Well, the Ojos de Brujo and Son de la Frontera concert was great. S de la F (or as I call them, the “geniuses from Morón” ;-) were much more traditional than I expected. They had two guitarists, two singers and a dancer. It was great flamenco, but with only a few genre-bending twists (I especially liked a number that I would describe as country and western-slash-flamenco). Unfortunately, some annoying people standing behind me on the dancefloor were disrespectfully “imitating” the singing and clapping, something that was obviously new and strange to them. Some people are not very open-minded. We finally had to tell them something in a language they would understand: “Ferme la!”

The concert got better from then on — Raúl Rodríguez, the lead guitarist (well, most of the time he was playing a guitar-like instrument known as the Cuban tres, which has a higher, sharper tone), was really incredible. He also had a very likeable look: he came across as genuine. And with a super-expressive face; so he smiled, frowned and grimaced his way through all the numbers. It was great. They were obviously having a great time, a theme which would be echoed in O de B’s show. Later, when O de B had just finished their two-hour set, I saw Raúl standing alone at one of the club’s bars, so I sneaked over and told him how much I enjoyed the show. I think he was a bit surprised to have a rubio speaking to him in Spanish…

O de B were great, as they were last time at the Spectrum. Even if you’re not into their music it would be hard not to feel their joy of performing. The Metropolis was packed to the rafters, and I found a spot on the dancefloor about 4m back from the stage. The Montreal crowd was very good to them, too. The group seemed surprised and delighted at how much we were enjoying them. (I wonder if they had as good receptions in San Francisco or New York, where they’d been just before.) Much of the crowd (where I was, at least) was Spanish, Spanish-speaking, or local flamenco dancing “chicas” (students). It seemed everyone around me knew how to do palmas.

At one point, someone leapt up on stage and started dancing. It turned ugly (not because anything bad happened; just because those people made fools of themselves!) but the band wasn’t at all freaked out. The security people are usually pretty quick to toss folk off stage, but in this case they hesitated. More and more people took that as their cue to get up on stage. Eventuallly, the head security guy (looking very pissed off at his indecisive underlings) intervened to get the impostors off-stage. It was a bit tense and weird, mainly because it looked like the people up there were there only because they wanted to be seen, not because they were into the music.

During one of the encore numbers, Marina “la Canillas” hauled a girl up on stage. She then started bringing a few more girls from the audience up on stage, and one of the security underlings actually was recruited to help her. They danced, and this time it had a good feel to it (and, no, not just because they were all cute girls!); they obviously knew and loved the music and were singing along. Eventually grumpy security guy very politely helped them off stage again.

Especially impressive — besides the magical stage presence of la Mari — were multi-percussionist Xavi; the “real gypsy” guitarist Ramón; Javi on bass and Maxwell Wright with his high-speed vocal effects. There was also a beautiful flamenco dancer who performed during some numbers, along with the requisite costume changes. This group is all about the music. They love to perform, and they do it brilliantly. They’re also notable for eschewing big-name record labels and instead have made it “their way,” under their own record label. The video projections were also fantastic; not detracting from what was happening onstage, but instead a perfect accompaniment. A great show full of “good karma,” although I believe I should have worn earplugs…today I still can’t really hear in my left ear, which was dangerously close to one of the main loudspeakers.

Apparently there is a saying in Spain: Domingo de Ramos, quien no estrena algo, se le caen las manos. Well, my hands hopefully won’t fall off this year, since I “tried” a few new things today… I went to my first Spanish wedding (in Terrassa), two baptisms PLUS a Palm Sunday service in Santa María del Mar in Barcelona (lucky for me, it was in Castellano and not Catalan as usual — don’t know why). The wedding and two baptisms were all at once(!), and in a sign of “modern Spain” (or, perhaps, “modern Catholicism”?), one of the children being baptised was also the child of the couple getting married!

Then, from the sacred to the profane — dinner of pintxos and Txakoli (typical Basque white wine), and finally a flamenco show at Tarantos. The show was by a group of guys called “Baratito Loco”…the music in particular was excellent, and especially the “two Pacos” on guitar (they weren’t “de Lucía”, no — rather Paco Heredia and Paco Garfia).

In Barcelona, near the Sagrada Familia, vendors sell huge palm fronds for Palm Sunday. They whiten and dry the fronds, then braid them into very fancy “bouquets” and flowery shapes. And all bundled up with a nice bow in the stripes of the Catalan flag!

