Geeky Yet Waterproof

Yesterday we arrived in Cadiz, Spain. Cadiz is the oldest city in all of Europe, dating from way back in the 1100’s… BC!

We were pleasantly surprised when we stepped off the ship into Cadiz to see the same Hop-On, Hop-Off busses that were in Portugal. So to initiate our 8-hour stay in southern Spain, we took an hour-long bus ride around the edge of the city.

Since Cadiz is so old, I think it was probably the coolest place we had been so far. During the first hour alone we saw the ancient walls surrounding the city, the ruins of a Roman amphitheater, and two castles.
After the bus tour, we (purposely) found our way to a guitar shop. Nobody in the shop could speak English, and none of us could speak Spanish, but we somehow got the point across that I’d like try try out a few guitars, and they understood.
And guess what happened: I ended up buying one! It has a really nice sound, and they said it was made in the north of Spain by a very old maker (but don’t ask me how we understood that).

After that, we went and sat by the beach for a few minutes so I could play it a little, then we went to go find lunch. We ended up eating outside a little restaurant (the owner/waiter/employee of which didn’t speak any English) in a plaza right under a HUGE cathedral. Again, we all had fish, and again, it was all delicious.
While we were eating, some utility guys dressed head to toe in neon green started taping down the sidewalk. Pretty soon, as we were having our dessert, they started up a dismayingly loud machine. They were laughing and smiling at us, because they knew how annoying it was! Then it was apparent that the machine was a power-sprayer, and they proceeded to paint a green line onto the sidewalk. We didn’t realize until after our lunch when we began our walking tour guided by our little map from the tourist office, that we were supposed to follow the green line! How could this be? They had just painted it!

So after our lunch, we followed the green line around Cadiz, and eventually ended up at a cool 15th-century castle. We explored a lot inside, and patrolled the walls a little bit.
The castle was located right on the edge of the water, and by this time it was getting really hot; the Spanish sun beats down on you with a force probably equivalent to that of a place like Arizona! The water looked really tempting, but we had to start heading back to the ship lest we be left in Spain.

So after calling home from a pay-phone in a Spanish bar (which, believe me, was an adventure), we boarded the ship to sail to Casablanca, Morocco.
We had a lot of fun in Spain, and somehow communicated with people even though the majority didn’t speak English. I guess that’s the good thing about knowing Latin: you can understand anything!

This report may have been rather short, but we have now, at the time of this writing, arrived in Casablanca and are getting ready to leave the ship. Expect to hear from me on the African continent soon!