The West is Awake: Life goes on in Santander.....

Visitors/Visiting

I had a great visit from Mary and Conal (who are spending 4 months – count them – in their apartment in the south of Spain). They decided to take a road trip to the north and we all stayed with Estela and Jacobo, about 30 mins from Santander. They were terrific hosts, organising food, hikes, restaurants, etc.

We had pretty good weather and managed to get two hikes in – one coastal with gorgeous sea views and another one in the Cantabrian Mountains. It was a stunning day with searing blue skies and brilliant sunshine. Thanks Estela and Jacobo!

Caves in Cantabria
There are literally hundreds of caves in this region. I’ve been to two recently. Soplao, which is spectacular with incredible stalactite and stalagmite formations in all sorts of colours – I really enjoyed this one, but it felt just a bit ‘touristy’ to me.

I thought that the second caves I visited in Puente Viesgo were more authentic – one with cave paintings reported to be possibly from Neanderthal man but definitely dating back 37,000 years – unbelievable when you think about it. Another cave in that region was incredible – I felt like I was in Lord of the Rings and ‘Golum’ was whispering from one of the ledges….’come to me my precious……..’ (Sandra, if you're reading this - remember Golum's Gully on the way up Mweelrea??!). The mean temperature is approx. 13 degrees and I’m telling ya….I could live in one of these – they are incredibly funky and awe inspiring.

Of course - the motherlode of all caves in Cantabria are the Altamira caves (check out this picture of cave art), but unfortunately they closed them 10 years ago due to visitor impact....they 'recreated' them but definitely not the same thing.

I also met my very own Neanderthal man in one of the caves...but that's another story.

Observations on life in Santander – I take full responsibility for the views/opinions expressed herein!

Stylish Santander
it’s been fun observing the style around town. As I’m not frequenting too many bars or clubs at night, I can’t really comment on the U-30s gear but certainly walking around the streets during the day you see some very stylishly dressed people (women in particular but also some very dapper looking older gents). A lot of women are very petite and slim and always wear the correct accessories. It is pretty conservative though and you see the same type of clothes over and over again.

Hi, my name's Mutt
Some of you will be familiar with the phrase ‘mutton dressed as lamb’. Well, they have it down to a fine art here. While I’m all in favour of dressing ‘differently’ or with a little sass or funk…..and in older women wearing bright colours and dressing with pazzazz….in fact I love to see that, I dress way too conservatively myself….however, there comes a time in one’s life where you have to shout HALT….STOP…..or the fashion police will send you to roam forever through the aisles of Penney’s.

And I’m talking the extreme version here – picture this - you walk behind someone in colourful leggings, long boots that come over the knee, leather biker jacket….all beautifully put together and then you pass her and look around….holy God…there’s more creases in that face than in the Grand Canyon.

But I will say that while there are many people here to whom the phrase ‘there goes mutton dressed as lamb’ could be applied…it’s at least very stylish lamb (it helps!).

The Santander women are also not shy or ashamed when it comes to fur jackets and coats. I don’t know where the PETA representatives are, but they ain’t here.

Real Men Wear Skinny Jeans….and scarves!

Men – scarves/skinny jeans/bright colours. One thing you see a lot of in Spain is men in skinny jeans – and not only that, but in lots of different colours. They have no compunction about wearing them, often with a neat jacket and scarf. Mustard, salmon pink, light blue, emerald green, orange and purple are popular colours. I hasten to add that most of the men who are wearing them are relatively tall and slim!! But I just couldn’t imagine an Irish guy in the same gear….it’s refreshing to see it here – it definitely jazzes things up in the mens' style department.

Wellies

Wellington boots – when I first came to Santander I couldn’t understand why so many shoe shops prominently displayed wellington boots – in lots of different styles, colours and lengths. The most common ones seem to be the ‘Hunter’ wellies from the UK – definitely a brand name kind of thing. I thought at first it was because of the weather and the fact that the north of Spain gets much more rain than the south. But it often didn’t make sense when I saw women wearing wellies on a perfectly dry day.

My curiosity got the better of me and I introduced it as a class discussion. Bottom line – it’s a fashion statement – they didn’t

realise it came from the likes of Kate Moss et al wearing wellies at soggy, mucky, music festivals like Glastonbury – they have barely heard of her. No, this is just fashion for fashion’s sake.

I even saw one woman wearing red wellies that had bows at the front, just like these ones!!

Children

Enough about the adults – what about the children? I’ve been gobsmacked to see lots of kids on Saturdays and Sundays, dressed to the nines, and all apparently for the sake of ‘strolling’ through Santander with their parents. You would not believe the get up of some of them.

Absolutely beautiful outfits, excellent quality and everything matching to boot.

I cannot imagine an Irish kid lasting more than an hour in some of the outfits without destroying them. Honestly, it’s like a fashion show.

This little girl was only DELIGHTED to have her photo taken
(her parents too!)

