Spanish Musings

Where to start on my impressions of this time in Spain???

Hey there!

Firstly, the Spanish are an amazing people.  My Spanish has not improved dramatically but I believe that I can generally understand what they are saying.  Trace on the other hand is able to string sentances together and have a conversation with them. 
There is such respect in their way of life that the elderly can go for a walk at 12 midnight without being mugged.  In fact it was very common to see groups of Grandma´s and pa´s sitting on plaza benches having a good old gossip about everything between the hours of 10 - 12 pm.


You go to these Cafe/bars and you will see the men in there very early having a coffee or stronger drink, then later the ladies will come in for coffee and later in the day you will have kids come in for icecreams or sweets.  These cafes are like milk bars + coffee shop + tobaconis´t´s + alcohol bar all rolled up into one.  They serve the whole family.  That is what I liked the most.
We came across one Cafe bar that we really enjoyed spending time at.  It was in Mondanado and it was called the Bar El Peregrino. 
The owner was not able to speak Spanish but he was so accommodating.  In Spain they turn the TV on for guests of importance.  This guy (name escapes me) not only turned on the TV but spent 10 minutes flicking through the channels to find an English channel, finally settling on BBC News.
In Mondanado there is a camp where spanish children go to learn English, loads of activities for them.
It was in the bar that we finally met a person from the UK, Stuart (Leeds) and were able to have a full on normal conversation. phew!
Anyway from Ribadeo to Sorbrato we played tag with a quartet of Spanish uni students who knew a smattering of English.  They were a delight.



Secondly, bloody gum trees everywhere you look.
They use them for paper here so they grow plantations but they are concerned that they can not reuse the land for other crops as they say the gum trees are tainting the ground.
But these gum trees grow very straight and it was not for nearly 2 weeks before I saw a tree that had a normal Australian gum tree look, you know branches everywhere.

Thirdly, there are so many similar things about Spain and Australia, the are not quite the same but sometimes when you think you are in Australia.
But there is also those times when you know that you are not.  The towns / villages / hamlets etc are no more than 5 kms apart.  So sometimes you do not know if you have actually left one and gone to another.  And they have cows!  Whoooo the smell is with you most of the time.


 Lastly, I think that I could be quite happy to return to Spain and DRIVE around to visit those towns we fell in love with.
I also would not have given up the time that I have had with Trace for all the world.  We have been able to take our relationship to a new level of understanding that you can not do in your normal daily life.
I know that this woman is the desire of my heart.