Snowboarding in Spain
by Sonny Mayugba

Second Hand Smoke, Snowboarding in Spain
Everybody in Spain smokes cigarettes constantly. Spain is different than the US, and the rest of western Europe for that matter. But it’s this second world charm that makes it so special. For examle, there are no public water fountains. You can not get Chinese, Japanese, Italian, or other different types of food at the snap of a finger. It’s tapas (Spanish appetizers consisting of meat, potatoes and seafood) or bust. They are an amazing, satisfying treat of a meal, but would prove monotonous to our varied (and spoiled) palates. As you may or may not know, 13 people with different agendas travelling together is a challenge. So after after skating Madrid, Greg Goulet, Temple Cummins, Chris Carnel, Raf, and myself decided it was time to separate from the mothership and go snowboarding in Spain. So, we took the train to Barcelona to meet a friend of mine who was living there.

In Barcelona With Mark
After skating some banks for breakfast, my friend Mark met us at the train station. Some years ago, I had done a half pipe clinic at Boreal, a small resort in Tahoe. My partner was Mark. After the clinic we would call each other once in a while. He eventually moved, but kept in touch via email. As luck would have it, he moved to Spain and had been living in Barcelona for a year. Mark is very cool and kinda trippy. He reminds me of a cartoon character. He’s animated, in a claymation sorta way, very well spoken, no exaggerated movements, and quite accomodating. He took us to his neighborhood, Barceloneta. We all toured the rad Gaudi stuff and the city. If you missed this point from John’s story, take heed: do not go to Spain without going to Barcelona and touring the most magnificent build(th)ings you will ever see. After cruising the city, Mark took us the rad concrete mini ramp spine skate fixture right on the Mediterranean Sea shore! It was beautiful and a load of fun! We decided to stay the night. We were stoked to be in Barcelona with Mark.

Meeting Raf The Mongoose
Temple arranged it so his friend Raf from Belgium would meet him in Madrid (Europe’s like that, people travel a lot). Raf is a young, studly, good looking, smooth talking, confident, worldly European guy. At first, I wasn’t sure if he was going to vibe with all of us, but he turned out to be our greatest asset, and a very cool guy. Speaking several languages (fluent in Spanish) and being quite social, I noticed Raf had no problem talking to people, especially women. Once, he, Temple and I got on an escalator. Now, how long is an escalator ride? 90 seconds? By the middle of the ride, he had a dyed-blond, leather jacket wearing young Spanish woman kissing him! Having convinced her that he only spoke broken Spanish, Raf asked her how to say “kiss.” Once she told him the word, Raf asked if she enjoyed kissing. She said yes, and then Raf asked her to kiss him. She did. The guy gives new standards to the stereotype of smooth Euros. And when the escalator was done, Raf said thank you and was already eyeing the next one. While watching Raf’s thin frame, focused eyes, and slinky movements, I realized that he reminded me of a mongoose. A mongoose is smooth, slinky, and can kill a chicken very quickly, politely and graciously. One of the best parts of travelling is meeting new people. Meeting Raf the Mongoose was like rain in the summer: you don’t plan on it, but you’re so glad it’s there.

Driving in Europe
With our crew complete, we decided to rent a van and hit the road. I’d never driven in Europe and was very excited. Raf and Mark became golden here because they spoke such good Spanish. Between him, Temple and myself, we rallied a good price for a huge cargo van with two bench seats and tons of space in the back (which would later prove more useful as a home than storage.) That feeling of hitting the highway is such that if you know it, you can’t explain it. If you don’t know it, you’re missing out. We filled the van with our stuff and we were driving in Europe. Everyone was smiling... inside and out.

