If the story of my travels thus far were to have some sort of moral, some sort of simple, meaningful message that could benefit all mankind, I think it would be this:
If you're traveling to Spain for the first time and you're still relatively unfamiliar with the exchange rate and therefore unable to judge the appropriateness of prices, don't buy a cell phone from the first person who offers to sell you a cell phone; shop around a bit.
I know that's sort of specific and you may have some trouble applying it to your daily life, but I still think it's a pretty good moral. I would add that this advice should not be disregarded even if your mother tells you to "buy a cell phone as soon as you get over there!" (Hi Mom!)
No sooner had I gotten through customs in Madrid than I encountered this lady yelling about a "teléfono cellular." And I just shelled out some cash without asking any questions. I figured if she was allowed in the airport, she must be legit. And it sounded like a good deal. It just... wasn't... is all.
The phone itself was 50 euros, which is more than anyone ought to pay for a cell phone that they'll only be using for five months. Then I paid to put 50 more euros on the SIM card. That's right, my vidlings, I parted ways with 100 euros within my first twenty minutes in Spain.
The lady told me I'd be able to call anyone anywhere in the world using the money I put on my SIM card. Questions I should have asked at the time include:
1. Can anyone anywhere in the world also call me?
2. How much money will I be charged per minute?
3. Is 100 euros a lot of money to spend on a temporary cell phone? Because it kind of feels like a lot of money to spend on a temporary cell phone.
The answer to question one, I soon learned, is "no." Apparently, people in Spain cannot call the number I was given. Which, you know, is a bit of a problem if you're living in Spain for five months.
I still don't know the answer to question two. It's probably something like "too much."
As for question three, the answer seems to be "yes." One of my friends here bought her phone for 19 euros. I think maybe the SIM card was an additional 20, but that still only brings her to 39 euros as compared to my 100.
If you need to buy a phone in Cádiz, the consensus seems to be that Yoigo is the way to go. They sell cheap cell phones and cheap plans. I bought a new SIM card there today for 20 euros. I'm on a plan which charges me 8 cents a minute and 8 cents per text message. Not only that, I start with 20 free text messages. But most importantly, I now have a new phone number and people can actually contact me, so I got that going for me. Which is nice.
On an unrelated note, a car passed me today blaring Justin Bieber. I wasn't totally surprised; American music seems to be more common in Spain than Spanish music. But I was amused to see that it was not, say, a mother carting her tweenage daughter around Cádiz, but an older gentleman, alone in his car, simply rockin' out to the Canadian teen idol's hit "Baby." Not that it matters, but it occurs to me as I write this that a casual overseas consumer of American music might easily mistake Bieber for a female. I can't decide how this changes my perception of the event, if at all.
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