Have “a coffee?” Travels through Spain, part 2

Travels through Spain

November 6, 2024

Have “a coffee”? Or bacon that hasn’t been fried?

Our guide for the trip around most of Spain was a man named Samuel. He was probably in his mid-40s and had done this kind of work for at least a decade, I’m guessing—very experienced and well-traveled both in Europe, the U.S., Canada, and likely South America—but I’m not sure he ever leads tours there.

He says his work pattern is to lead a week, ten days, two weeks or more tour, and then takes a 4 or 5 day break in between such tours. He lives somewhere near where his parents do towards southern Spain, but in an apartment. He was pleasant and good looking but not married, although we were sure he was talking to friends on his phone from time to time. He had energy and was well-organized for what his job called for.  

In addition to a salary he gets from the tour company, most travelers, if they’ve had a good experience, pony up and give a pretty generous tip at the end: ours was about 196 euros as a couple, at the advice of our travel agent. Multiplied by 40 travelers or so, that makes a pretty nice bonus (around $4,000 U.S.). But also pretty exhausting for the leader, who had to coordinate our arrivals to locations so they were pretty much on time and to meet up with additional local tour guides who went into more depth than one single overall tour guide could ever manage. Hard but interesting and fun work. He also had to coach us to get our suitcases outside of our rooms by 6:45 a.m. or 7 a.m., before eating our breakfast, and getting on the road again. (Hotel staff picked the suitcases up and took them to the bus. IF we wanted to brush teeth AFTER breakfast, we had to carry our toothbrushes and paste in our backpacks.)

When Samuel would tell us we were having a bathroom break where everyone needed to get off the bus, and we could take time to go into a large cafeteria and sit down and “have a coffee”—at first that was a little strange to my ears. Yes, I’ll have coffee, thank you,—but A coffee? It sounds pretty British but I do remember my friends in Spain talking that way.  Of course in Spanish the correct word for coffee is technically café. Such as what we in the U.S. call places where we drink coffee.

And that reminds me. I learned to not look at a Spanish breakfast buffet and think ewwww, that bacon has not even been cooked! Well, the custom is not to “cook” bacon as such. But it is seasoned well over time, and you get used to eating a “bocadillo” (sandwich) made from delicious freshly made bread, with one tasty but thin piece of jamón.  

More about Spanish bacon: There is “jamón iberico” and “jamón serrano”cut thinly and usually eaten at room temperature, not fried. It is salt-cured. The taste is delicate and salty, with varying soft textures. Jamón slices are enjoyed on their own as a snack or “tapa,” or eaten with bread or cheese. My husband loves salt-cured ham which we know here in Virginia as “country ham,” which we soak in water before dipping it in flour and then frying it in a frying pan for just a couple of minutes. I eat such too, but it is not my favorite way to fix ham. (And you pronounce jamón as ha-món. The serrano ham is a little like prosciutto, but not the same either. It has to do with what the pigs have been fed. For more info try here.)

Next time, I’ll get back to more of the sightseeing we enjoyed throughout a country that is a bit smaller than the state of Texas.

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What have been your surprises or learnings when you’ve traveled to a new place or new people?

Globus Tours can be found at www.globusjourneys.com