Meeting Temple (For real)
Temple Cummins is really neat. His sensibility and humorous outlook amazed me. He is a true spirit guided by intuition. I know it sounds corny but it’s true. He has a knack for sucking the nectar out of life every minute. If you have plans to go right he may turn left and there you’ll find a much better scenario. At only 24, he has travelled the world as a pro snowboarder, and usually lives out of his worn Levi’s, carpenter’s plaid short sleeve shirt, back pack and board bag. However, he has designed and is building his own home in the privacy of a small corner of Washington state. Temple loves life and loves experience. He values a good novel as much as a dirty joke. He can make a phenomenon seem like an accident,and an epiphany a trifle. Watching Temple live is like witnessing history; you want to be a part of it. While driving around the mountains of north eastern Spain, we saw some real small towns. Instead of securing a hotel and making a plan, we were winging it, man, truly seeing the Spanish country. So when we arrived in the tiny town of Viella it should not have been a surprise to see all lights out. Since we were far from anything, we all agreed to sleep by a beautiful rushing river. Now, I must make a plug: Coincidentally, Temp and I have the same bag: the Gnu board bag. We slept inside them while Raf, Carnel, Greg, and Mark seized the warmer van. “It’ll be way nicer out here,” Temp and I said. And it was, until the middle of the night when I awoke shaking, literally freezing my balls off. Though the bag was a savior, I was dying. You know that feeling when you’re so cold you can’t move? Its called frozen, and I was close. I looked over and Temple was as comfortable as a polar bear. By dawn I couldn’t stand it anymore and went in the van and spooned Carnel. When we all got up we were delirious, laughing that we were on an international snow/skate trip with top professionals for an international magazine and we slept outside. Old style! Temple Of course said, “That was fun! Good for the soul,” or something prophetic. It was good meeting Temple for real.

Snowboarding The Pyrenees
Pistas: 4 negras, 22 rojas, 17 azules y 3 verdes? Todo en nieve? Apresqui? All that may mean nothing to you unless you’re going to snowboard in Spain, which I highly suggest you do. We arrived to good coverage and blue bird skies. With 20 chairs, 8 pomas, unlimited hiking terrain, and 244 snow cannons, Baqueria Beret is the biggest resort in the mountain chain. Not to mention the mere $26.00 lift ticket price is worth the flight. Since it was spring-like conditions, Temple and Goulet decided that we should build a cheese wedge. We found a descending ridge line with a nice runway above it and sessioned it like a hip. Greg was ripping hard, throwing huge airs. Temple was going way big, super smooth. Watching these pro’s ride was nice. At our hit we were approached by a guy and a girl. They had heard about us from Mark and sessioned with us. They were crazy. After some riding, they sat in the snow and started smoking hash. I was so stoked at how sunny it was.
It was way fun snowboarding the Pyrenees.

Dinner With Greg
With our new Spanish snowboard buddies and their friends, we all went to the insane homestyle restaurant. A much older couple, probably husband and wife, ran the joint. The food was some of the best I’d had and the beer was flowing. I sat near Greg Goulet and we got a chance to really talk. Greg comes from Idaho where he grew up like most of us in the new generation: skateboarding and snowboarding. He is a fun-loving, sincerely nice person, and his humble presence is an indication of just what a true professional he is. Greg skates well, doing kickflips, tailslides and the like, all smooth with aggression. On snow, he has a fast, solid style that draws from everything from big tweaked backside methods to tech inverted spins. Riding for Palmer Snowboards and Split Clothing, he has been showing the competitive circuit his skills, winning pipe contests if not placing high. Having Greg’s easy going good-to-go spirit on this trip was a blessing.

Late Nights, Hash, Out of Touch
The two snowboarders we met on the hill let us stay in this true Spanish villa for cheap. The villa was straight out of a storybook. Made of wood, brick, and mortar; it was classic. Up in this tiny mountain town, they took Mark and I to a monster warehouse called Europa. Inside there were 27 clubs, all totally different, all fully raging! The funniest part was when Green Day came on. Everyone in this entire bar started pogo moshing, singing the song. I started missing my friends at home, mostly my best friend Lynn. I really wished she was there. I had been drinking myself to blurry every night, but it barely eased the feeling. I had been stringing a line of late nights, mas cervesas, mucho hash, and being out of touch.