Dainty Doggies

And last but not least – the dog clothes. A lot of people here have those little Paris Hilton style dogs. And, by God, do they dress them up in little cutesy outfits, sometimes even matching their own gear – as was spotted the other day on my rambles. Lots of care, attention and money goes into this…

Family oriented
I thought the Portuguese were extremely family-oriented but the Spanish take the biscuit. Family is everything…it’s funny to listen to the teenage groups when having a class discussion about things that are important in their lives (of course I expect them to say family – to a degree) but it seems as if their radars don’t extend too much further than family – some good gap year travel would be a great benefit I think.

Parents often do everything for their kids – and I was amazed in one class discussion with adults when two of the women said they had given up their professions in order to be at home to monitor their kid’s homework with them, because it had got so competitive and you just HAD to do that. This isn’t about people deciding to be a stay at home mum or dad….that’s different…this was mostly about the need to do this so their kids would at least be on a level playing field later in life - amazing.

But it is kind of sweet to see the relationships between parents and kids – we have kids as young as 3 and 4 attending language classes (I know!!)…..and it is really cute to see them coming and going and the delight with which they greet their mother/father/grandparents.

Spanish Style Eating
I am definitely not on Spanish time with regards to eating. Maybe if I was settling here for a long time I would adjust but I find the time between lunch at maybe 2pm and dinner at 9-10pm too long

Typical eating pattern in Spain
08:00 Breakfast – can be anything but lots of people seem to eat a really light breakfast.
Maybe coffee and a slice of toast.

11:00 (or thereabouts) some sort of coffee break where they eat something very light.... a
piece of tortilla (Spanish Omlette) or a Croissant or similar.

15:00 Lunch – this is generally the biggest meal of the day and usually involves at least two courses (soup and main) if taken at home or the Menu del Dia (daily menu special) if taken in a restaurant – every café/restaurant offers this and usually for about 10-12 Euros…it will be 3 courses plus wine (yes, they all drink either a class (or two) of wine or beer at lunchtime), plus coffee. They then spend the next hour relaxing or sleeping it off.

21:00 - 22:00 Dinner – lighter than lunch but still a significant meal at that time of night.

Talking, talking, talking – the Spanish are extremely sociable and they love their long lunches even when hiking and most people bring TONS of food to share around. Completely different from my experiences in Austria or Ireland or the States….where possibly one or two people bring a bar of chocolate or some nuts to share around…on the last hike I felt like a complete skinflint with my two neatly packed sandwiches, when everyone else was passing around cake, chocolate, strawberries, nuts etc.

Goodbye, au revoir, adieu, aufwiedersehen, hasta luego…..just like in Ireland, where you spend 5 hours at someone’s house socialising and then another 30 minutes or more saying goodbye, the Spanish love to take time to say goodbye. And then, of course, there’s the obligatory ‘air’ kiss on both cheeks when greeting or leaving someone’s company – sometimes it takes 10 minutes just to go through that rigmarole if there are 15 people hiking. All very sociable!

Am I allegeric to Santander?

I'm beginning to think so.....this is the first week in about 6 weeks that I am halfway normal. I seemed to have picked up every bug imaginable, from strep throat to bronchial/sinus infections and boy did they linger. Everyone has a different reason for why I was subject to such atrocities and why they lasted for so long.....from being around young children in the school, to the humidity in the Santander air, to the changeable weather, to me not being used to the 'atmosphere'. I've lived in many places and NEVER experienced anything like it.

I kept the tissue comanies in business and grossed everyone else out with my sniffling and snuffling and snotting (is that a verb?) and hacking and rattling and spluttering. Thankfully, it's all over now and here's looking forward to warm weather, sunshine and being disease free.

Learning Spanish
I’m ashamed to say that I have picked up very little conversational Spanish – my own fault entirely but here are the inevitable excuses….I spend approximately 8 waking hours every day either teaching English or preparing for classes (and I sure as hell ain’t thinking in Spanish when I’m doing that)….Most mornings Mon-Thurs I spend either alone – going swimming, etc., or if I do meet someone for coffee their English is about 100% better than my Spanish so we chat in English. I think because I know I’ll be leaving at the end of June that my motivation to push myself is just not there (take classes/immerse myself in it, etc.). I can definitely read and understand quite a bit and can make out what people are trying to say most of the time, so I’m happy with that. I do try to watch Spanish television but they speak soooooooooooooooo rapido that I’m lost most of the time. Quick rap on the knuckles for that Ms. Murray!!

That’s it for now…..Easter is coming and as we have a very short break in the Language school – basically a long weekend. I'm going away for a few nights with friends Carla and Marisa, heading west this time in the direction of Asturias, one of the regions bordering Cantabria. You think that when you come to live somewhere that you’ll be hopping and trotting all over the place. The reality is that (a) you’re working during the week and (b) weather, other plans, laziness, etc., gets in the way at the weekends!

Hasta proxima...HEL

And finally, some images from Santander....