This is the first time I’ve responded to a “viewer mail” on the blog. Mind you, it’s practically the first time I’ve received any “viewer mail”… (-;

JS (from U.S.A., I’d guess from the email address) writes some nice things about my blog and writing style (thanks!), and expresses confusion about my age/maturity (thanks!). He goes on:

…I would like to know more about you but right now I’m investigating the future purchase of a classical guitar for my nine year old. [My son’s teacher] suggested that since we are going to Barcelona it would be a good time to purchase a Spanish classical guitar for him. […] could you tell me what I might be looking at spending for a 3/4 size guitar that sounds good and plays well? And while I’ve got you on the phone, any recommendations on where to go to hear some classical and flamenco music/dance while in Barcelona?

Hi JS,

Excuse me — you want to know more about me? I am but the messenger (and here I mean in the old-fashioned, pre-MSN sense). The blog-spirits occasionally favor me by planting ideas in my humble soil; I nurture and water those ideas until they grow and thrive. I am nothing. Sometimes I fail the BS’es, for want of proper fertilization (seems unlikely, I know!) or pure laziness on my part, and their ideas wither and die. I am nobody. Soy El Jardinero Zurdo. I inhabit, and also also go by: “Edges.” But, truly, enough about me.

Buying a Guitar

It’s hard to say exactly how much a 3/4 classical guitar would go for — because of course with guitars there is a wide price/quality range, depending if you want an “entry-level” guitar or a fancy one. You can get a “starter” classical guitar kit for usually 60-70 Euros in shops in Barcelona — I imagine this is not what you had in mind, if your son is already playing. You could get something reasonable with a solid top for 100 to 200 Euros, I’m sure (especially in the 3/4 size).

There are two places I would recommend in Barcelona, for classical (or flamenco) guitars:

• Casa Luthier — this is where I bought my Alhambra flamenco guitar… It’s on Carrer Balmes between Aragón and Valencia (map). Really big (tons of guitars and music), great service. They have customers from all over, so they do speak some English (though I dealt with them in Castellano).
• New-Phono — on Carrer Ample between Via Laietana and La Rambla (map). I looked at guitars here, and bought strings once, had very good service too. Don’t know about English, but I imagine they can speak some.

Of course, there are plenty of other places selling guitars; I’ve been to several but these are the two I was most impressed with for service, selection, etc. There are lots of shops on Carrer Tallers, but I was not as impressed with them. If you want a classical guitar you’re probably best going somewhere that really specializes in that, like Casa Luthier. I’m curious about La guitarreria, but haven’t been since it’s a little outside of Barcelona, in Sabadell.

Seeing Music

For classical music, lots of churches have concerts (they’re often handing out flyers for classical guitar at Santa Maria del Mar, though I’ve never been to a show there). Also, if you can, you really should try to see a concert at the Palau de Música Catalana. Or at least take a tour — it’s a World Heritage Site and, well, a beautiful building.

As far as seeing flamenco in Barcelona, there are some (but not that many) options. As you’ll see, I’ve only been to a few of these places.