Leaving Mark, Chinese Food in Leida
We drove to a town called Leida where we were so happy to find a rare Chinese restaraunt. Tapas kick ass, but not every damn meal for days! Over hot tea, Chinese beer, kung pao chicken, hunan shrimp and the like, we recounted all the adventures we had, many more than I have told here, some of which you can read on our web site (www.heckler.com). Mark was cool enough to drop us at the train station and return the van back to Barcelona by himself. Thanks Mark! Over all, Spain get’s a high five for it’s snowboarding. If you ever plan on going to ride Europe, do the Alps. But do yourself a cultural favor and ride Spain too. It’s not much further and is quite different. As well, rent a car in Europe. You will see much more variety, notice more subtlety, and have a very unique experience, like getting Chinese food in Leida.
If you’re going snowboarding in Spain, here’s some helpful info: Snowboard Travel Guide: Europe <www.goski.spain.htm> Baqueira Beret Resort <www.baqueira.es> baqueira@baqueira.es

Barcelona: Skating, absinthe, art and the presence of the world.
The next day we took the train to Barcelona, considered one of the most exciting and vibrant cities in the world. As I sit in the train station, I idly spin the wheels on my skate as it occurs to me that a skateboard is one of the best inanimate objects in the world. What else could be so simple but bring so much pleasure, occasional pain, and unique experiences? Here I was in Spain because of my skateboard. Seeing Spain on a skateboard is surely the best way to see Spain. One of the many reasons would be that the streets are busy, but well maintained so that you can skate along with the traffic pretty easily. With a big group of skaters it’s even more fun.
Once again the train ride is enjoyable for the spectacular view. Outside of Madrid in La Mancha are the white washed windmills that did battle with Don Quixote. Closer to Valencia are the orange orchards that give the Valencian orange it’s name. From Valencia to Barcelona, the train winds along the picturesque Mediterranean coastline. In between the many seaside resort towns are small farms and old abandoned mansions that are crumbling back into Earth.
There are lots of ancient castles in rural Spain, usually perched up on a hill overlooking a valley with a small village that has grown around the castle. Many of these small villages are now surrounded by more modern developments; apartment buildings that look like they date back to the 60’s. We approach these castles on the wheels of the train, carrying our skateboards. But, it doesn’t take a huge stretch of the imagination to picture the early Spaniards approaching on horseback with their armor and swords, as they spot the castle from miles away, and they are simultaneously spotted by lookouts perched on the castle walls. In our time it is different, yet similar. As we meet other skateboarders, we take stock and consider each other, almost always ending up friends.
We get into Barcelona late, but the town is just beginning to party. The Ramblas is a pedestrian street that runs down to the Mediterranean sea and centered around the Gothic Quarter is where most of the cheap hostals and places to eat are. It can be really hard to find a room here, especially on a weekend. People come from all over Europe to party in Barcelona on the weekends. You can hear three or four languages simultaneously as you walk down the street. We had one of the best dinners of the trip at Los Caracoles (Escudillers 14;
