Spanish traveling (pt. 1)

[Maryjane Dunn]

<snip>
 But it was Sunday, mid-afternoon, no taxis, no nothing.
I had yet to understand or acclamate to the siesta.
<snip>
  I practiced saying "where can I find a taxi stand, please" as
people walked by.  Finally, I knew i couldn't sit there forever, so I
approached a man with his family <snip>
 From a different message:
Are you fluent in Spanish, i.e. can you carry on a conversation in Spanish
beyond the bare necessities of asking directions, ordering food, etc.?

A couple very basic practical counsels for anyone planning to do the Camino.

1) Basic cross-cultural understanding: While it is important to focus on the
many aspects that seem most pertinent to an extended hiking experience (will
the refugios be open? boots or shoes? ) it would also behoove you to read a
very basic travel guide type book (Fodor's, Frommers, etc) to give you some
feel for what to expect regarding local customs, etc. Some things, like the
siesta are true for most of the country. You can look up the bigger towns
(Burgos, Leon, Stgo itself) and find out specifics like museums, history,
etc. that you might want to learn about. You should be aware of things like
museums being closed on Mondays, etc. so that you won't plan a day based on
a place that ends up closed when you get there. Many good guidebooks also
give basic information about religious and other holidays that may affect
your plans (number of tourists in city, banks closed, etc.)

2) Foods: You'll also learn about regional foods if you read some of the
travel guides based on specific regions--Many years ago when the "Friends"
newsletter had just started I had the occasion to communicate with several
pilgrims who were doing the pilgrimage in stages over various summers,
primarily to enjoy the gastronomic delights of France, but then they decided
to continue across Spain just to say they'd done the whole route. Well,
after their first stage in Spain (through Navarra) they complained
vociferously to me about the lousy Spanish food they'd had. Come to find
out, they had ordered paella almost every day because they "knew" it was the
national dish of Spain; I pointed out that they had missed entirely the
gastronomic delights of a whole region by ordering what is really the
"Sunday noon special" of many parts of  Southern Spain, but had never tried
"trucha" (trout), "sopa de pescado" (fish soup) or many other of the local
specialties.

And finally: (continued in 2nd message to avoid line limitations) --Maryjane
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