• Tarantos — this place, in the plaça Reial (plaza Real), is kind of a nightclub/bar that offers nightly flamenco shows. The best part is that they are cheap…used to be five Euros, now I believe it’s six. There are shows (the same one, repeated) at 20h30, 21h30 and 22h30 — you can stay for all shows for the same price, if you really liked it. Showcases young and little-known groups and dancers. I’ve been several times, and it can be okay…or, if you’re lucky, truly great! Not guaranteed to be representative of “typical” flamenco, since sometimes they are young performers experimenting with new ideas (go for it, I say!). I saw a percussion-only show once, which disappointed me at first (as a guitarist keen on seeing guitar), but in the end it really blew me away (the group was “Esencia”).
• Tablao Cordobes — never been; I’m not so keen on tablaos (typically too touristy and expensive). On the other hand, it’s almost 40 years old, and claims to be one of the “most important tablaos in Spain”, or so claim: “the more demanding artistic minorities.” (-; Yes, that’s what it says on their website — gave me a good laugh, though I imagine they mean to say “artistic authorities“???
• Tablao de Carmen — also have never been; another touristy tablao. But I’ve been just outside and listened through the windows. It’s located inside the Pueblo Español, a kind of Spanish “theme park” which recreates various bits of Spain inside one attraction. I just can’t imagine “ponying up” 64 Euros (or more!) for a dinner plus (somewhat tacky, I imagine) 75 minute show. Then again, I’m cheap. And judgmental, sometimes.
• Tirititrán — “relatively” new place, also haven’t been (geez, where have you been, Señor Zurdo?). It is restaurant, also a tablao of sorts, with shows only on certain days of the week.
• Flamenco Barcelona — another newish place, this is not a tablao but a shop with some flamenco items for sale (shoes, music, etc). But also offers classes (dancing, guitar, singing, cajón) and has regular casual shows in the back, at low prices. Especially tends to have music in the Rumba Catalana style…a Catalan variant of the rumba flamenco style. (Check out Barcelona’s Ojos de Brujo if you haven’t yet!) I took a few basic flamenco guitar classes here last year.
• [NEWLY ADDED 19/03/2007] Restaurante Nervión — never heard of this place before, though they claim to have been around since 1980… I just found a pamphlet at the tourist office. No idea if it’s any good; to me looks like another touristy tablao, but maybe I’ll have to try out some of these places. At least not as expensive as some of the others, and in fact if you come after 23h30, apparently it’s only 5 Euros for a beer (or sangría) and the show. Looks like shows are hourly, from 22h through 1h.

Other than regular “venues” like those above, keep your eyes on the concert/event listings (from local papers, web sites, or the tourist offices). There are various flamenco festivals in Barcelona throughout the year. It was at such special events that I’ve seen some of the best flamenco in Barcelona, actually. The most amazing show I saw (dance-wise) was Sara Baras’ show Sabores.

In May there is the Festival de Flamenco Ciutat Vella, and just before it, the one in Nou Barris (not sure if it’s on this year, I didn’t find anything on the web). Most importantly, there is the Festival Flamenco de Barcelona from mid-June through July. Also, starting next week (through June!) is the Festival de Guitarra de Barcelona, which features amazing guitarists in all styles.

I hope some of this helps — thanks for the letter, and have a great time in Barcelona (where I just happen to be en ce moment). Let me know how it goes, and what guitar you end up getting for your son!

Yours truly,
EJZ (Edges)

(Aaaargh! I just was writing a lengthy post and for some reason my browser died so I lost the whole thing…so I’m not going to re-write it all, just a quick summary.)

I went to a few films at Festivalissimo over the weekend. My ranking of the ones I saw so far is as follows:

1. Princesas (Spain) — really enjoyed this story about prostitutes in Madrid. It is funny and very moving, and deals with themes like poverty, immigration, racism, violence against women, love and the need to be remembered, in a light, quirky-but-sad way. The lead actress Candela Peña (from Barcelona, was also in Todo sobre mi madre) was fantastic. Really good movie.
2. Vete de mí (Spain) — a father/son story, also quite funny and well-done. Father is an actor, son is a “layabout”, and gradually their roles change/reverse. Always fun to see things fall apart.
3. Madeinusa (Peru) — strange tale of a girl in a remote Peruvian pueblo, where absolutely “anything goes” (!) from 3pm on Good Friday (when “God dies”) until 6am Easter Sunday, when he is resurrected. You see (they believe), God is dead during this period and so he can’t see us! Well, turns out the town’s mayor has been waiting all year to sleep with his daughter… Meanwhile a gringo from Lima is stuck in town, so they lock him up to keep him from witnessing their debauchery. Of course, he is “exotic” to the daughter…guess what happens? (-; The spectacular colour and imagery, the slow pace and magic-realism feel were enjoyable, but in the end I was left a bit disappointed with the motivation of the characters; also the ending.
4. La sagrada familia (Chile) — highly touted “first film” for a Chilean director (Madeinusa was also a debut film), left me quite disappointed. Not only (though partly) because of the “look” — it was a video projection, not film that we watched — the lack of rich colour…but also because of the writing. Was promising (also deals with father/son relationship, also over Easter weekend — what’s up with that? ;-), but just didn’t offer what I’d hoped for.

By the way, the past weekend has been really nice (since our big snowstorm on Friday), but now today we have whiteout blizzard conditions, and the temperature is dropping from -2 to -24 in the next few hours, leaving us with a predicted wind chill of almost -40 tonight. Fun fun fun! Buckle up your ski pants!