93-302-3185), a labyrinthe filled with eccentric art and furnishings and amazing food. The next morning almost everyone was too hungover to move, but Judd and I got going and began to check out the city. One of the many reasons Barcelona is internationally known is because of an architect named Antonio Gaudi. He lived there, and designed and built all these weird buildings that look like some kind of acid hallucination. Lots of colors, flowy curves and very few straight edges. Definitely not mini-mall style architecture. Judd and I decided to check out a few. At the Casa Mila (aka La Pedera) you can walk around the multi-leveled roof and check out the view of the city which was cool. But, the two highlights of Gaudi’s Barcelona are the Temple de la Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell. The Temple is a huge open air church that’s still under construction with five super tall spires that stick up in the air. You can climb up to the top where the view is incredible; you can see for miles. While we were there, I met Ani DiFranco and her husband Andrew Gilchrist. They were really nice and I found out that Andrew always takes his skateboard with him when they tour. Parc Guell is a city park that pretty much defies description, except to say that you’ve never seen anything like it. Photos barely begin to do it justice.
But, we were here to skate so we headed over to the Turo Skatepark, a super fun little park. There’s a big, wide cement spine ramp with steel coping, a small Berkeley tennis court kind of wall and a big wall ride gap ramp thingy. It was super fun to skate and as usual, the locals were ruling it. Ivan Cozachcow Malerba (Ruso), Ivan Ballest Solor (Rantan) and Jose Javier Ortoll (Tito Chuior) were all skating super good but Jose Noro Galisteo was definitely owning it. Judd, of course, was skating extra large and fast as usual. Jeff (Landi) showed up to make sure we were having fun and shoot some photos. Jose Noro told us about another skatepark, Guineueta, which he said was even better. We took the subway (which is really easy and cheap to get around on) and met him there. This park was hella’ big, a little odd, but definitely fun! Lots of the parks in Spain are built around the exact same type of bowl. Let’s call it the ‘Spanish vert wall bowl.’ The bowl is kind of rectangular, open on one end where it’s flat and then slopes down to about three foot walls. At the end is a big vert wall. Guineueta had one of these as well as these cool cement minis with steel coping. There were three 3.5 foot high minis next to each other so that there were two spines. Then there were two three tiered minis that went from 3.5 to 5 to 7 feet. the 5 and 7 foot walls were both vert. The trannies were super tight but smooth and rideable; a lot like a pool. It was also lit, so we skated until we were worked and then hung out and talked to Jose a bit. It had been a super fun and well rounded day and we were tired, but stoked and happy.
Later that night, I ended up in Bar Marsella which is just off the Ramblas at Carrer de Sant Pau 65. This is one of the only places in the world that you can legally drink Absinthe which is called Absenta in Spain. Supposedly there’s opium or some kind of narcotic in it. Absinthe was very popular among artists and writers in the early part of the century although according to rumor it sometimes made them insane. Anyway, Jay, Rob and I had two shots each and I will attest to the dreamy, happy narcotic feeling that results from imbibing. I’m glad I didn’t have a third shot though because as I was walking back to the Hostal, I realized I was pretty spun. I took a shower to sober up and was falling into the walls and shit.
The next morning I woke up late, still drunk and groggy from the Absenta. I had wanted to see more of Barcelona, but our train to Bilbao left in the early afternoon. Two days was only enough time to scratch the surface of this amazingly beautiful city. I got up and skated down the Ramblas to the port and the beach. As I skated through Barcelonetta (the old fishing district) I skated some fun brick banks for a bit. Then I went for a quick swim in the Mediterranean Sea and my hangover was pretty much gone.

