Tapas, garnished with Culture

Its week 3 of my Language program here in Cadiz. The weather is still fantastic, my new friends are still surprising me, and I’m still not getting enough sleep. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

                

This week has been about the culture. The food, the dance, the music, the siestas, the life. We visited the museum of Cadiz, where we were able to step into the times of the Roman empire and the voyage of Christopher Colombus to the Americas. Cadiz was one of the first cities to be invaded by the moors in the 8^th century and also happened to be the port town from which Columbus sailed. My favorite items in the museum were the pieces of jewelry, beautiful gold and turquoise necklaces. 

There were also some pretty cool marble statues and some really dark paintings expressing the huge role the catholic religion plays in Spanish culture.

No good museum goes without mummy...

Of course, after having absorbed so much knowledge we needed some brain food and headed to a chocolate shop where we sampled dark and milk chocolates, one delicious piece having candied ginger mixed into it.

Last week we also made it to a free Flamenco concert. Little known fact, Flamenco is not just dancing, but also consists of guitar playing and singing. Every Tuesday, in a different plaza, there is a Flamenco singing and guitar concert. We made it to this one where this woman had an incredibly powerful voice that echoed throughout the packed plaza.

This weekend, we slept in, hung out at the beach and headed for tapas. I munched on some tasty sautéed bell peppers while serenaded by an accordion player that wouldn’t leave until I gave him 60 cents.

 It was crowded in the streets of Cadiz Saturday night on account of the Carnival, an annual festival where various groups of choirs, some amateurs, some highly trained, dress up in costumes and sing in the streets and plazas. Many of their songs are satirical or making fun of Cadiz and Spanish lifestyle. We saw a group of cucumbers, pigs, pirates, devils, lions and cross dressers.

After carnival, we headed to the discotecas, where we managed to dance until 6:30am, and were able to watch the sunrise on the ocean next the cathedral.  After all that, I still managed to score a croissant from the café that has a tendency to run out of them right before I come in for breakfast.

After all these cultural experiences, I was forced to crack down on my studies and prepare a presentation to be given to our class on some Spanish topic. My partner and I chose the castles of Spain, relevant considering Cadiz alone has at least two castles within walking distance. Spain at one point had over 10,000 castles. I am on the road to becoming a castle aficionado and will be continuing my castle tour of Spain in the upcoming months.

Today I met with an intercambio our program director set me up with. We met for coffee, spoke in Spanish so I could practice and then switched to English so she could. She’s a cute salsa dancer who offered to give me lessons, along with one friend. Alright boys, the competition begins now. Olé!

¡Hasta Luego Amigos!