Weekend in Cádiz!

              After our first full week of school (which for me ended on Wednesday – 3 days weeks for the win), Charlotte, Shannon and I hopped on a bus Thursday afternoon and went to Cádiz.  We arrived, checked in to our hostel, and set out to see the sights.  Shannon had spend a few days there before coming to Barbate so she played tour guide.  We first headed a little more into the old part of Cádiz until we found the cathedral.  Unfortunately it had closed a few minutes before we arrived so we didn’t get to go inside but we’ll definitely be back.

Cádiz Cathedral!

            To understand what we did next, it’s helpful to know that the old part of Cádiz is at the very end of a peninsula.  Back when the old part was all there was, there was (and still is) a huge wall that separated the city from the rest of the peninsula, and today you can walk along this wall, as well as around the perimeter of the old part, so basically all the way around the end of this peninsula. 

            After the cathedral, we made our way to the outside of the peninsula and started walking around it.  We got out there right before the sun set and it was GORGEOUS.  If you looked out over the waters of the Atlantic you saw an amazing sunset and if you looked back at the city you saw incredible architecture basked in that special glow that only comes from a setting sun. 

Not too shabby.

Cathedral in the background!

            At the very end of the peninsula there is a walkway that leads out to a castle/fortress.  We walked out a little bit but the castle was closed for the day. 

Shannon looking gorgeous in front of an ancient fortress.

             We continued on an stumbled upon some amazing gardens, which is right around the time my camera died.  Sigh.  Charlotte has pictures but she is the worst at posting them.  One of these days I’ll get around to stealing her camera and posting some.

            Once we made the full circuit of the old city, we were pretty hungry so we got pizza from this awesome little place near the cathedral.  After nomming, we went to the apartment of one of Shannon’s friends from her first few days here.  The girl is Dutch and is here for the year doing Erasmus and lives with other students from all over Europe.  She was having a little get-together and there were people there from Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, and the USA, and a few others I think, but we all had Spanish in common.  Some of the people there from Cádiz taught us a few new words and phrases that have come in handy many times since. 

            Charlotte and I called it a night early (read: 2:45am), and headed back to the hostel.  The next morning, Shannon and I had to get up in time to leave our hostel at 8 to go to the extranjería and apply for our NIE cards.  While waiting in line, we met a group of auxiliares who are placed in Ubrique, a small town known for its leather goods.  Surprisingly, everything went well (except for the part where the security officer practically flung my phone across a hall and then acted like it was my fault) and we were out of there by 10, with nifty little papers that allow us to claim our cards sometime in the next 45 days. 

            Once back at the hostel it was naptime for Shannon and I, but Charlotte, who had not come to the extranjería, was ready to go.  We slept and she went off on her own adventure.  When I woke up a few hours later, I went to meet up with her at the beach near the castle we had been at the previous night.  It was open so we went out to check it out, and we crossed paths again with the group from Ubrique. 

            After exploring for a while, we set out to meet up with Shannon near the gardens from the night before.  While we were walking there, we again ran into the group from Ubrique.  We promised them we weren’t actually stalking them and shortly after we all found Shannon and decided to go find something to eat/drink. 

            We were sitting at an outdoor café when we invited the three British guys one table over to join us.  They are doing internships in Sevilla and were in Cádiz for the weekend.  Charlotte loved getting to hear some British English for a change, she was getting a little deprived. 

            With happy bellies, we headed to the train station to meet the other Shannon!  She had been delayed in getting to Spain due to visa issues in Germany, where she has lived for the past 5 years while working as an English teacher.  The 4 of us went back to the hostel and relaxed for a bit before getting ready to head out for a night on the town. 

            We started by going to a famous flamenco place, where we had dinner and drinks before enjoying an AWESOME flamenco show.  The main dancer was a man with long curly hair and fantastic moves. 

So.  Awesome.

            At the end of the show, about 10 women (and one little kid) came on stage and each danced for a few minutes.  We’re pretty sure they’re all one big, happy, flamenco-loving family.  This little kid was so cool.  He’s probably 7 or 8, and already is such an entertainer.  The red pants really say it all. 

Such a little baller.