There’s two skate parks: Turo skatepark is easy to find, just look for Turo park on a map. The other park is Guineueta which is a little further out of town. Take the subway to Llucmajor stop and then head up the hill and ask people where the park is. There’s tons of places to street skate in Barcelona. The most popular is Sants Plaza which is right in front of the train station. You’ll find lots of locals here. There’s also a lot of places to skate along the ocean, including a cement mini spine ramp and lots of banks. The main skate shop here is Freesports which is between Turo and Sants and has a mini ramp you can skate. (319 Villa Domat, 93-321-7290) You should definitely check out at least one Antonio Gaudi building along with the Temple De La Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell. The Olympics were held here in 1992 and the Olympic village is up on a hill overlooking the Ramblas and includes a re-creation of an old Spanish village. Picasso and Miro both lived here and there are museums devoted to both, along with a park that Miro built. Lastly, it’s still legal to drink Absinthe (Absenta) here so you might as well try it. Rooms here are scarce, especially on the weekend, and pretty funky or expensive unless you book ahead in one of the better bargain places. Sonny found a cool hostal in Barcelonetta, near the beach; Pension Segre (93-315-0709, Calle Ancha, 20)

Bilbao: The Basque Country
As we leave Barcelona on the train, we wind through the mountains on our way to Bilbao in northern Spain. Again, the scenery is incredible. In contrast to the flat plains between Sevilla and Madrid, the countryside here is more mountainous, with terraced farms and almond orchards. Crumbling stone farmhouses and ancient villages cling to the hillsides. After leaving Llerida, the countryside is punctuated by endless plateaus and mesas, with farmland in the valleys between them. Atop one hill in a small town is a huge castle. As we enter northern Spain and the Basque region the countryside begins to change again. It’s more mountainous and green. There are the ubiquitous farms, but also vineyards in the Rioja wine growing district, and scattered flocks of sheep. We wind along the Ebro River through the Ebro Valley and I am reminded how much Northern Spain looks like Southern France, which should have been a no-brainer. We are entering the Basque region which encompasses a small area of both Northern Spain and Southern France. The people here consider themselves neither Spanish or French, but Basque. They have been striving to become an independent country of their own for centuries, and speak their own language, Euskera. The Basque language is one of the oldest living languages in the world, and linguists are uncertain of it’s origin. Under the rule of Franco, the Basque culture was suppressed, and in 1937 the city of Gernika was bombed by Franco providing the tragic inspiration for Picasso’s Guernica. In the early 60’s the ETA was formed, a Basque terrorist group that is still active today. But now, even though it’s still part of Spain, the Basque culture is being revived as Euskera is taught to children in the schools.
As we enter Bilbao, the polluted, but pretty river edge is lined with shanty towns. Although they are kind of picturesque, they serve as a reminder that Spain’s economy is much weaker than our own. Nevertheless, I’d rather live in a shack by the river growing vegetables than be homeless in the USA, sleeping in storefront alcoves begging for change.
Compared to Madrid and Barcelona, Bilbao is pretty sleepy when we arrive on a Sunday evening. One man on the train we met who lived about 30 minutes from Bilbao, said “It is an ugly city. Grimy and dirty.” I thought it was a beautiful city, filled with real people that I found were some of the friendliest in Spain. The city did look lived in, no doubt, but I found it comfortable rather than grimy. For the first time in Spain we were in the old city center and we were the only tourists there. Even in March, Madrid, Sevilla, and Barcelona are packed with foreigners. In Bilbao we found very few people who spoke any English. We stayed at the Hostal Estrella, in the Casco Viejo, which is the old part of the city. It was very comfortable; an old six story building with a spiraling old staircase. The managers were very friendly and patient with our bad English for the most part. The rooms all had windows, showers and were furnished with worn out antique furniture. It was probably the nicest place we stayed and it was a whopping $15 a night!
I had heard that the Basque really appreciate any attempt to speak their native language. So, I learned five Basque words; Thank You (Eskerrik Asko), Hi (Kaixo-pronounced Kay-sho), Please (Mesedez), Goodbye (Agur) and of course, beer (Garagardo). Except for the multi-lingual Raf, everybody else in our group was already a bit overwhelmed by just speaking Spanish, but the effect of speaking those five words was amazing in the genuinely friendly and excited responses that I got back from the Basque people. When you say ‘Eskerrik Asko,’ people go from being friendly and polite to earnest and outgoing. By speaking Euskera, you are doing more than trying to communicate, you are acknowledging centuries of history and culture and an on-going struggle, which most tourists don’t bother with.