[UPDATE: March 11, 2007 — I went to see my fifth Festivalissimo film this Sunday. It was Chicha tu madre (Peru). Also highly touted, but I found it a bit confused. There was a clear (enough) story, but some of the elements didn’t connect in a way that I found meaningful. The Buenos Aires charity doctor with the bleeding orifices, for example? Perhaps there is a culture gap that blocks my understanding… I’m not even sure which definition of chicha is the relevant one, here. I’m guessing it’s: (Perú) U. en aposición para referirse a toda actividad informal, de mal gusto y de baja calidad. There is a vast underground economy in Peru, where if you want to be a taxi driver, apparently you just get a car and slap your own “taxi” sign in the window (95% of public transport in Lima is done by “the informals”). It seems almost everything is done “under the table”, unofficially. I enjoyed the snapshot of Lima, of this ad hoc world, but in the end can’t say I really appreciated the movie that much.]

Por fin, it’s here — the web site for this year’s Festivalíssimo festival finally went live… The 11th version of this annual festival runs from March 1-15, and — if you’re in Montreal — is a fantastic place to see all kinds of Spanish-language films from around the world (and some Portuguese/Brazilian ones também).

Two weeks of fiestas, films (features, shorts, documentaries), art exhibitions and concerts, dance (salsa, tango, flamenco, …). And all the sopa de ajo and chocolate con churros you can eat… It’s not specifically focused on Spain (the long-winded name is Festival Culturel Ibéro-Latinoaméricain de Montréal), but there are several Spanish films on offer along with tons from Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Canada (yes!), and more places.

¡Sois todos bienvenidos!

I just came across the brand new RCI (Radio Canada International) site, which includes a Spanish-language portal (that is, besides English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Portuguese and Ukrainian). Even cooler are new radio shows, also available ¡en línea!

There are several emisiones (broadcasts), direct from Montreal — Reflejo Boreal (”Northern Reflections”) and El Castor Mensajero (”Beaver Messenger” — does Microsoft know about this? ;-) are weekly shows, and Canadá en las Américas is a daily one…

The show Canadá en las Américas is also available as a daily podcast. Fantastic — more daily Spanish listening practice, right from my own back yard!

On Monday I left a bit late (13h07) to catch the metro six stops and then walk (jog, in my case) the remaining distance to school for my first lesson, at 13h30. I arrived at the building only a couple of minutes on the wrong side of late (not a big deal if I were Spanish). Although I didn’t want to be sweating for the first fifteen minutes of class, I even less wanted to show up late. All the more since I was joining a class already in progress…the new guy amongst a group who’ve been together already for quite a few weeks. (Quick summary: I am to catch the tail end of the “high intermediate” group, and next week — perhaps — the start of a new “advanced” group). So I didn’t wait for that tiny three-person elevator and instead sprinted up the stairs — sweat-speckled upper lip be damned!

The woman in the office had told me the week before, when I registered, which classroom would be mine (”Madrid”, for this week). I have to admit I was a bit frazzled when I got there — I had a mental map of which class was mine but didn’t actually check to be sure this was “Madrid”… No, it didn’t even cross my mind. [Yes, you know where this story is going…]

To make a long story slightly shorter, I found the class interesting, learned a few new things and felt rather pleased with my quite advanced level compared to the other “high intermediate” students! They had a hard time expressing themselves, pronouncing properly, a very limited vocabulary, and were groaning about concepts like the imperfect tense. Sure I may often miss the very obvious, but I really had no idea what to expect since I’d never been in a Spanish class before. It didn’t seem strange to me that there would be such a large “disconnect” from the other students; also I took a liking to them (they were from Belgium, South Africa, Germany and Switzerland). But I did get a bit suspicious when we started into the Intermediate book around page 25…not toward the end as I would have expected! Most of all, what kept me clued out was that when I introduced myself to the teacher, she didn’t seem surprised to see me. I told her my name, she nodded and made a note in her book, and during class she didn’t once question whether I was in the right place, or mention what level of class we were in (makes sense, since it was an ongoing class and they all knew what level they were in!).

As you’ve surely guessed I missed my first class. At the end of the class I attended, the teacher took me aside and asked very politely whether I’d perhaps like to be transferred into a higher-level course. It was at this point that I discovered this was a Low Intermediate class… ¡Qué tonto! Still, since I haven’t studied grammar so intensively, I did learn one or two things that day.

