CARNAVAL

First let me start this post by saying no words can justify or explain the experience I am about to write about. Even with gifted story telling abilities, exaggerations and flat out lies, there are simply no words capable of bringing the feeling of of celebrating Carnaval in Cadiz, Spain to life for my readers. That being said, I will do my best to recount and do some justice to the craziness that is Carnaval. Bare with me as the night is a little hard to remember as memories are easily blurred after a bottle of tequilla...thank goodness for photos and videos, I am only joking, of course ;) How could someone with a face as angelic as this would ever partake anything but good deeds such as: studying, helping the elderly, and volunteering. I mean, I don't even know how to party.

I don't know what was better, Carnaval itself or being able to say that this night was technically "work." The night started out in Sevilla. Ngoc and I are now working for a travel agency of sorts, "We Love Spain," which offers vacations within Spain and to Morocco for foreigners. Above is a photo with the owner and our boss, David, best boss ever! We are the sales representatives for Huelva and promote vacations to the erasmus, American, and Spanish student population here. The company had several party buses from Seville to Cadiz and I was one of the "coordinators," for the buses. In other words I facilitated partying, dispersed shots and what have you--use your imagination, if you're an older reader, you were young once and I'm sure you remember what its like to have a good time. The party bus was a lot of fun and we arrived in Cadiz around midnight. Cadiz, which lies on the Mediterranean Sea, plays home to the third largest carnaval in the world. If you didn't already know, no one knows how to party like a Spaniard, especially the Andaluz's...where else do they call it a night at 9 AM? Of all fiestas and holidays in Spain, Carnaval in Cadiz has to be one of, if not the biggest, party of the year. I don't even know how to explain it. Millions of people drinking on the street? In short, it's a good time. Then again, what isn't a good time when in that state of mind. I am of course just imagining how everyone was feeling.

After arriving in Cadiz we spent the next five hours wandering the streets, admiring the amazing and creative costumes and meeting just about everyone and their uncle, plus aunt, grandparents, newphews, second cousins, sisters friends boyfriends 2nd brother....please remember I'm living in Spain where people live with their extended family until age 35 so if you didn't laugh at the above joke you can now take the time to realize the humor :) Every two feet we encountered a group of men just bubbling with happiness and eager to chat. Only in Spain do random people ask to take a photo with you and then decide to give you besos...if only Ngoc and I could charge men for this, we wouldn't need to teach English for money!

You can't imagine the sheer amount of people that filled the streets of Cadiz. If you were to look down, you couldn't even see the street, just millions of feet. It wasn't even like you were walking, more like hovering above the ground, being pushed and shoved by the masses of people trying to make their way through the narrow alleys to the nearest plaza. Fortunately we found a bench to sit down for a bit because the main plazas were just too much. It has to one the greatest displays of drunken debauchery. At times it was just uncomfortable and almost scary. With so many people mob mentality can break out at any given second. We heard far too many ambulances and saw a man crack his head open--the oozing blood from his head was an alert that caution needed to be taken!

I knew that people got dressed up for Carnaval but I had no idea to what extent the Spanish meant when they said people wore costumes. They do not joke or play when it comes to Carnaval. In American girls are just sl*ts for Halloween and wear as little clothing as possible, well this is standard going out attire for any night in America, oh the class so many woman lack, but here people wore truly creative and thoughtful costumes. You couldn't help but laugh sometimes or just admire the work that went into many of the hand made costumes. I had so many favorites....but especially enjoyed those which gave no thought to political correctness, an idea that rarely crosses the mind of many Spaniards...although funny at times also very sad. I am always amazed at the lack of cultural awareness I have encountered over here....for example "what language do Americans speak," "where is America?" I won't even begin to discuss more serious issues such as ignorance and naivete to issues relating to racial equality in such a light hearted post...but lets just say their were some humurous costumes.

After seeing all these creative costumes I almost slightly embarassed to admit that Ngoc and I weak sauced it up on the costumes aka we were a) too lazy and b) too cheap to come up with a great idea...she went as a Hawaiian and I was a plus size version of Anna Kournikova (I'm sorry Anna, I know I do you NO justice....I really only had the braid part down). I did run into quite a few tennis players and some very good Nadals and I have to say their costumes put me to shame : (Nonetheless, everyone was far too drunk to take notice of our pathetic costumes. I know now for next year!

After five long hours of partying with the worlds best partyers we headed back home. We didn't arrive in Huelva until noon the next day and sleep was in order. For a country famous for siestas I never feel like I get a lot of sleep. Don't ask me what I do, because I only work 12 hours a week, but I'm not wasting my limited time in Spain on sleep. Ngoc is off to the United States and I am off to visit my father in Munich Germany. I will do my best to update more often but the weather is now in the 70s and beautiful beaches are only minutes away so why don't you come over for a visit instead?! Vamos! If you need a little encouragment or help, this is what I call my "backyard."

You are always welcome at Roque Barcia!

Besos
Ally