              After the show, we headed to la discoteca!  They were playing awesome music and we had so much fun dancing there for a few hours.  Around 3, we peaced out and headed to La Punta, a spot in Cádiz where there are even more clubs and discotecas.  We were walking into one when we spotted the British guys from that afternoon!  We also met a group of US Marines who were on liberty while their boat was docked in Rota, just on the other side of the bay.  The music at the second club was more latin-inspired, but just as fun to dance to.  At about 6:30, Shannon and I made the discovery of the night: a burrito place sandwiched in between the clubs.  They made a pretty great burrito.  I bet they make a killing. 

            Around 7am, we finally made our way back to the hostel.  We contemplated staying up to watch the sunrise, but trying to stay awake for another hour and a half sounded like a lot of work.  The next morning, we came dangerously close to missing the check out time (hmmm…I wonder why we got a slow start? Such a mystery.), got some food, and boarded a bus back to Barbate.  We were all pretty silent on that bus ride.  Again, I haven’t the foggiest idea why. 

Takin' Care of Business: Day Trip to Chiclana

This just in: We finally got wi-fi in our piso!! Which is awesome, but because of all the time spent without it I'm a few weeks behind on blog posts.  Please bear with me as I catch up! We now return to your regularly scheduled blog programming.
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           At the orientation in Jerez, we were told to go to Chiclana to get our NIEs and apply for our residency cards.  On Friday, Shannon, Charlotte and I got on a bus and made the hour-long trip to Chiclana de la Frontera, a good size city near Cadiz.  Charlotte didn’t need to do any paperwork; she just came along for the thrill of sitting in an extranjería (foreigner’s office) all day. 

            We arrived at met up with the girlfriend of Shannon’s coordinator.  She was so nice and unbelievably helpful.  She took us right where we needed to go and helped translate when things got a bit too technical.  She’s French and has been living here in Spain for years, so she’s no stranger to all the bureaucracy.  We would probably still be wandering around Chiclana without here.  She also brought along her ADORABLE 2-year-old daughter, who was an excellent distraction from the monotony for Charlotte. 

            We walked in to the office and were waved into the back almost immediately, where Shannon and I faced a very nice police officer…who told us that not only had we filled out the wrong forms, but also that he couldn’t help us all that much.  He was able to look up our NIEs (which apparently we already had?) but couldn’t process our residency cards.  He said that since we would be here for more than 3 months we would have to go to Cadiz to get permiso de residencia, wait 4-ish weeks for that to go through, then come back to Chiclana to apply for the card, and finally wait another 4-6 weeks for them to actually make the card. 

Woof.

            Just when it seemed like all was lost, he told us that he was able to give us a certificate with our NIE on it that we could use to open a bank account.  There was a fee involved, but of course we couldn’t just hand him the euros then and there.  He gave us a form, which we had to take to a bank, pay there, and then take the form back to his office.  Such a process. 

            Having finished with the business of the day, we bid adieu to our lifesaving new friend and began the tourist-ey part of our day.  We wandered down some streets until we found the Iglesia de Jesus Nazareno.  This church is famous because the nuns who live there bake these awesome cakes and sell them to the public, but sadly they were on some kind of religious retreat that day so we didn’t get to sample them.

Can you smell the deliciousness? Neither can I.

            Just down from that church we came upon a plaza with another church.  There was a tapas festival in the plaza that day!  There were all these little booths and you could sample different types of tapas from all over the region. 

So adorable.

I forget the name, but this is the main church in Chiclana, on the plaza with the tapas festival.

            After checking out the festival, we headed to the highest point in Chiclana to take in the views from the Church of Santa Ana.  You could see for miles and miles (or should I say kilometers and kilometers?) in every direction.  The ocean on one side, the city and mountains off in the distance on the other.  So breathtakingly gorgeous.  The pictures don’t really do it justice, I’m afraid.

Cute little plaza at the highest point in Chiclana.  The amazing views are behind me, and you can see the ocean on the other side of the building.

Spotted: the church we were at before.

With fronds like these, who needs anemones?

            Once we had had our fill of the views, we headed back down the hill and caught a bus to the beachfront part of town – about a 25-minute ride.  It was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm, and we just walked along the beach towards the cool-looking cliffs off in the distance. 

Kite surfing.  Duh.

            We made it down there, ditched our shoes, and walked in the water a bit.  The water was COLD, but very refreshing.  We followed the water down to where it meets the cliff, where Shannon decided to be bold and climb up to a little walkway about 15 or so feet up a rock face. 

Starting the journey, and successfully at the top!