We had heard that the Bilbao region was the best in all of Spain as far as skateparks was concerned. Considering how many good parks we’d already skated, we were pretty excited when we got up the next morning. It had rained at night, but the streets were beginning to dry and the clouds occasionally parted long enough for the sun to poke through. Bilbao has one of the best subway systems I’ve ever ridden. It’s fast, easy, and extends pretty far into the suburbs where all the skateparks are. I had seen a photo in a French skate mag of a skatepark near Bilbao that was built into the foundations of an old stone castle or some kind of ancient building. This was the park we were in search of. Sonny, Chris, Greg and Temple had shown up in the morning and we had some very vague directions that Carnel had picked up from a skater he had met in the Pyrenees. We kept asking people on the subway and we overshot the correct station by a couple of stations but we finally found the skatepark. It was like the holy grail of our trip. We had come all this way and while I really wanted to find this park, I didn’t know if we would or if it still even existed. As we came down the hill and saw it, we were super stoked. The park was situated on a small cliff overlooking the Bilbao rivermouth and the ocean. This is the most scenic skatepark in the world. Everybody was super stoked, especially Judd who was skating hella’ hard. He said that the surroundings of the park were so cool that it made him super stoked to skate. The park itself was another kind of stock design, but again perfectly made and with a little variation. It had the standard Spanish vert wall bowl and it also had a cement half pipe with about a foot of vert. There was also a little bank built into the hill side in front of the bowl. After a super fun session it started to rain, but everyone was ready to move on anyway.
We hit the next park Las Arenas and by the time we got there, the rain had stopped and the park was dry except for a few small puddles. Las Arenas was exactly like the park by the ocean except that it had a cool little snake run into the bowl, a few small street obstacles ,and a slider bar. We skated here for a few hours and then we were worked. Temple who had lost his skate, was ripping both parks slashy surf style on a 36” longboard.
That night we had a traditional Basque meal which was super tasty and reminded me more of French food, with pretty rich sauces. It was good, but I think I prefer the paellas, tortillas and tapas from the rest of Spain a bit more. We did however, have some of the best codfish tapas of the whole trip the next day in a bar at lunch.
The next morning, Judd, Jeff and I got up early again and went to the third skatepark in Bilbao, the Deusto park. Before I talk about the park, I should mention the Guggenheim Museum. This is a huge museum of modern art that was built by Frank Gehry. It’s made of titanium and it’s one of the craziest looking buildings I’ve ever seen. The Guggenheim has kind of given Bilbao an international rep with the art crowd. Anyway, the Deusto skatepark is just across the river and a little bit downriver from the Guggenheim. This park was easily the best park we skated on the entire trip. It has a huge street course bigger than Sevilla’s, the ubiquitous Spanish vert wall bowl, a huge steel vert ramp and a three level mini ramp that’s surfaced with this weird textured fiberglass stuff that sounded really neat when you rode it. Kind of like a sound effect. We had yet another way fun session that was sadly our last, and then went to the Guggenheim. Most of it was closed because they were changing the exhibits, but it was cool anyway. There is a unique neon word sculpture by Jenny Holzer that I really liked.
If you’re going to Spain in search of skateparks, Bilbao is an essential stop. That night, we left for Madrid and the next morning we were on a plane back to San Francisco. Our Spanish skatepark adventure was over. We were sorry to see it end, but it had been a great time.
Now that there are so many good cement skateparks popping up all over the USA, there’s really no need to go very far to find skateparks. But, one of the best thing about traveling and looking for new places to skate is all the new people, places and cultures you experience along the way. Going to Spain won’t cost a whole lot more than tripping around the USA, because everything is so cheap once you get there. Plus, it’s a unique, rich and rewarding experience contrasted to the sameness of mini malls and suburbs that are beginning to take over the USA. I’ve heard that New Zealand and Australia have a lot of skateparks as well, but it’s a lot more expensive to get there. You will also meet some very real, very good skaters in Spain as well. Very real in the sense of a down to earth integrity and openness that makes for good friends, and very good in the sense that a lot of these kids are riding pretty tore up equipment and they still fuck shit up extremely hard. If this country had more money, I’m sure they’d be exporting some big name pros. This was one of the best road trips I’d ever experienced and I’d strongly recommend it to anyone. So, get out of your day to day routine and head for Spain this spring. Adios amigos!
-John Baccigaluppi

