Puerto Real and Halloween...

Yesterday was Halloween, and even though it is not a Spanish holiday, it is becoming quite popular with witches and devils running the streets of Jerez all night long. But my Halloween adventure really started much earlier than the night.

I worked, as was normal, until 13:30 and then ran up to my room to change into my purple bathing suit and head to the beach, since the weather was scorching and even though it was practically November, people in Spain are still flocking to the beaches, amazed themselves at how late the heat has stayed this year.

I met another au pair in the city center and we walked to the train station. Now I now I have said this a million times already, but on the weekends in Spain, you really just never know when the public transportation will be going, or how long you will be waiting at the different stops along the way to your destination.

A great example of this was my trip to the beach yesterday where it took me, through a couple of mishaps, three hours to get to a beach that is normally 10-15 minutes by car away from Jerez.

Instead of taking a cercania (close) train that stops at the beach we wanted we accidentally took a mediadistancia (mid-distance) train headed for Cadiz, not knowing it did not stop where we wanted to go. By the time we passed our stop and asked the attendant where to get off we were two stops passed where we wanted to be, in Puerto Real.

Now I have never been through Puerto Real before so I cannot vouch for its attraction as a nice place to visit that is close to Jerez, but I must confess that after spending over an hour in the unseasonal Spanish sun at the tiny train station waiting for a train to take as back to where we wanted to go, I am not partial to the city!

The good news is that on Saturdays everything is more relaxed in Spain, so no one checked our tickets and we hopped on and off the train without having to pay more for our little detour.

We made it to the beach an hour before sunset and were able to kiss the cheeks of our friends we were meeting just before they had to head back to Jerez to work, and then we witnessed a beautiful enormous Spanish sunset over the Bay of Cadiz with the city itself set against the vibrant colors.

The sky here in Spain just seems larger than most of the other places I have visited in the world, although I really cannot explain why, and being right at sea level it stretched even a little further than normal as the almost full moon rose on the darkening east and of course the sun to the west.

So after a stressful and frustrating day of running and waiting, I, without intending to, was able to relax and take in the sounds of the beach and fully appreciate that I am living in Spain and that I am so blessed as to be able to enjoy so much beauty so often here.

Well after a small dinner of a ham and cheese sandwich and cafe con leche at a local bar, we headed home and prepared for a long and interesting night of Halloween in Jerez with the promise of all the young people coming home from the university for the weekend.

Though I could probably write another blog altogether about our adventures that night, I will summarize it by saying I wore my zebra print dress and painted part of my face to match it and headed out with a bottle of spiked sangria to enjoy the town and with a vow to not pay for another drink that night.

We succeeded with our promise and I made it home just before the sun rose, completely my odd day that started in the play room with the baby, passed through Puerto Real, and ended with me using a baby wipe, or two, to wipe a zebra design off my face.

I might just have to call it my strangest and best Halloween yet!