Topics you should avoid

Topics you should avoid

by | Jan 31, 2020 | Camino de Santiago, Culture and traditions

Topics you should avoid |

You’ve been dreaming for ages about walking the Camino. You’ve planned,  packed, trained… and you’re finally in Spain. Of course, you want to make the most of this amazing experience and hope that the time spent in Spain will go as smoothly as possible.

 

That can include a wide range of things, such as your flights not being delayed, not suffering any injuries or ampollas (blisters) and making meaningful connections with both fellow peregrinos and locals.

 

Some of these things are beyond your control, so we’ll not discuss them now. Others, however, you have power over.

 

It’s surprising how different things can be in another country, even one that is in theory close to ours: you say or do something that is perfectly OK in your homeland, and all of a sudden you can sense the mood changing. For the worse.

 

So, what should you do?

In order to minimise potential problems or awkward situations with Spaniards, there are certain behaviours and topics you’d better avoid.

 

Don’t criticise

As mentioned in this previous post, avoid criticising our customs; whether it’s mealtimes, siesta, bullfighting or something else. We may privately agree with you. But the fact that you, a foreigner, just came into our country and “have the nerve” to tell us how we should be doing things will not be welcome.

 

I mean, you wouldn’t like it if we went to your country and told you how to run it, would you?

 

Topics you should avoid

You should tread carefully if discussing política (politics) and religión (religion). In fact, my advice would be to stay away from those 2 as much as possible.

 

Politics is maybe an obvious subject to avoid. People can be very passionate about their political ideas and things can easily get heated when we don’t agree.

 

And I’m not just talking about current affair issues like the latest election results or the independence of Cataluña (Catalonia). Other “older” topics like the Spanish Civil War can also be very touchy and nobody will appreciate you, a foreigner, sharing your thoughts about it and “coming to teach us lessons”. That’s how most Spaniards would see it and that’s also one of the most polite replies you will get. So, stay away from it.

 

Oh! And please don’t even suggest that the Catalan, Basque and Galician languages are dialects, especially if you are talking to someone from one of those regions! They ARE languages and, in fact, they are co-official with Spanish in their respective territories. It really upsets many of us when you call them dialects.

 

Religion, on the other hand, is considered a private matter in Spain. You don’t ask someone you just met about their religious beliefs or practices. Of course, some walk the Camino for religious reasons, but some others don’t. So, unless they bring it up, I would also stay away from it. You’re just going to make people uncomfortable if you ask.

 

Bursting stereotypes

While I’m on this topic, I’d like to clarify some common misconceptions people tend to have about Spain and religion.

  • First of all, Spain has no official religion. After Franco’s dictatorship, Catholicism was abolished as the country’s official religion. Our current Constitution, adopted in 1978, establishes the right to religious freedom.

 

  • Secondly, Spain is not a deeply Catholic country, at least not in the way many foreigners think it is. According to the latest surveys, 2 thirds of Spaniards consider themselves Catholic, but only 22% of them attend church on a regular basis. Almost 30% of Spaniards identify as atheist, agnostic or non-believers.

 

You should avoid this, too

Before we finish for today, let me give you one final tip:

 

Please, don’t tell us we have a lisp because of some king or another a few centuries ago!

 

It’s not true; actually, it’s quite a ludicrous theory and all it shows is that you don’t know what a lisp is.

 

A lisp is a speech disorder characterised by  the inability to correctly pronounce the S sounds. People with a lisp typically pronounce S sounds as TH.

 

In Spain, there is a difference in pronunciation (and meaning) between the words seta (mushroom) and zeta (the letter z), or cocer (to boil) and coser (to sew), just to mention a couple of examples. Just the same way that an English speaker pronounces sink & think differently. So, if we have a lisp, I guess you do, too!

You’ve been warned. Now you know what topics you should avoid, so it’s up to you to stay out of trouble.

 

Today’s words

Ampolla

Peregrino

Política

Religión

Cataluña

cocer / coser

seta / zeta

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¡Buen Camino!

Caldo gallego

Caldo gallego

by | Apr 26, 2019 | food, recipes

Would you like a bowl of caldo gallego? Once you enter Galicia, you will find it in many menus, especially during the winter months.

We’re well into la primavera now. The weather was quite nice in marzo (March), but then abril (April) started and back came la lluvia (rain) and el frío (cold).

It’s almost mayo (May) now, but the weather is still quite unstable, so I decided to share the recipe for caldo gallego, the perfect dish to warm you up, as well as to get your energy back after a long day’s walk.

