a little more on Spanish bars

[Rozan Gautier]

After all the recent talk about Spanish bars I thought you all might
enjoy an "essay" on the subject from an e-mail I sent this summer to
family and friends while doing the Camino.  My husband and I walked
from St. Jean to Santiago from June 19 till July 24th.

Rozan Gautier

Friday July 18, 2003
Portomarin

...One thing I must confess is that on this trip I have been in more
bars than the rest of my life combined.  I have been in DOZENS OF BARS!
  A bar is usually the only commercial establishment in all the small
villages we travel through.  It is always more exciting to use the
bathroom in a bar than to find a convenient tree, rock, shrub...   We
get our morning cup of cocoa in bars.  We learned early on that if  you
order chocolate, you get this substance so thick you can actually stand
your spoon up in it.  We then learned to order Cola Cow which is the
Spanish equivalent of Hershey's cocoa or Nestle's Quick.  We have
learned to order "dos coca colas light con mucho heilo"  mucho heilo is
usually about two cubes of ice.  In a bar you can also have a bocadillo
which is bread and cheese or bread and meat...period, no mustard, mayo
or anything.  The Spanish are purists when it comes to sandwich making
and it is amazing how delicious those simple sandwiches are.  But by
far my favorite item to order in a bar is a tortilla Espaniol.  This is
basically an omelet of eggs,onions and potatoes.  They are wonderful
with huge chunks of Spanish bread.  In bars one can also buy chupa
chups. really wonderful lollypops that keep us going the last hour or
so of walking on a difficult day.  Our favorite is a combination of
strawberry and cream.  A  pilgrim moves on his stomach!  So much for
bar talk.  Oh! one last thing.  This computer I am using is in...a bar!