I quickly rushed over to the “real” Madrid classroom (no pun intended). There I caught up with the teacher of that class, got the homework for the day and a quick summary of what they’d covered.

So I had yet another day to wonder how I would measure up in this new context. Yes, I’m one of those annoying overachievers who always feels like a failure until they finally discover they’re actually doing extremely well at something. The teacher also informed me that, since I’m catching the tail end of (I think) four weeks of high-intermediate, there is a final test on Thursday (that’s tomorrow, now). The test will cover pretty much everything you’d need to know about Spanish grammar. In the advanced class you apparently don’t learn much new grammar (there’s not much more to learn); instead you do some review and mostly have discussions and give presentations to perfect your speech.

Anyhow, on Tuesday — after swearing I would make every effort to leave the house at 13h00 on the dot — I was almost late again and again sprinted up the stairs to the “first floor”, where the school is located. In fact, to reach the “first floor”, you have to work your way up from the ground level where the front door is, through three sets of stairs (up a half-flight to “entresuelo”, up a flight again to “principal”, up another to “primero”!).

In spite of my worries, I found I spoke a fair bit better than my other classmates — which came as a surprise because I often still find myself very frustrated trying to communicate. In some cases, these people have just worked their way right through from a beginner level in the past one or two intense months, so haven’t had two years — like me — to absorb and catch more of the flow of the language (even if rarely truly “correct”). I speak better than them but probably “officially” know fewer rules of grammar. The good news is that I am starting to get some intuition for what sounds right, without really knowing why. It’s probably better if you also know why, but that’s not the way I know English and French, either.

Yesterday we spent much of the class in “real discussions”, talking about complex topics like modern families, reproductive rights, birth control — and today about economics, statistics (I had to present a newspaper article, which led to a half-hour discussion about poverty in the world)… They’d spent the last part of last week learning the “indirect mode”, where you explain what someone is saying: “El Jardinero Zurdo said the class had spent the last part of the previous week learning the ‘indirect mode’”. It’s easier in English, believe me. But it’s not so bad in Spanish — I managed to learn it in a panic on Monday night, and I think I’ve mostly got it. The things I need to review are the more “basic” things that I may have missed, like subjuntivo (a huge topic, but I think I’ve mostly got it now). And specifically when to use each tense and mood. We’ll see how I do tomorrow… Depending on the results of the exam and the level of each student, we may be put into an advanced class, or may continue at the high intermediate level. Either way, I think I’ll learn something! (but of course my ego is still hoping for ADVANCED! ;-)

Random thoughts from sunny Barcelona:

