brian clegg

My last 5 Fridays were spent in the following cities: NYC; AGP; GRX; CDZ; BCN
My next 5 Fridays will (likely) be spent in the following: AGP; NYC; AUS; AUS; YYC

I have yet to book the flight home from Austin. There's only one thing I have to discuss with someone which could derail an early trip home, but now that my mind is set on it, I am looking forward to having a Keith's at BTF, being in town for the playoffs & playoff pools, Phil's on Sundays, pho, having a place to go to work, and obviously seeing friends & family.

Aside from the above, what I really want is to be going back to NY. I'll have to figure out how to make that happen on a more permanent basis. Maybe in a year or two or five.

I'm one of the few people leaving Cadiz tonight. People were streaming in from the train/bus station. Carnival is essentially a giant Halloween for adults and then some.

Everyone is in costume but each group has a theme where usually one person is the focal point and the rest support that person (ex: person dressed as an egg and 20 others dressed as penguins chasing him around). Also, each group seems to be prepared with chants, songs, and skits - so there's entertainment that spontaneously starts up all over the city. The more the day went on, the crazier it was getting and it was really entertaining by the time I left, so I imagine I'm going to miss some awesomeness. However, I'm tired and ready to head home.

On the plus side, I refilled my prepaid sim card.

I couldn't find a place to stay in Cadiz tonight so I'm catching the last bus out of here at 8pm. At least I will catch some of the festivities. There's a great vibe in town today, I'm sorry that I'm going to have to leave early.

The weather is a bit nicer today. No rain, so I can carry my pack around town and not be miserable. It was warm enough that some people were surfing on the Atlantic today.

The nice thing about Cadiz being super-depressed is that everything is on sale & was cheap already. If anyone wants any European shit let me know.

Really, its expensive but not that expensive compared to American rates, but it's a 150% premium on regular rates (110 euros/night, so ~$155) because of Carnival. I was laughed at when I asked for 2 nights. It's a down-pour here so it looks like I could be stuck here for a while, so in that respect I guess I'm getting my money's worth. I hope I have the same luck as I did in Seville & it is nice tomorrow.

Also, it turns out that the carnival (not carnivale, as I'd previously spelled it) started yesterday, so this is the first weekend... which apparently is the better one. Really hoping for some improvement in the weather.

So much for Cordoba & a return to Malaga.

At the last minute (literally) I decided to go to Cadiz. Cadiz is a small city on the Atlantic side of southern Spain, and apparently the city has fallen on pretty rough times. But there is tons of history in the city (it was founded in 1100 BC and is where Columbus departed on his 2nd & 4th trips to America), and it is also home to the world's 3rd biggest Carnivale (next to Rio de Janerio and Trinidad). Carnivale is on right now and in its last weekend. I was half an hour early for my train to Cordoba, but when I got to the station I saw the train leaving for Cadiz in 5 minutes and made a quick change of plans. My only worry is that my pre-paid phone card will run out while I'm gone and I won't have data. I cannot live without data, and Cadiz will be much less enjoyable if I can't have Wikipedia, Google Maps & Google Translate at my fingertips. I NEED DATA.

The weather is shit all across Spain, but I figured there is no real sense in heading home and Cadiz is a more accessible via Seville than from Malaga. It is cold (10 degrees), raining and I have no idea if I can get a hotel tonight but WeatherEye (via access to data) told me is was much colder in Cordoba. Plus it only is 12 euros & 2 hrs to take the train to Cadiz... if it doesn't work out I can either take the train back to Seville or home to Malaga. Speaking of which, I'm more convinced than ever that the YYC-YEG corridor needs a high speed rail system.