It’s always fun having one of your friends visit you in another country and it’s even better when they’re one of your closest. Last weekend was the beginning of Caranval in Cadiz so it was the perfect time for Christine to come, and luckily it was easy! She is teaching English in Madrid and I’m not too far (technically I couldn’t be any further in Spain, I’m as far South as you can go); only a 3.5 hour high speed train ride away.
There are two great things about having a friend visit: the first obviously being getting to spend time with that friend, catching up and enjoying each others company; the second is sharing your new life; showing them the city that has come to be your home, the friends you have made and the experiences you live. This past weekend could not have been better; we were able to do and experience a lot of fun things.
Thursday and Friday night we saw two different Flamenco shows in two different Tabancos, small bars typical of Jerez. On Thursday night the show was put on by a male singer and a guitarist and Friday the show was put on by a Female singer, a guitarist and a percussionist. I’m extremely happy Christine was able to see both of these because they had two completely different vibes. Each tabanco is unique, which brings a different feeling to the experience and one singer was male and the other was female and they too bring different feelings to the experience. I personally prefer female singers, they bring a lot more depth and emotion to the songs.
We went to a museum! something Christine and I seem to always bee doing together. We went to the archaeology museum of Jerez, a place I’ve been wanting to go for a long time. It was actually a really nice museum with exhibits from the neolithic era, Pre-Roman times, Roman times, the Visgoth era up to the 16 and 18th centuries. Also, on the way to the museum we had the opportunity to see one of the clubs during the day. This might not seem like much, but the club is situated in a gorgeous 16th or 17th century palace, which I’ve never really had the opportunity to admire.
We cooked some awesome food!
Unfortunately we don’t have a picture of the amazing lentil dish I cooked the first night. Christine also got to experience the fresh fruit market that is held everyday minutes away from my house. The pears are so good here, she bought some to take back with her to Madrid.
Lastly, Christine got to meet my friends and see Cadiz during Carnaval! Friday night a friend of mine had some people over so she was able to meet some then; the next day she got to meet even more when we went to Cadiz. Cadiz is a beautiful city just a 45 minute train ride from Jerez. It’s also home to one of the best Carnavals in Spain; second only to the one in the Canary Islands. I went last year and had a blast, so I was excited to share this experience with Christine; plus we were dressing up and Christine had never really dressed up before. It helped that I was able to get three awesome costumes from some of the teachers at my school; 2 chick costumes and 1 hen costume.
We arrived to Cadiz around 5:30 pm, walked around the center squeezing through the crowds and then made our way to the beach where we hung out for a couple of hours. Eventually we made our way back to one of the main plazas where they were putting on a free concert and then found a bar where we danced the night away. We ended up getting on a 6:35 am train back to Jerez and arrived to my flat close to 8 am. The only way to properly do Carnaval.
The following day consisted of some walking around and relaxing in the sun. An hour before she had to leave (at 6) we went to the best place in the city to get churros and chocolate. There is no better way to end a trip than with more churros than you can eat and chocolate. The perfect way to cap a perfect weekend.
In Christine’s own words describing her weekend experience, “It was incredible, 11 outta 10! Infinity!! The best trip ever!!! An out of body experience!!!