2005 Year in Review

Espana por favor

After Portugal, during my seafaring and oil rigging career, the next foreign country that I lived and worked in was Spain. As the title of my topic depicts, the only place Spain is Spain is in English speaking countries. This always comes as a surprise to folks like me from America when they arrive in Osterreich, Deutschland, Norge, Nippon and/or etc.

During my stay in Spain I worked in Almeria, Algeciras, offshore Tarragona and lived, at various times, in Torremolinos on the Costa del Sol and Salou on the Costa Brava.

At some point I thought that having grown up in Sterling I might have absorbed enough Spanish to get along, but this never turned out to be the case. A variety of circumstances led to this handicap. First, when I lived in Torremolinos everyone spoke English. This was a favorite haunt of American and British (and many other nationalities) tourists, so almost everyone could speak some English. No problem here. In Madrid, Spanish is spoken at warp speed, especially by women, so I'm not even sure if they were speaking Spanish. In Salou, where I lived while working out of Tarragona they don't speak Spanish (Castilian), but instead Catalan. I was in a pickle and in fact had better luck speaking to the few Portuguese workers that were with me on the rig. At the market, my halting Spanish and sign language would get me by.

Living in Spain was fun. In coastal tourist areas there are always plenty of things to do, bars, beaches, good weather and atmosphere. Madrid is unusual in that its location doesn't really make any sense. Except for its central location there are no major advantages of geography that would ever make you want to build a large city here; no lakes, rivers or easily defensible terrain. But, in fact, it is central to all of Spanish culture to the exclusion of all the various regions. The most famous rebellion to this central control of course is the Basque separatist movement which continues to this day.

I had my first encounter with Gypsies (properly known as Roma) here in Spain. Gypsies live in other parts of Europe too and are probably most associated with the country of Romania, but this was my first contact with the itinerant culture. One of the Canadian families that I worked with on the rig had a break-in at their home in Salou and everything went missing including food from their refrigerator and their kids clothes. The next day they went to the market and bought all their clothes back again. I do not mean for this to disparage and all individuals are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, but this is a true story.

Some of the other rig hands had Honda Goldwing motorcycles which they traveled around on. This always drew large crowds of locals when they stopped at stop lights and signs because motorcycles, at the time, were usually in the 100cc size range or smaller. Only the police would have large motorcycles and were usually riding BMWs smaller than the Goldwing.

Local police are not always given much respect, but the Guardia Civil demands and gets it. This national paramilitary police force has the power, backing and training to rival our FBI or the RCMP of Canada. If they tell you to do something or not to do something make sure you follow the instructions. A couple times while I lived in Spain there were uprisings or a few serious criminal events that occurred. At these times the borders would be closed tight and the Guardia most often got their man.

Bullfights are real and bloody. Just in case you belong to PETA you are allowed to cheer for the bull. Do not have a traffic accident in Spain and if someone is injured or killed, expect to spend a long time in jail. Rent-a-car agencies in Spain make you take out special insurance just in case such an unfortunate event happens. Central heating was not a priority and rarely a necessity in Spain, so hot water and cooking was most often done on propane gas equipment supplied off small portable tanks like our outdoor grills. Don't worry about the gas bill because there isn't one. If you need gas you just buy a bottle and when you turn on the shower an instant hot water heater heats it up - no hot water tanks. Table wine might not be a connoisseur's taste choice, but it was always strong and if too strong could be cut with soda water or agua con gaz. Spain is the leading exporter of olives and olive oil.

Unfortunately my information here and last visit to Spain were many many years ago. James A. Michener made Torremolinos famous in his book "The Drifters" which dates me and that period of American culture when youth took off to learn and experience the world on their own. I hope a little bit of that adventurous spirit and foolhardiness still exists.

by Marc Adami, Guest Columnist
July 14, 2005