Saturday, March 1st
On Saturday the whole household slept in. We ate breakfast at around 12:30 p.m. I think. We had some delicious churros and toast and I think us five girls surprised our host with how much we ate. We just used the excuse that we are used to big breakfasts in the U.S. and Australia, but really we just love churros! Haha, just kidding. Anyway, we walked around Chiclana for a bit, bought some stuff for our Carnaval costumes, then went home. We spent the evening eating linner, hanging out, and getting ready to go to Cádiz for the real party. Don't ask me what I was, because I don't know, but my costume involved wearing all black, some black wings, and a bright pink wig, courtesy of my roommate, Lucia. Maybe, I was this critically endangered pink-headed duck. I can see the resemblance. Ha.
Unfortunately, Stephanie isn't looking, but we were both some sort of birds, I think.
Anyway, we finally made it into Cádiz and we just hung out in this plaza for a long time waiting for the pregón to start. The Pregón is the official start of Carnaval and the pregonero (the person/group that does the Pregón) was a chirigota group called el Love. They are a pretty popular group and it was really cool to see the whole start of Carnaval, at that point in time, I was enjoying myself and I liked listening to the music and getting to know our host's friends. However, I will say again that I wish I would have understood more and knew the lyrics to their songs, but it was still fun and I liked being a part of it. I have videos of the pregón, however I found the whole televised version on YouTube so that is a lot better quality. Enjoy! I would advice starting the video at 21:00 and then skip forward and watch a few bits here and there, just so you understand what the Pregón consists of and so you can listen to the style of chirigotas.
Waiting for the sun to go down and for the party to start
I think I am going to get my hair cut and dyed like this permanently :P
Watching the Pregón
After the Pregón finished is when I think I got tired of being in that environment. It was crowded in the square, but it was okay because everyone was staying in one spot watching the show, but as soon as the show finished is when I realized that I am not a party-er. There were WAYYY too many people for my taste, drunk people for that matter. And there were a few guys that I wanted to give a talking to or a knee to, but that's just how Cádiz is at Carnaval and I did expect it. And although I got pretty frustrated with the environment very quickly, I was still glad to have experienced it. I was in the city that has supposedly the best Carnaval in Spain and I got to experience a true botellón, which before then, I had only heard about in class. A botellón is an "open-air drinking session" and truly it was. Everyone buys bottles of beer and cups and shares, they throw their trash on the ground, the guys do their business in public, and the girls wish they could do the say. That was Carnaval and honestly, I don't know if I would return. If I did though, I would got with a bigger group of friends because I really think that's what it's all about, just being with friends and socializing. And like I said, the entertainment was good! :D Well, day two in Cádiz down, one to go!
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