 

But what is caldo gallego?

Caldo gallego (or simply caldo) is a hearty soup made with potatoes, green leaves and beans. As with most traditional dishes, there is not one recipe only, but many variations. And it’s best to prepare a big pot that will last at least a couple of days: caldo tastes much better the day after you make it.

This was originally a farmers’ dish, and it was also a vegetarian dish most of the time, mainly because meat was scarce. As living conditions improved, adding meat to the broth became more common. And even if you don’t see any meat on your plate, el caldo gallego is hardly ever a vegetarian dish these days, as most people use a little piece of unto (cured pork belly fat) to add “substance”.

What do you need?

If you want to make this a vegetarian dish, you will need 3 ingredients, plus salt.

  • 200g de alubias blancas (white beans).
  • 4 patatas (potatoes).
  • 300g de grelos (turnip tops, in the picture), repollo (white cabbage) or berzas (collard greens).
grelos para caldo

 If you are not making it vegetarian, then you have several options.

As I already mentioned, most people add a little piece of unto, which you can substitute with some pancetta. You can also add carne (meat), usually beef or pork, a ham bone and/or chorizo. Some people add all of the above, some others just one or two things… It’s really up to you.

 

How do you make caldo?

If you’re using dried beans, you need to leave them to soak in water for 10-12h, but you can skip this step if you use cooked beans.

  • For the vegetarian version, using dried beans:

First, put the beans into a big pot and cover them with water. Bring to the boil, skimming off the foam when needed.

Let them simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the beans start to soften. Meanwhile, peel and chop the potatoes; wash whatever greens you are using and remove any thick stalks they may have.

When the beans start to get soft, add the potatoes and greens to the pot and let everything simmer for another 20 minutes or until everything is tender. And don’t forget to add salt to taste.

  • If you are using cooked beans, boil the potatoes and greens first and, when they start to soften, add the beans. Let them simmer for a few more minutes.

 

  • If you are using unto or meat, add them to the pot at the beginning, with the beans. That’s if you’re using dried beans. Otherwise, you can let the meat cook for a bit before you add the potatoes and greens. Chorizo does not need to cook for so long. You can add it within the last 10 minutes.

Before you serve it, take the meat and chorizo out and cut them into pieces. Serve in a big bowl with crusty bread.

¡Buen provecho!

 

Today’s words of Spanish for the Camino

Caldo gallego

Primavera

Marzo

Abril

Mayo

Lluvia

Frío

Alubia

Patata

Grelo

Repollo

Berza

Chorizo

Carne

Unto

 

For more recipes, check here.

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¡Buen Camino!

Camino Inglés: de Pontedeume a Betanzos

Camino Inglés: de Pontedeume a Betanzos

by | Apr 5, 2019 | Camino de Santiago, Camino Inglés

Camino Inglés: de Pontedeume a Betanzos |

Day 3 was the last day on our Camino Inglés… for now. When we decided to take our daughters along on this adventure, we thought that maybe walking 20km from Pontedeume to Betanzos would be too much for them. We still wanted to see Betanzos and so that’s where we booked our accommodation for Monday night. We thought we could walk around 10km up to Miño and then take an autobús (bus) to Betanzos (arriva.gal). But we didn’t make any definite decisions.

Day 2, we stayed at Pensión Luis, in Pontedeume. They open their café at 9.00, but we wanted to leave earlier. One of the guys there told us of a cafetería around the corner that apparently opens at 5.00am: a place called Martiño. We certainly didn’t go there at 5.00 to check if they were open. But they were open at 8.00am when we left the pensión to start our day. So we had breakfast, bought a couple of extra things to take with us and left.

Before I started walking this Camino, I had never paid much attention to stage profiles. Whenever I was hiking, maybe I would read a general description of the route and that was it. I just showed up and walked. Profiles were not usually present in what I read and, even if they were, they felt somehow abstract.

Walking from Neda to Pontedeume they suddenly started making sense. So I wasn’t looking forward to walking out of Pontedeume when I saw the profile. And the uphill didn’t disappoint!

 

Camino Inglés: de Pontedeume a Betanzos
 

The climb is over… for now

After we finished climbing, we walked through a lovely forest. The weather gave us a break. It was not as warm as Day 1, but the wind had died down and, again, rain was not expected until later in the day. El sol (sun) was shining and los pájaros (birds) were singing. Quite idyllic!