• Everywhere I go (especially on the metro), people are doing Sudoku. It’s not a craze limited to this city, I know… but Barcelona is hosting a Sudoku Championship on Sunday, down at the Polideportivo Marítimo. So are all these people practising for that?
• I went to my second yoga class here, at DiR (a big and very popular fitness club). The first one was a bit confusing (why do I become incompetent at even basic things — like how to find and operate a locker — when I’m in a new and totally foreign environment?), but the second class yesterday (”hot yoga”, where they crank up the heat and you can imagine someone like me really sweats!) went much better. I feel like a regular already, though I find it hard not to compare (negatively) to my own wonderful yoga institute in Montreal! (see note far below about culture shock)
• As everyone knows by now, it seems the Democrats won the U.S. Congress. This is not a political blog, so I will make no comment. (woo hoo) I have to say it’s nice to be somewhere this is not “the only news” — I assume this story was top dog in North America for the last few days. Today the top news story here is about a new municipal regulation that allows the Guardia Urbana (traffic police) to revoke the licence of any car emitting “smoke or bothersome noises”. The Democrats winning the Senate was only the #2 news item…
• Since my Spanish classes with Universitat de Barcelona fell through (unsuitable schedule for me) I stopped by the offices of a private language school here, and will likely sign up today for classes with them, possibly starting next Monday. A girl at the school (I think she was a teacher) was particularly subtle, asking me (in Spanish, claro!) if she knew me, because I looked really familiar. When I confirmed she did not, she asked if I were someone famous… What does one say to that? “But of course, I’m the King of Spain!” (a Spanish friend once told me I looked like Juan Carlos I, which is not at all flattering since the monarch is 68 years old! Personally, I still don’t see any similarity, so it must be my regal manner rather than my appearance… ;-)
• As I wander the streets, shop and ride the metro, I try to imagine myself living here. One thing I realize is that it would be a huge change and very difficult. Even though I speak Spanish quite well, I am still thrown by all the Catalan I hear everywhere (would I have to learn yet another language? At least somewhat, I’m afraid the answer would be “yes”…) Also, although I can speak to someone one-on-one quite well (depending on the accent), and understand almost everything I read or hear (if I focus on it), I find I am still really in a “foreign world”. My automatic language scanning/processing does not work here. In Montreal, if someone on the street shouts something to a neighbour, or a policeman calls out something, or there is a crazy discussion in a noisy bar, I normally understand everything — in French or (obviously) in English. Not at all true for me in Spanish. I realize now that automatic processing is the “Holy Grail” of languge learning. To simply absorb it without thinking at all, without concentrating. In fact, to be unable to avoid understanding, even if you’re not paying attention. That’s the one pleasant side-effect of being “zoned out” — it’s very relaxing if you understand nothing, you never get distracted while reading because the conversations don’t intrude on your consciousness.
  I also find it frustrating when I look for something. For example, this week I went searching for a card. I asked where the print shops, stationery stores, etc, were. I went to a few places, and they only had a small selection of cards, and mostly quite cheesy. In Montreal it’s so easy to walk 2 minutes (from my place, at least) to a shop that has hundreds of artistic blank-inside cards — funny, beautiful, whatever. Sure we also have the Hallmark stuff but you can find some pretty neat stuff. Similar things must be available here but I didn’t find them (though in the end I did manage to find something appropriate from the limited selection). Same goes for a filter adapter for my camera (a non-standard item, but available “easily” in Montreal). I went to all the shops on “photo alley” (my nickname for Carrer de Pelai) and only one store even came close to having what I wanted, and only one (the same one) went out of their way to be helpful. I don’t even live here (yet?) but I find myself in that stage of “culture shock” where one is always comparing things to what you’re used to where you’re from — usually in a negative way. I lived six months in California and I think I drove everyone nuts with my “Canada this, Canada that” comments! (-;
• I am working on a Spanish quiz, which I’ll put up on the site soon. Fun practice for my PHP programming, and also hopefully fun and useful for people to try my “quiz a day” (you will be able to use it to learn Spanish vocabulary from English, or English from Spanish). See, those 3000 words haven’t gone to waste!
• I signed up for a Google Maps key, and am ready to start playing with that stuff. So watch out — at some point I will probably scrap gVisit and use my own counter/geocoding thing.

Not that I will stop learning Spanish now, but… Today I reached a huge milestone! After 413 days, I finished learning all the words in my vocabulary book (Uso interactivo del vocabulario from Edelsa). I added a few extra words as I went along, but also some synonyms got merged into a single entry (in my stats), but it’s “roughly” 3043 words (averaged 7.4 words per day over the year-and-a-month)…

No es que ahora hable español perfectamente, tampoco que siempre pueda recordar aquellas tres mil palabras cuando las necesito, pero… Digamos, por lo menos, que ya hablo y entiendo un poco mejor que lo hacía hace un año (Spanish corrections — I mean, come on: “hacía hace?” (-; — are still more than welcome, señores y señoras blog-lectores ;-).

For fun, here is the final chart of my progress through the chapters. You can see how I really cranked up the progress in the last two months! I had hoped to finish in a year, and that’s around when I realized I wasn’t going to make it — so then the goal was to finish before the end of October…

And all the boring details, more for my own pleasure than yours…

Yes, I’m still at my Spanish vocabulary studies… A little over a year since I started and about 3,000 words along, I’m almost through my vocab book. Of twenty chapters, I’m now on Capítulo 19 - El orden público. It covers everything to do with crime, law, police and violence. Lots of fun! Here are a few words I came across in today’s studying:

el delito — sounds like a real “delight”, no? In fact, it’s a crime…

la comisaría — this is where you go when you’ve been bad (or, in Spanish code language, when you’ve done something, er, “delightful”). That’s right, it’s the police station. Brief stopping point on the way to la cárcel.

las esposas — this is by far the funniest bit of vocab I’ve learned in recent weeks. I thought I knew what it meant, because una esposa is a wife. So what else could the plural — “wives” — mean? (Other than trouble, I mean - ha ha.) Well, it’s actually the thing they use to bring you to the comisaría… Not the police car… It’s — get this — HANDCUFFS! Now I’m betting a woman didn’t come up with that usage.