Post by Wynette:
We’ve met several Latin Americans who live in Spain. They all have an interesting story. Charlie and I have discussed how perfect Spain is for Latin American immigrants. If they have a way to get here, it’s vastly safer than most of Latin America and also offers a higher standard of living. Plus, they speak the language!
We mentioned Jazmín earlier. She owns, with her husband, the wonderful hotel we stayed in in Ortigueiro. She told us she is Cuban. She came to Galicia 30 years ago when she married her Galician husband. (Aside: we have to show all hotels our passports when we check in. They very painstakingly take down all the info. When Jasmín was doing that, she noticed that she and I share a birthday!)
Javier is from Uruguay. He gave us a taxi ride to the next town past Otigueiro after we’d decided we’d had enough road walking. It is not uncommon for taxi drivers here to invite one of us to sit in front with them. (Probably just the ones who like to talk.) If we choose to do that, it’s usually me since I can sort of have a conversation with them in Spanish. He was one who invited us in the front of the cab. I told him why we chose to take a taxi and he told me that would have been a dangerous road to walk. Javier has lived in Galicia something like 20 years (I’m forgetting the exact number). He said he goes home to Uruguay to visit family every year and his mother comes and stays with him every year for a few months. He said he loves Galicia and he really loves the food here.
I asked Javier how different the Spanish language is here than in Uruguay. He said it is different but the same. He said it is kind of like the difference between British English and American English. I had often thought of it that way, but was struck that he put it that way.
Today Charlie and I ate in a Brazilian restaurant down the street from our airbnb. The Brazilian owner told us he does everything: cook, serve, clean up, and, of course, run the business. We were the only customers and we chatted with him most of the time we were there. Sure wish we’d asked him his name. And taken a picture of him. He spoke some English so Charlie could join in the conversation as well. He told us he speaks 50% Portuguese, 50% Spanish, and 10% English. I asked if he speaks Galician, knowing it is very similar to Portuguese. He said adamantly he’d never speak Galician. It is a terrible language. Not really Portuguese, not really Spanish. Not really a language. I asked how long he has lived here and why he came. He said he came here six years ago. His son is autistic and that he came to get medical help for his son. I asked if he could not get help for his son in Brazil and he scoffed and said that was impossible, that Brazil is a terrible country with a loco president. He said he’s getting good help here. He showed us a picture of his son who is now 10 years old.
It was an interesting restaurant. Every customer gets the same thing. Everything he served he told us its origin. E.g., the salad appetizer was Brazilian but the bread typical Galician. He clearly had a disdain for Galician food. He said Galicians don’t know how to cook. We might disagree, but he definitely knew how to cook as well.
He asked us if we wanted dessert. We were stuffed and had asked him to box up our left overs. (We have enough for another full meal.) But we couldn’t resist finding out what he might offer for dessert. He wouldn’t tell us what it was, just a surprise, but he thought we’d be fine sharing a single dessert and he was right. See photo below.
Despite the negative things he said about the Galician language and food, he likes living here. I asked him if he missed Brazil and he said never. He’s never gone back to visit and he’ll never return. He’s very happy to live here.
No doubt we have met others who are Latin American but they didn’t tell us. We would not have known Jazmin or Javier were not originally from here if they hadn’t volunteered the information. We’re not at all able to distinguish between Spanish accents. We’ve noticed that the Spanish cannot distinguish between English accents either. Most people know we are English-speaking but not where we are from. Recently someone asked if we were British. We’ve been asked if we are German as well.
Your Brazilian is an interesting character. I was surprised he spoke Spanish, at least if he did before he emigrated, since Brazil only speaks its own version of Portuguese. (Charley, did you know that Jan spoke Brazilian Portuguese?). And which crazy president of Brazil was he referring to: Jair Bolsonaro, the Trump-like right-wing nut case, or the current, left-wing (previously jailed for corruption, but concerned about the Amazon) Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (aka “Lula”)?
And that looked like a hell of a lot of food, but then you did say you had enough for another meal. It look like fruit was part of the dessert flan (pears?), but it might have just been the photograph.
Hi Henry, yes, he was quite a character. He certainly had strong opinions about everything. I think it was probably Bolsonaro who was president when he left Brazil, but I’m not sure. He didn’t specify. He said it’s a real mess down there and I believe him. Very sad. He lived in Sao Paulo. When we asked him about where he lived and he told us that he rolled his eyes. We didn’t ask but I’m guessing that he learned Spanish after he got to Spain, but not sure. No, the dessert didn’t have any pear. There was one slice of strawberry on the whipped cream. It was kind of like a very dense flan.
That’s the most decadent flan I’ve ever seen!
It absolutely was. A huge amount of sauce. We are thinking about going back and just getting the dessert. (Comment by Wynette)