Carnaval in Cadiz

So the first weekend in March was Carnaval.  For those who don't know, Carnaval is the celebration at the beginning of Lent, much like Mardi Gras, but it goes on for a week.  The largest Carnaval is in Venice, Italy.  It is the well known celebration associated with the famous Venetian masks.

The second largest Carnaval is in Cadiz, Spain which is a southern city close to Sevilla.  It is thought to be the oldest city in Europe and it is where I chose to spend my Carnaval weekend!


About six people from the Maryland group came with me as well as my friend Kari from Norway (the same one I went to the Escorial with) and two of the Australians from our program who are now studying in Madrid until the end of the semester.  I didn't really hang out with the MD group, but chose to spend time with the Australians and Kari.  Luckily, Kari had been to Cadiz for about 5 days earlier in the semester when her boyfriend visited so she was excited to guide us around the city.

 She was a great guide!  She knew where to go to grab maps, the best route around the city, and (as I will tell you later) the best Tapas restaurant to eat at.

 From left to right my Cadiz companions were Kari, Alex, and Bethany.

Cadiz is a southern coastal city which means........

BEACH!


I had a lovely time walking along the water for a while, but then we continued on our tour.  It WAS only 60 degrees out after all.

The town was all decorated with lights and there had already been some partying as was evident by the confetti that covered the streets.

I was REALLY excited to see everything all lit up, but first we went up into this tower to see all of Cadiz.

It was a great view and I was SO glad Kari suggested it!


We came back for a quick rest around 5 and then started to get ready for Carnaval!  In Cadiz, EVERYONE dresses in costume and usually in groups.  Halloween doesn't exist in Spain and so this is their main costume party of the year.  Even at 3pm when we were walking around people were ready to go!

This was also an excuse for most guys to dress like girls.  It was really entertaining.


So the MD girls and I bought Bomberas costumes (firefighters) because they were the only ones we could find 4 of haha!  We bought them pretty late, but at least we found something!  I decided to wear a mask I bought instead of the strange hat they gave us to be the fire fighter hat.

 Kari and the Bomberas!

BOMBERAS!  We also proceeded to shout this at random moments and when ever we saw others who were dressed as firefighters.


Our friend Cam was a tiger (which provided us with much entertainment) and our other friends Oscar and Vincente (their Spanish/English names) were a Sailor and a Reverend.

Due to his costume Cam was no longer Cam and proceeded to be "El Tigre" for the rest of the trip and honestly we still call him it now too!


The lights were SO cool and there other groups with great costumes.

 I got a picture with Bert and Ernie!!!

 American Football Team!

 RANAS!  (Frogs)  Sorry about the blurry photos!

Everywhere was PACKED with people.  It was just a HUGE HUGE event and so much fun to see all of the costumes.

Bethany was a cat and we tried to find a tree for her to climb so that we could have a picture of me rescuing her, but sadly there were no climbable trees within site.  I still love that idea though.  It was a really really fun night!

SO, side story of the chicken hat.  A guy was dressed like a chicken and came into the bar we were at.  We were at the table by the door so he asked us to watch the hat and the top part of his costume while he was dancing because with a shirt, sweatshirt, and a chicken suit on it gets a little hot.  Well I fell in love with the hat and since the costume was like a 5 euro costume, I wanted to keep it.  Alex was wearing it a little later, and gave it back to the guy as he left.  I was in the bathroom for this and came back just "devastated" that my chicken hat was gone. We now have a joke that Alex owes me a chicken hat! :-)  Luckily I found a plastic sword on the ground as we were leaving to find a taxi so I kept that.  As we looked for a taxi Bethany and I had an epic battle with my sword and the little wand thing that came with her costume.  As I have said many times, it was a REALLY really fund night.  Yay Carnaval!