Notes on Spain

-I tried, whenever possible, to speak Spanish while in Spain (English in Gibraltar, because that seemed to be preferred). I think it surprised a lot of shopkeepers and receptionists, but though I completely butchered the language, I do hope they appreciated the attempt. Many switched into English after I started talking in Spanish, and in all these cases their English was much better than my Spanish. Others looked confused, so I used a few more hand gestures. It was pretty easy, anyway. I used the formal-you tense while asking questions, which generally has fewer conjugation tricks.

-The ice cream in the heladerias was amazing! There are two flavors distinctive to the region, one called something like Carapino which was vanilla with caramel and some kind of nut--macademia?, the other usually called Malaga or Malagueno or something else, that was a light chocolate flavor with what seemed to be raisins. I admit, the raisins surprised me at first, but this was possibly the best ice cream I've ever had.

-The coffee I had with breakfast was typically cafe con leche. This was also what was served in most cafeterias (being cafe'-teri'as, where the 's are accent marks, not the school cafeteria it looks like) in the evenings. In the latter case, the waiter would bring a small glass filled about 1/4 of the way with espresso. Then he'd fill in the rest of the way with steaming milk out of a pitcher. Cafe con leche!

-A lot of tourists, I am told, go to Spain and drink sangria. But the Spanish tend to drink tinto de verano instead, which is red wine mixed with the European version of lemonade, lemon-flavoured carbonated water. (Europeans are confused when they see real lemonade in films/television! It's too yellow and pulpy to them)

-The fast food of choice appeared to be Burger King. Huh.
-A cafeteria chain seemed to be called Okay. Huh.

-Tapas! Seriously, I cannot tell you how amazing it was to be surrounded by tapas bars, and all the ones I tried were good. Tapas are small portions of food, the size of your palm maybe, with the idea that a group orders a few and split them by having a few bites of each. General characteristics of the tapas I saw included: ones that were fried, seafood, sausages, cheeses, tortillas that looked more like quiche. Not many required eating utensils. The best part was how inexpensive calamari (generally found as calamares fritas) was!
Tapas are also an inexpensive way to eat, usually under 2 Euro per tapa.
For that matter, Spain was pretty inexpensive.

-Pensiones, in singular pensio'n (pen-see-OWN), are kind of like a step up from a hostel and a step down from a B&B. You get your own room, you share a bath, and you get breakfast in the morning. Most non-hotel accommodation seemed to be a pension, the same way that everything in Britain is a B&B.

-Breakfast in Spain seems to be exclusively toast with butter or marmelade and coffee. No where varied.

-Though less true in touristy areas, the Spanish siesta is definitely in full force for most of the society, with shops shut between about 1-4 every afternoon. Even some museums followed this rule!

-One of the coolest experiences was riding the bus from La Linea to Malaga, for a whole hour the bus driver was tuned into a station that appeared to play music exclusively in English. Classic rock/Oldies, Beatles, Eagles, Elton John, that sort of stuff.

Along those lines, I realised how much concentration it took to be surrounded by Spanish. When in Gibraltar I suddenly found it easier to notice my surroundings, because I wasn't using that extra step to translate signs and conversations. When the language isn't instinctual it's harder to notice smaller details, even if not actively conversing.