            Charlotte and I followed her up there and we walked down a bit farther, did a few photo shoots, and just generally awed at the beauty of it all.  There’s a small island just offshore that has an old castle on it, so naturally I was on a quest to get a great picture of it. 

Not too bad, I think.

            Our next mission: find food.  This was a little more difficult than it might seem because at this point it was 5 in the afternoon, and no Spaniards in their right mind would be caught dead eating an actual meal at such an hour.  After getting a few weird looks from servers when we asked them if they were serving food, we found a place that had a sign touting their cheeseburgers, and it was a no brainer from there. 

            With full and happy bellies, we went to catch the city bus back to the main bus station, only to realize that we had read the schedule very wrong and there wasn't one coming for almost an hour.  Whoops. We called a taxi instead (an adventure on its own as Spaniards speak very quickly, especially on the phone), and made our way back to the center of town.  We caught a bus back to Barbate, a little tanner than when we had left.

One Night in Jerez

            Shannon, Claire, Dave, and I took the bus from Barbate to Cadiz, and from there a train to Jerez.  On the train, Shannon and I kept busy by reading the Jerez sections in our respective Spain travel guides (she has Lonely Planet, I have Rick Steves – thanks Shiri!).  Jerez’s two main claims to fame are horses and sherry.  So booze and ponies, perfect for a Kentucky girl.  Those are two things I can relate to.  Fun fact: the word ‘sherry’ actually comes from attempts by English-speaking folk to pronounce Jerez. 

This HUGE statue, called the Minotaur, welcomes you to Jerez as you exit the train station.

            We made our way to our hostel, dropped off our bags, and began the tourist-ey part of our night.  But first, we had an important mission: find food.  We ended up at a café on a plaza, where, after sitting there for about 45 minutes, the girl at the next table turns to us and says “excuse me, are you all here for the orientation tomorrow too?”  We ended up chatting with her for a while and she told us how to find the cathedral and a few other cool sites in the old part of town.

A pretty church whose name escapes me.

Main entrance of aforementioned pretty church.

Jerez Cathedral!

This bell tower is in the cathedral plaza.  I'm pretty intrigued by the blue light at the top.

I don't think this gentleman is actually Tio Pepe, I just thought it looked neat with the cathedral in the background.

A model of one of the sherry aging contraptions you can see about town.

           I learned from Rick Steves that the sherry aging process is pretty complicated.  It’s first matured in a cask type thing until a yeast layer forms on top, then its poured into the top barrel in a system of three barrels layered on top of one another.  Every year, a third of the sherry in the bottom barrel is drained and bottled, then the middle barrel is drained into the bottom barrel until it's full, and then the top barrel drains into the middle barrel so the top barrel is one third empty, and then you fill it up with the stuff from under the yeast layer.  By the time sherry is bottled, its been aging for over 10 years.  That’s pretty serious stuff.  We tried some sherries while we were in Jerez and it’s definitely worth waiting for.  It’s very different from the sweet cooking wine that’s common in the States, but very good.

            We had dinner at a place we happened upon and I had my first bite of patatas bravas since being back in Spain.  Bravas are fried potatoes with a spicy tomato sauce, and they are SO GOOD, one of my favorite tapas.  You can find them anywhere in Madrid, but they’re harder to come by in Andalucía.  The ones we tried were pretty tasty, the sauce was just spicy enough and very flavorful. 

           We called it a night after dinner and headed back to the hostel.  The next morning, we went to our program orientation.  There were about 75 other auxiliares there from all of Cadiz province.  There were some higher ups from the education department there who told us more about the Spanish public education system, the bilingual program, and the auxiliar program.  We also heard from some people who gave us more details on how to get our NIE taken care of, who (of course) made it sound much easier and straightforward than it would actually turn out to be (details to follow in another post). 

  

          The orientation ended with lunch, and we sat with an auxiliar from Ireland who is working in Tarifa.  He ended up walking back to the train station with us, and then on the train we met two girls, one from Scotland and one from the West Coast, who are living in Cadiz.  I had no idea so many people from the UK did the program, and Charlotte was a sad bunny (read: not a happy camper) when she found out that she missed an opportunity to hear English spoken with a non-American accent. 

  

          We ended up hopping off the train in San Fernando, a town outside Cadiz, and meeting with the bilingual coordinator who worked at Shannon’s school until this year.  She was so nice!  She picked us up from the train station and took us to the bus stop, and we all got a drink while we waited for the bus.  We caught the bus back home to Barbate.  First trip success!!