Kickin´ it in Cadiz

I called my CouchSurfing host from a payphone in Cádiz, and he immediately knew who it was.  "Juan Carlos?"  "Juan Camilo", I corrected.  Not five minutes later, we were chatting at a little café in the center of the city.  Carlos, 31, is a surfer at heart working for his family´s customs business.  A Cádiz native, he immediately makes you feel at home.  Our coffee date was shared with a Polish couple who had CouchSurfed at his place the night before.  Without much fanfare, Carlos gave me the keys to his place, pointed it out on a map, told me to make myself at home, explained that he had to run back to work, and asked if I wanted to meet up with him and some friends later that night to watch the Madrid-Lazio game.  The whole thing was slightly surreal, and too good to be true.

 

The initial plan was to spend about 24 hours in Cádiz, and take off today for Tarifa.  Plans change.  Carlos´s hospitality, the promise of seeing some live jazz tonight at a little local bar, and also a bicicyle rally promoting better cycling facilities in the city all have convinced me that I should stay tonight, and leave early in the morning.  Oh, that, and also the fact that although yesterday was a little cloudy, today the weather is impecable, proving why Cádiz boasts about its ample number of sunlight hours.

 

Again, like many other cities, there are layers.  Phoenicians, Romans, Moors, Christians, etc.  It is reputedly the oldest city in western Europe dating back to a millenium before Christ.  Like Sevilla, in modern times the main dynamic that shapes the history of this city is the trade with the Americas, which has brought wealth and diversity to the city.  The gitanos (gypsies), the nearby Africans, and other people attracted to the city´s lively economy have all intermingled to create a unique cultural panorama.  Another important feature is that the city is on a penninsula, so it can´t really grow much more, allowing it to retain some of its charm from the late XIX and XX centuries.

 

Okay, that said, I am about to continue enjoying the city rather than being holed up in this internet cafe.  I am hoping for good weather through the weekend, as I will head to Tarifa and then up into the moutains of Andalucia to Ronda and then back down to Granada.  In one week I will be done with my cycling, and headed to Madrid.  Bittersweet, but there´s still lots to do between now and then.