 

After this, we crossed a road and found ourselves going through a golf course. I wasn’t expecting that and it felt somehow weird and out-of-place. Or maybe it was just me. What I wasn’t expecting either was the hard climb we had to tackle next, through a forest on this occasion. There was a woman on a tractor waiting at the bottom of the hill… I was very tempted to ask her for a lift up to the top!

Camino Inglés: de Pontedeume a Betanzos
Camino Inglés: de Pontedeume a Betanzos
Camino Inglés: de Pontedeume a Betanzos

 

We then continued on paved roads through rural areas for a while until we decided to had a short break at one of the many picnic areas we saw today, by the medieval puente (bridge) over the río (river) Baxoi. We refilled our bottles at the fuente here and ate the churros we had bought earlier in Pontedeume.

Camino Inglés: de Pontedeume a Betanzos
Camino Inglés: de Pontedeume a Betanzos

After this bridge we walked for a few minutes through a forest area under the motorway bridges before we entered Miño, a lovely coastal town with plenty of tiendas (shops) and cafeterías.

Camino Inglés: de Pontedeume a Betanzos
Graffiti under the motorway

We stopped for a toilet break and to drink something that was not water. After eating the churros, we were not hungry and so we didn’t order any food. But we got a pincho de callos with our drinks.

Callos is a typical Spanish stew. As is usually the case with all traditional recipes, there are almost as many versions of callos as cooks. But they all have the same 2 main ingredients in common: beef tripe and garbanzos (chickpeas), as well as a bunch of spices.

I must say the callos tasted heavenly, like pretty much everything else we ate during those 3 days. I guess that’s one of the side effects of walking for hours.

 

So, now we were in Miño and we had to decide whether to keep walking or skip the rest of the stage and take a bus. And we took a vote: it was still early, the weather was holding up and our energy levels were OK, which means we decided to continue walking up to Betanzos (guess who was the only one who voted against it? Hint: teenager).

The rest of the stage, from Miño to Betanzos, goes through tiny villages and it’s mostly (or all) on paved roads. Just like days 1 and 2, it was lonely out there, our company just the odd caballo (horse) or perro (dog).

Camino Inglés: de Pontedeume a Betanzos
Camino Inglés: de Pontedeume a Betanzos
Camino Ingles: de Pontedeume a Betanzos

Betanzos

When we finally made it to Betanzos, our first priority was to find a place to eat, because it was getting late. Restaurant kitchens usually close at around 3.30 or 4.00pm and we didn’t want to wait until la cena (dinner) for a proper meal. There are many places to eat on two narrow streets off Praza Irmáns García Naveira. We tried one of them (I think it was Mesón Sabín) and they agreed to serve us, although I’m sure they were getting ready to close. ¡Gracias!

Among other things, Betanzos is famous for its tortillas de patatas. We got to taste one of them and a few other things as well. Again, everything tasted delicious!  (http://www.expansion.com/fueradeserie/gastro/2018/08/06/5b617442ca4741f5728b45e0.html)

After food, we headed to our accommodation. Shortly after we had arrived, it started raining, although it was not as bad as the previous day in Pontedeume.

As I explained before, we had to go back home on Tuesday in order to allow the kids some time to do homework and study for exams they had right after this short break. So, we got up early and explored Betanzos a bit before taking a bus back to A Coruña. There is a lot to see in Betanzos! (click here for more info).

Camino Inglés: de Pontedeume a Betanzos
Camino Inglés: de Pontedeume a Betanzos
Camino Inglés: de Pontedeume a Betanzos
Camino Inglés: de Pontedeume a Betanzos
Camino Inglés: de Pontedeume a Betanzos

My plan is to go back at the end of this month to complete it. So you’ll have to wait a bit for the rest of the story…

 

Today’s words of Spanish for the Camino

Autobús

Sol

Pájaro

Puente

Río

Fuente

Tienda

Churros

Clara

Callos

Garbanzos

Cena

Caballo

Perro

 

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¡Buen Camino!

Camino Inglés: de Neda a Pontedeume

Camino Inglés: de Neda a Pontedeume

by | Mar 29, 2019 | Camino Inglés, routes

Welcome to Day 2 of my Camino Inglés: de Neda a Pontedeume. If you missed Day 1, you can catch up here.

On Day 2 of our Camino Inglés, we had planned to walk from Neda to Pontedeume, but the weather forecast was not good. In fact, we were on orange alert, with gales and heavy rain… or temporal, as we call it in Spanish.

 

Neda

We woke up to strong winds and grey skies. We checked our weather app again and the chances of lluvia (rain) during the morning seemed to be slim. The owner of our pensión looked quite sceptical when I commented that we might be lucky and make it to Pontedeume with no rain. But, in any case, we decided to leave and see how things went.

