After a short time here experiencing both the city's daily routine and Cádiz's incredible nightlife, I can testify to how unique the lifestyle is here. Side from its artifacts birthright spots and to the many of its beautiful gardens, the nightlife is among the best if your endgame is to tapear, fiestar, o simplemente pasar por la calle (essentially, "Eat, drink, and be merry."). Virtually every corner in the city has bar-cafes (literally, one and the same), nightclubs, and tapas bars where respective patrons regularly hang out until 4 AM or soon after.
Although, before the sun sets, there is a very regular routine that occurs. The slow, leisurely pace of each day is entirely foreign compared to the aggressive and determined lifestyle back home in Seattle. For example, after my first two days abroad, my host family abandoned their attempts to get up and eat breakfast with me around 8. Soon after my arrival they had returned to their accustomed 10 AM wake-up, so I essentially don't see my host family until I return home from classes at 1.
Unless you manage a bar-cafe or a pandería, the day doesn't really begin until after breakfast which is more often than not nothing more than a single vasito de café. My host mom then spends an hour or two in the kitchen, bustling around in her bathrobe (if you're a woman in Cádiz, you wear a bathrobe if you're at home regardless of what time it is) preparing both lunch and dinner. Typically, people spend the time in between breakfast and lunch out in the streets mingling, sharing more coffee with friends, or running short errands to the supermercado.
Although redundant, it's truthful to say that unless you manage a bar-cafe, you promptly close shop at 1 or 2. At this time each day over the past few weeks I have observed, in a curious wonder, the special Spanish custom that is Siesta. In Spanish, “siesta" is the word for “nap.” But Siesta, as I have decided through in my own interpretations, is the equivalent of a city-wide nap. I kid you not. From roughly 2-5 PM, every single day of the week, entire cities in Spain (Cádiz, of course, included) Just. Shut. Down.
“Oh, I’m sorry? Do you need to buy something?”
“Yes. Actually, I really need to get a--”
“Whoaaaa there. My dear, dear, young American-foreigner… You see, that’s actually going to be an issue because, well, it’s time for Siesta.“
“Siesta?”
“Yes, which means I’m getting ready to leave and that you need to leave… Now. Don’t fret though, we’ll be reopening... in THREE HOURS."
This is real life.
Accordingly, after a loud lunch with the entire familia at 2 or 3, people take the time during the afternoon siesta to nap at home in front of the TV or spend time relaxing with friends. The rest of the day is pretty much a throw-away, since shop owners return in the evening for a mere two hours, more or less, to round out the work day. Even if a store or restaurant is open after 7, it's a crap shoot whether or not its owner is on the premises, since it's pretty common for the employees to abandon the storefront on a whim, meander across the plaza and smoke a cigarette with whomever happens to still be manning their post. At that, please note: Everyone and their madre smokes in Spain! The air is regularly clouded with a cigarette haze and people make a habit of smoking in their private homes. Even though it's illegal here to smoke inside businesses, there's nothing wrong with standing on, near, or a half-step across the threshold while you toke on your cigarillo. If you plan on visiting, bring your eye drops and a respirator!
After the sun sets and people return to their homes, there's a lot of down time until dinner at 9, 10, or 11 at night. Nothing makes me feel more like an outsider than when my stomach is growling at 7 at the two-year-old is still running around the house at 10:30 while dinner is being prepared. Although lunch is typically heavy and hearty--tortillas españolas made from diced potatoes or green beans and egg; any assortment of fried foods like ham-filled croquetas, french fries, or whole fish (head, scales, and fins still in tact); seafood or meat paella--dinner is instead a small ham sandwich, a light salad, or garbanzo bean or lentil and vegetable soup.
The custom of sleeping all afternoon makes more sense when the night gets under way. Young people and older couples alike flock to the bars for even more socializing. Because it's still winter, the cold winds continue to blow in from the Atlantic across the Bahía de Cádiz, but nightclubbers (local and those coming from the ever-present cruise ships alike) can find shelter here in the Casco Viejo. This part of Cádiz is older than its newer, sprawling addition. Its northernmost quadrant, the neighborhood radiating outward from the Plaza de San Francisco, is a labyrinth of impossibly narrow streets where cubbyhole tapas bars get the party started with cheap, locally-brewed Cruzcampo beer, tiny chupitos of liquor, or tinto, vino, and--for the youths--a mixed drink of wine and Coca Cola. After that, around when the clubs open at 4 AM, everyone heads to La Punta where everyone dances to loud, poppy Spanish songs or outdated American Top-40 hits until 6 or 7 in the morning. There's a rumor that some of these places have an arbitrarily imposed cover charge of 5€, but it apparently tends to be waived if you're attractive and female, or male and friendly with the doorkeepers.
Photos to be added soon of my experiences so far during the day and night, as well as photos of Cádiz from on top of the city in the Torre Tavira!
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