carnival, cádiz

Occurred: March 5th, Saturday 

We went to Cádiz, Spain for carnival. Carnival in Cádiz is one of the most well-known carnivals in all of Spain. Carnival is basically like Mardi Gras I would say. Not that I would really know, since I've never been to Mardi Gras. But I do know both have mass amounts of people in the streets drinking and wearing ridiculous costumes and there are parades.  Everyone basically went from my program but we all ended up taking different ways to get there. Everyone was afraid that the buses were going to fill up so people started booking things right away. Amanda, Allison, and I ended up booking a bus from Sevilla that would take us to Cádiz. 

Right before we went to Cádiz we decided to look for costumes, very important. We went to Carrefour and just started looking around. There ended up being a huge bin of little boy soccer uniforms from different teams around the world- complete with knee-high socks, jersey shirt, and shorts. DONE. They costed three euro, we had to get them! I bought an Italy jersey. Allison got a Brazil jersey. Amanda got a Portugal jersey. 

The bus ride to Cádiz was ridiculous. Everyone on the bus was completely drunk and acting like the americans that all foreigners hate. At one point the bus was singing "don't stop believing" by journey. When we finally got to Cádiz and were about 10 minutes away our bus broke down. We sat there for about 30 minutes before they told us what was going on. They were going to have 60 drunk americans walk the rest of the way-about a 30 minute walk (normally). We got off the bus and being that all of them were drunk (mostly girls), they immediately ran into the roundabout and pulled down their costumes and started peeing. Yes, in front of everyone, with nothing to hide them. So, being sober, Amanda, Allison, and I ditched. We were not up for waiting for everyone to finish peeing then do the 30 minute hike with all of them---we actually wanted to get there. And how convenient that they told us the meeting point before we got off the bus- Ayuntamiento Palacio Congreso. We had to be there to leave at 3:00. Being that it was already about 22:30 and wasting 30 minutes sitting on the bus, we decided to take a taxi the rest of the way. And then, finally, we were there. 

I have to say, our costumes were awesome! Such a conversation starter. People would be talking about our teams and how much they love them. But then...they would actually start talking about the players. And since the conversations were in spanish, and that I was sick and couldn't hear out of my left ear, I just thought that they were saying words in spanish that I didn't know. So that kind of was awful. Luckily, they thought I didn't speak spanish and then would speak to me in english. 

allison, me.

manda, allison, me.

manda, me, allison.

me and manders.

so many people! 

this is basically what happened all night long. try to have a conversation- i coughed. try to take a picture- cough. try to laugh- cough. it was so awful. 

so creative. who new a noodle could be the key to your next costume?

we actually found people we knew on the streets! jen, me, manders.

there was so much garbage all over the place! apparently they have tons and tons of volunteers to help clean the city after carnival is over---- 2 weeks.

this is the plaza where we had to meet to go back to sevilla. 

When we got to Ayuntamiento Palacio Congreso to go back to Sevilla, there were sooo many people! I think that the organization we booked through had about ten buses full of people, and we all had to meet at the same place at the same time to go back. The organization was so awful. There wasn't enough room for all the buses to pull up at the same time so when one pulled up, everyone ran towards it because they wanted to go back. People kept standing in the street trying to be the first person to get to the bus. THe police kept asking us- move back, move back, move back. Obviously no one did. So they started pushing us onto the sidewalk. Finally they just got really pissed off and started yelling-move back. One girl responded with "Um, I'm claustrophobic." His response? A punch in the face! I could not believe my eyes! She fell straight to the ground, all of her friends were just standing there looking at her. I think my mouth fell open for about five minutes. Clearly, everyone started moving back after that. 

some girl didnt want this hat! 

just a little nap?

We finally got on a bus after practically being pushed into it. When we arrived in Sevilla- about 5:00, they gave us sandwiches and water bottles (they couldn't give it to us on the bus because it's illegal). And then we went to the bus station. Where like the weekend before, we had to wait until it opened until we could catch the 8:00 bus. 

Overall, I really had a great time. Being the only sober one there actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. We met a lot of different people and I would totally go back again!