressed to sightsee by myself, and my feet hurt. So a majority of my Sunday in Cadiz was spent feeling sorry for myself in my hostel with the excuse that my feet hurt too much to walk anymore. And then Monday in Jerez was spent the same way, with me reading 150/170 pages of The Hunger Games, which I managed to find for free online.

(On Monday though I actually was depressed, since I got to La Real Escuela de Arte Ecuestre 15 minutes (!!!) after the last entrance time. I then proceeded to walk the whole way around the school, peering in through gates to take pictures, and just generally being the creepiest tourist I could possibly be. Then I shopped away my sadness for the next 2 hours and spent the night curled up with my computer, cursing my throbbing feet. It was fun. I highly recommend traveling alone. NOT.)

However I did see some cool things, and I had a WOW moment in Cadiz, so at least it wasn't a complete waste. (A WOW moment is that moment when you're traveling and it hits you, just how spectacular or beautiful or amazing it is. Whatever it may be.)
In my case, it was "Wow, I am standing in front of the Castle of San Sebastián, a quarter of a mile at at sea, at night, with the wind whipping through my hair and the waves crashing on the rocks below. It was a surreal experience, and of course i had decided to leave my camera in the hostel since I wouldn't be needing it. Of course.

This is a bad picture since you can't really see the castle, but the bridge leads out about a quarter mile from the mainland to the castle. At low tide you can walk all the way out to the castle, but at high tide locals like to use the bridge as a jumping point to go swimming.