P.S. Less than two months after we got back from this trip, and about two weeks after I wrote this piece, Tim Brauch passed away from a heart attack. (See Heckler # 35 or just about any other skate mag) Wherever you are now Tim, thanks again for coming along with us on this trip. It was super fun to skate and hang out with you. –JB

The Basque region, and Bilbao in particular, is probably the single best destination in Spain as far as skateparks are concerned. In Bilbao alone, there are three, one of which, Deusto, is probably the biggest and best park in Spain. There are also lots more parks within a short train ride away. The subway stops for the three parks in Bilbao are Bidezabal (park by the ocean), Areeta (Las Arenas) and Deusto (Across the river from the Guggenheim). The big must see attraction in Bilbao is the new Guggenheim Museum, but one of the coolest things about Bilbao is the friendly people. The large public market is also a must see. The old part of town, the Casco Viejo, is where all the cheap places to stay are. We stayed at the Hostal Estrella, which was cool and one block from the metro. (94 416-4066) The skate shop in Bilbao is Flame (94-443-4294).

Other cities with skateparks: Alicante is a small city on the Mediteranean coast with a small skatepark. Valenicia is a larger city north of Alicante with another skatepark. It’s also the birthplace of Paella. Lledia is about an hour west of Barcelona and it has a skatepark. Tarragona has an indoor skatepark. The Basque region has a lot of parks. Pamplona is the city where they do the running of the bulls, and it also has a skatepark. San Sebastian is a resort town on the Atlantic ocean and it has a skatepark. Vittoria also has a skatepark. Lastly, Marseille, France is about 8 hours north of Barcelona by train and there’s a killer skatepark there.

Spanish Food & Nightlife:
You’ll either love or hate Spanish food, which despite the similar language, is very different from Mexican food. If you’re a vegetarian you’re not gonna be very happy and if you’re vegan, you’ll be miserable. Larger cities like Madrid and Barcelona have vegetarian restaurants, but smaller cities don’t. The trademark of Spanish food is Tapas, small snacks that are served just about everywhere, including most bars. Spaniards eat a lot of meat and fish, and they don’t let any part of an animal go to waste if you know what I mean. Cheese is also very predominant in Spain, with Manchego the most common. Two of the most famous foods of Spain are Tortillas (not to be confused with the Mexican type) and Paella. Tortillas are a sort of pie of potato, egg, onions and sometimes meat or vegetables. Paella is a huge rice based dish cooked in a pan called a paelleria (hence the name) and filled with meats, fish and vegetables. If you like to stay up late, you’ll like Spain. You can eat tapas till one or two in the morning, and most restaurants don’t even open till 9 or 10 and are open past midnight. Bars are open even later. It’s not un-common to still be partying when the sun comes up. No wonder they have siestas.

A taste of Spain:
If you’d like a preview of Spanish food and like to cook, here’s two recipes to try:
Tortilla:
1 lb. diced potatoes
1 onion diced
1 red bell pepper diced
Sauté the above ingredients in olive oil for 15-20 minutes over low heat in a covered pan and stir occasionally.
Then, beat 5 eggs and mix with 1 tbsp of chopped parsley and some freshly ground pepper. Pour this into the frying pan with the potatoes and stir it all together. Cook for 5 minutes or so covered until the bottom is browned a bit, then flip the tortilla over (use a plate to transfer it) and cook the other side. Let cool to room temperature before serving.

Paella:
Paella is normally cooked over an open fire in a paella pan. So if you have a Weber type barbecue with wood charcoal, that’s the best. But, you can use a wok or large frying pan and your stove/oven and it will still taste pretty damn good.
heat 4 cups of vegetable or chicken broth over low heat with 1 bay leaf, a pinch of saffron and 1/2 cup dry white wine.
In your wok, sauté 1 bell pepper, and onion and 5 cloves of garlic, all minced for 5 minutes or so until they’re soft.
Add 2 chopped tomatoes or a 14 1/2 oz. can of chopped tomatoes and cook for a few minutes more.
Add 2 cups of rice. Arborio (Italian) rice or paella rice is best, but any rice will work. Stir the rice for a minute or two until it’s coated, then add the broth to it. Boil the rice/broth over medium heat for 10 minutes stirring it occasionally.
At this point, you can add some meat or fish or veggies that are pre-cooked. In an authentic paella, all the meat is first cooked in the pan and then set aside so that the juices are absorbed into the dish. If you’re adding fish, it can be raw since fish cooks quick. Depending on the veggies, they can be raw too. Also add some frozen peas at this point. Cook for another few minutes on the stove and then transfer it to a pre-heated 450 degree oven for another 10 or 15 minutes until the rice is cooked. Take out of the oven, cover with foil and let sit for 15 minutes before eating.