Neda was still asleep. We refilled our bottles at the fuente (fountain) outside the concello (town hall in Galician) and kept going.

Iglesia de Sta. María de Neda

We were in Paradise!

Refilling our bottles

The second day was the complete opposite of the first one. On the one hand, there was the issue of the weather. The rain held off until we make it to Pontedeume (phew!), but el viento (wind) was so strong that we could hardly walk at times. We would just hold on to each other so that no one fell, and we tried to keep moving.

This was not one of the windiest moments of the day

 

On the other hand, the terrain was quite different too. While Ferrol-Neda was mostly flat, Neda-Pontedeume was a bit of a rollercoaster, constantly going up and down. And I discovered that walking uphill is not one of my specialties!

My youngest daughter tends to be a fast walker. My husband is not, generally; but today he was in a hurry to make it to Pontedeume as soon as possible, before the rain started pouring. So the two of them walked in front.

Between the uphills and my tendency to stop and take pictures, I was constantly behind. My older daughter (the grumpy teenager), was kind enough to slow down and stay with her poor, slow mother. And that’s how we walked most of the time.

For me, the only good thing about the uphills is that, occasionally, you get rewarded with stunning views like these:

This stage was mostly through rural areas, either tiny aldeas (villages) or forests.

 

**Warning: rant ahead

A lot of the forest areas we crossed today were full of eucaliptos (eucalyptus). I often read other pilgrims’ posts in blogs or social media, about walking through an eucalyptus forest: it’s always about the wonderful smell, how nice it is and how much they love it.

Sorry, but I can’t agree on this one. I do like the smell of eucalyptus, but not in Galician montes (forests)! For me, eucalyptus equals economic interest, destruction of native vegetation and increased risk of fires, among other things. In short, a total disregard for the environment. So, walking through an eucalyptus forest (in Galicia) saddens me greatly **end of rant.

 

To stop or not to stop

Anyway, after going up and down a few times, we got to Fene, a larger town with cafeterías and other services. We took a vote and decided to continue.

More uphills, villages and eucalyptus. After one of these uphills through eucalyptus, we came to a couple of yellow arrows painted under a bridge, that seemed to indicate that we had to get off the path we were following. That didn’t seem right. So, after a couple of minutes’ deliberation and checking maps, we decided to stay on the path. Good decision: after a bend, we could see a stone marker a few metres ahead.

Shortly after, we came to an industrial state (Polígono Vilar do Colo) with a big Gadis supermarket and a bar-restaurante on the other side of the road. So we crossed and enjoyed a well-deserved break. Once inside we realised the place is linked to a petrol station (or gas station, depending where you are from) and small convenience store.

After the break, we went back out into the wind and continued our walk through some more villages until we came to this crossroads:

 

More decisions

Again, like in Day 1, we had to decide: continue on the “regular” Camino (right) or take the Camino complementario (left). The latter added almost 2 km to our day, the first one included a dangerous spot, according to the information panel.

Yesterday we were all in agreement: skip the Camino complementario.

Today, it was hard to decide. On the one hand, nobody wanted to add unnecessary kilometres to our day. But we didn’t want to take risks either. Or at least, the more responsible adults didn’t; teenagers didn’t really agree. So, we took the longer route, which includes plenty more uphills. Yay!

Eventually, we joined the “regular” Camino, walked through Cabanas and crossed the bridge that gives Pontedeume its name.

We had booked a couple of rooms at Pensión Luis, so that’s where we headed. All the rooms have private bathrooms and the price is €15.00 per person.

After dropping our mochilas in the rooms, we had lunch at the restaurant they have downstairs (menu for €9.00; tasty and abundant).

After lunch we went out with the intention of exploring Pontedeume, but it soon started raining and rain gear was back at the pensión, so we went to our rooms. Good excuse to go back to Pontedeume.

Anything is possible during the Carnival. While we were having lunch, a group of ancient Romans came into the restaurant. They parked their vehicles outside. Later, while the Romans were still eating, a gust of wind dragged chariots and horses all over the street.

For more info about Pontedeume, click here.

Theme of the day

On Day 1 we say at least 6 “tanque de tormentas”. I must admit I don’t remember ever seeing one of those and I had to check out what they were. Apparently, these structures generally hold water from storm water runoff and release it gradually, reducing damage from erosion and other physical changes.

