Carnaval de Cádiz

A photo montage for your understanding of the event...

My friends and I dressed as an arco iris (a rainbow) for Carnaval!

We also had a Native American in our group (my roommate Leah). This is at one of the many bars we were at while it was raining outside...

Obviously we were one of the more conventional groups. These "dutch maids" were one of many singing groups marching along the streets in costume.

We saw a concert here later at night with many Spanish singers. Also, those large balloons were wildly popular here. We liked the unicorn ones the best.

These are two of my friends (red and blue from the rainbow) and one of the more beautiful street lights. This was a plaza, so it had one large animal-shaped light, but most streets were lined with strings of lights in different friendly shapes.

Okay some more of the details:
My darling readers -- I write to you from my warm, soft bed after a very interesting experience in Cádiz. Yesterday morning some friends of mine and I (and several hundred other people) got on one of the many buses going to Cádiz for Carnaval, one of the most historically epic festivals in Spain. It is celebrated in many countries besides Spain such as Brazil, Italy, Trinidad, etc. and it's what Mardi Gras in the States comes from. The bus was scheduled to leave at 10:30am Saturday (it left around 11:30 in line with typical Spanish tardiness) and then leave Cádiz at 6:30am Sunday morning.

The trip started out wonderfully. As you see above, some friends and I dressed as colors of teh rainbow, plus we managed to get on the nicest bus with the fewest people, thus affording us each our own pair of seats to sleep on there and back (the trip was about 4 hours). It was pretty spectacular when we arrived as well! There were tons of cute little children dressed in ADORABLE costumes -- a baby cow, a baby pig, a small little Stitch, some princesses, cowboys, etc. People were everywhere, there were strangely dressed groups of singers/musicians in every crowd, and we walked along the pier where my friend Ferry (who coincidentally lived on a boat for a good portion of her life -- the jokes never end) was near tears with excitement to see the ocean again -- all good things. We even managed to have pizza (the first time since I've arrived in Europe) and made friends with some male Snow Whites. However, roughly around midnight or one the rain started. Let me remind you all again that streets in Spain do not drain and puddle up instead. Let me also mention that the umbrella I had was probably the worst made piece of plastic/metal I have ever owned (I won it on the bus earlier that day -- unclear as to why). Things we did in the rain: watched a concert that was pretty fun, but obviously all the lyrics were in Spanish, ran around to many different bars trying to escape the rain, stood under a big arch and talked to Spaniards, got lost trying to find places that were open.

Around 3am, the rain gig was enough even for me, so about half of us went back to the bus to see if the driver was there. WORST IDEA EVER. Not only did we get SOAKED legitimately sprinting through the rain to the bus a couple miles away, but my umbrella broke beyond repair and the bus driver was no where in sight. Thus, the six of us who went back huddled under two umbrellas in the pouring rain between our bus and another one for over an hour. I suffered physical pain from being so cold. My feet have still not recovered full feeling. Trying to back a bad situation bearable, we started playing a game. Suddenly, a man pops out from the non-our bus storage compartment under his bus and tells us to be quiet because he's trying to sleep. Okay news to us: Spanish bus drivers sleep under their buses???? What??? Anyway, around 4:15am we finally got some other bus driver to let us sit on his bus, which was much drier than standing outside, but not a whole lot warmer. FINALLY, at like 5:30am we got onto our bus, with the heat on, and practically died. I cannot tell you what I would have done for warm, dry socks at that moment.

We successfully got back to Granada (although we left late again, of course) and I have since showered and put on sweatpants and a sweatshirt, so I am considerably better than this morning. However, I do think I got sick from the experience, so wish better health on me before this weekend -- I'm going to Amsterdam!