Cadiz Carnival

We went to our first Carnival at Cadiz two weeks ago (this is a late post) and it was quite a celebration. It was scheduled for both days but the weather was real bad on Saturday - strong winds and rain so I think the events outside were held at all.

Here we are waiting for our ferry ride to Cadiz. There was a group of 6 older couples and they were practicing their moves and were just having a ball. Just a brief historical background: this is a Catholic celebration and runs for 2 weeks ending on Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras), the day before Ash Wednesday. This is when all Catholics are supposed to cook/clear the larder/stock prior to the 40 days of Lent.

This is not like the Mardi Gras in New Orleans and is celebrated with all members of the family joining in the parades/costumes/singing/etc. See this family with the baby as an example. Cadiz was really packed and I think it put to shame the New Year celebration in Madrid. The Carnival celebration here is the most famous in all of Spain. Well enough of the history.

We took the ferry to avoid the traffic and since this also takes us directly down to the square. The bay was still very choppy and windy and people standing outside got wet. It was almost like a roller coaster ride going up and down the waves and some of the passengers got really sick and threw up. The trip took about 35 minutes and only cost 4 euros (about $5) each round trip.Check this guy out that was caught in the strong wind (actually he's one of the street performers).

We walked from the ferry terminal and just followed the crowd. There were a lot people in costumes specially little kids and everyone were just walking around enjoying the groups of singers in every street corner. It would have been great if we understood what they were singing about. The songs are all satirical in nature and the singers make fun of everything: current events, political figures, government, pretty much anything is open game. The singers' costumes are very colorful and are related to the subject of their songs.

There were plenty of food stalls and beer/wine is flowing freely. What's amazing though is everyone is just out to have fun: no fights or arguments and we didn't see any broken bottles even though they're scattered everywhere. One of mom's coworkers informed her that the people police themselves and look after each other. If anyone starts getting a little rowdy, they talk to that person to calm him/her down. He also pointed out that unlike the American way of partying and just drinking, they eat/drink a lot so the alcohol is absorbed by the food.

We just squeezed through the crowd taking pictures and didn't wait for the actual parade. We weren't the only ones that left early because the 6:45 ferry back to El Puerto was almost full. The boat ride was better this time since we had the wind/waves behind us.