Stranded in Sitges

February 9,10 2013-

It's Carneval weekend! There are festivals and carnivals going around all across Spain to celebrate, I finally found out, Mardi Gras. You know what they say "When in Spain, do as the Spaniards do." So in order to celebrate Mardi Gras in true Spanish fashion we went to the little sea (it's not a beach because it's not an ocean) town of Sitges (pronounced sea-tches) for the biggest carnival in the country: Carneval 2013.

My roommate and I met everyone at the train station because it was close to our apartment and we wanted to walk to see more of where we live. Meeting time was 3. We got to the train station around 2:45 and decided to sit around and wait for the rest of the group to meet us.

Well, 3 o'clock came and went and it was now 4 and the group still wasn't at the station. Did they leave us? Did we miss them? Are we in the right place? All of these questions ran through our heads, but here in Spain I do not have a phone and she lost hers about 2 days after getting it, so there was no way to find answers to those questions. So we sat there and waited... "okay we will leave at 4:15 because they're obviously not coming." 4:15 comes around "okay we will wait until 4:30." 4:30 came around and they were no where to be found. So at 4:35 JUST as we were about to cross the street to leave, we saw them. THANK GOD.

We got on the train from Barcelona to Sitges and began our adventure. And man what an adventure it was! In Spain, these carnivals are the big hoorah before lent, which starts on Wednesday. The carnival consumed the whole city and there were people running around everywhere dressed up as anything from an FBI guy (who looked so real I thought the carnival was being raided) to human cows. It was like nothing I've ever seen before, and I've seen some pretty weird things in Hollywood. But this carnival wasn't for just the young partiers, there were old ladies dressed up too! I saw one lady in her late 60s with a rainbow wig on, and she was loving every minute of it!

We made our way to the British bar... because, well...... what girl doesn't like a bunch of hot British men serving her drinks. Then we went down to the sea to watch the beautiful sunset. Watching the sunset with the sea in front of us was like a picture right out of a magazine. 

By 12 o'clock our bodies were tired, we couldn't see straight and we were all out of money, so we decided we would catch the last train home because the next one after 12 didn't leave until 5:30 a.m., or so we thought. 

As we walked through the crazy town with all the hooligans and up to the train station there were about 150 "policia" or "guardia" standing outside. We tried to go in and the police said the next train to Barcelona didn't leave until 3:30 a.m and that we couldn't see the schedule to confirm that either.

So here we are: in a foreign town surrounded by these LOCO people and our train doesn't leave for another 3 and a half hours. There was only one thing to do: Party on.

And we did just that, until 3:30 a.m. 

We finally got back on the train home and we were peacefully sitting in our little cubbie and what happens? "Supergirl" and her three friends come and obnoxiously sit across from us. It was too early/late for this. After making fun of us for being American, which, most people in Spain don't seem to like our country (they're just jealous), we finally arrived in Barcelona. And trust me, it couldn't have came quick enough. 

At 5 a.m. I got on the metro to come home and once I got off, SPRINTED to get to the apartment building. My twin, hard as a board bed had never felt more comfortable.