On Day 2, we kept seeing a different type of construction: lavaderos. Women used to gather around them to do their laundry in the past. According to this article, Cabanas council has been repairing some of them, not just because of their historical value, but also to turn them into meeting points and rest areas for pilgrims.

Day 1: tanques de tormentas

Day 2: Lavaderos

It was again a lonely day. I think we encountered a couple of people only: a woman in Fene saw us while we were deciding whether to stop or to continue, she thought we were lost and showed us the way. And later, we saw a guy on a tractor. That was it! And we saw horses again.

Will the weather improve for Day 3? Will there be a new theme? All will be revealed in the next post.

 

Today’s words

Temporal

Lluvia

Viento

Fuente

Concello

Aldea

Camino complementario

Tanque de tormentas

Lavadero

Eucalipto

Monte

 

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¡Buen Camino!

Yes. You do know some Spanish already

Yes. You do know some Spanish already

by | Jan 11, 2019 | Camino de Santiago

You know some Spanish already |

You are planning your Camino de Santiago. If it’s the first one, you probably have tons of questions:

How much should I train?

What mochila should I get? How much stuff should I pack?

What are the perfect shoes?

Should I get a guidebook? Or maybe an app?

Should I learn some Spanish?

Most of these questions don’t have just one right answer. What works for me might not work for you and what works for you might not work for me. So read and listen to as much advice as you want, but then do what’s best for you. Make the Camino your own.

 

However, the last question, should I learn some Spanish?, is a different story. Of course you can survive without any knowledge of Spanish. Well, the truth is that you know some Spanish already, even if you don’t know it yet. But, anyway, when you go through the pros and cons of learning the language… there are no cons, really! It’s all benefits:

 

language is the only thing worth knowing
  • First of all, learning another language is good for your brain: it slows down aging, it improves your memory and your decision-making skills, it boosts your self confidence… and the list goes on.

Those alone should be enough to convince you to start learning a new language now!

But let’s concentrate on the benefits of learning Spanish for the Camino 

Not everybody in Spain speaks English. English speakers are easier to find in the bigger cities, but you’ll be going through a lot of rural areas and small villages populated by older people who do not know a word of English.

 

  • The locals will be more receptive to you if you try to speak Spanish (and they might even invite you to whatever they are doing) just because you made the effort. 
  • Learning at least some basic Spanish means you don’t need to rely on other people to communicate your needs.
  • It also means you are not dependent on technology either (my phone’s battery tends to die just when I need it most!) 
  • The fact that you don’t need to rely on other people or technology will make you feel more confident and independent; it will reduce the stress and anxiety you will feel if you need to get an important message across (maybe you have a health issue, you need to book accommodation…).

 

OK. So, you are convinced now and have decided to learn a bit of Spanish.

For some reason, when we start learning a language we focus on all the stuff we don’t know: vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation… And it can be overwhelming.

 

What if I told you that you know a lot of Spanish already?

Yes, there are many words that are the same, or almost, in English and Spanish. Maybe a tiny spelling change. Most likely a different pronunciation. But still very similar. Let me give you a few examples:

Hotel, teléfono, restaurante, menú, taxi, chocolate, delicioso, animal, doctor, kilo, local, municipal, región, religión. 

Did you need the translation? I didn’t think so.

 

A few weeks ago I interviewed Kelli, an American pilgrim, about her experience on the Camino. In the second part of my conversation with Kelli, she gives you a tip to automatically increase your Spanish vocabulary:

 

Words in English that end in -ity will be the same in Spanish but replace the -ity with -idad.

 

So electricity becomes electricidad; spirituality > espiritualidad; tranquility > tranquilidad and security > seguridad, just to mention a few.

 

The good news is that this is not the only tip to increase your Spanish vocabulary:

 

  • Many English words ending in -al are the same in Spanish. Again, the pronunciation will be different and there might be minor spelling changes but nothing that will prevent you from recognising the word. You don’t believe me? Check these examples: 

hospital, normal, dental, total, inicial, oficial, profesional 

 

  • Some of the English words ending in -ist will end in -ista in Spanish:

dentista, ciclista, especialista, realista, turista, racista

 

Warning! You will find exceptions but they’ll be mostly words you won’t need for the Camino. So, what are you waiting for to start increasing your Spanish vocabulary?

 

Can you think of any other tips? Please share them in a comment.

 

Today’s Spanish words

 

Hotel

Teléfono

Restaurante

Menú

Taxi

Chocolate

Delicioso

Animal

Doctor

Kilo

Local

Municipal

Región

Religión

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¡Buen Camino!