carnavales de cadiz

As I mentioned in my last post Saturday was a night to remember. We booked a tour with Discover Sevilla to take us down to Cadiz to celebrate the Carnival for the night. It is said to be the third largest Carnival celebration (after Rio de Janeiro and Trinidad). We were told that it would be the most insane party we have ever experienced - and boy were they right!

Carnavales de Cadiz

So a big part of the Carnival is that you dress up in ridiculous costumes. So basically Halloween in a street with the most people I have ever seen in one place. We didn't want to spend a bunch of money buying costumes so first bought the coolest masks ever. We ended up steering away from the masks but still wore them throughout the night because they were that cool - well we thought they were. I ended up being the white swan and Hayley, Claire's cousin, was the black swan. Everyone loved our costumes and we were in the running for the best costume on our bus but sadly didn't win. We still thought they were the coolest, obviously.
After quickly getting ready, making a mad dash to the bus (aka we sprinted which almost killed us and our feet), we got on the bus at 8:00pm. The bus ride there included drinking out of bottles, singing at the top of our lungs, and lots and lots of Americans (I have never felt more surrounded by Americans, yet I was in Spain - oh the irony). We arrived in Cadiz around 10:00 and jumped right into the party. We spent the night chatting with Spanish people (I just listened and tried to catch as much as I could from the little bit of French I remember), drinking even more, eating churros, and admiring/laughing at all of the costumes.

Claire and I

Mel, Hayley and I

Claire, Hayley, Mel and I

Black/white swan + the fun mask

Insane/Amazing/Best ever

Steve, Mel and I

Claire and I

Steve, Jamie and Mel

Steve and Pat

Living the life

By the end of the night we were exhausted (leaving Cadiz at 4 am does that to you). We were so thankful for the sandwiches and water we got on the bus ride back. Although not all being together when we left, we ended up all reuniting randomly on the street during the walk back to their apartment. Cosmic timing. We could not get over how the 7 of us ended up back together at the end.

This night is definitely one that I will remember. I had so much fun participating in one of the biggest Carnival's around the world. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience. Plus the company was amazing. I couldn't have asked for better people to do it all with. xo