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In The Garlic: Your Informative, Fun Guide to Spain

Valerie Collins and Theresa O'Shea

A must-read book for all expats in Spain and those relocating!

Valerie Collins is a British writer who has lived in Barcelona since 1973.

In the Garlic...

Bambas

Bambas, in Catalonia at any rate, are trainers. According to the Real Academia, the original word is Wamba®, a registered trademark, which they define as a type of playera (a canvas slipper). Get real! Bambas are Nike, and Puma and Adidas... all the cool gear that football icons and tennis stars advertise on TV, so the kids absolutely have to have them, and it costs you an arm and a leg (an eye from the face, or a kidney, as the Spanish say) because they’re growing so fast that you have to buy new ones every two months.... However, in Andalusia, says Theresa, they’re called tenis (tennis shoes).
Coco

Coconut, brains (“nut”) and bogeyman. Admittedly “Rock-a-bye baby” doesn't end too happily for baby, but the Spanish version, sung to the same tune (Johannes Brahms' Wiegenlied), is positively terrifying. “Duérmete niño, duérmete ya, que viene el coco, y te llevará/comerá.” Translation: “Sleep little child, I mean sleep NOW, or the coco (dreaded ghost-like monster with a three-holed head like a coconut) will snatch you away/gobble you up.”
Piñata

Essential for kids’ parties. The piñata is a cardboard container stuffed with sweets and lollipops which is hung from the ceiling (or wherever you can manage). The kids have to smash it with a stick (or umbrella) whereupon it falls apart and they get over-excited and roll around on the floor screaming and kicking and fighting over the contents. We think the original tradition requires this to be done blindfold (we mean the bashing with the stick), but this is clearly not a sensible idea.
 

Buy your copy online here.

In the Garlic is published by Santana Books. ISBN-13: 978-84-89954-59-5  www.inthegarlic.com

It is also available from www.amazon.co.uk and in Barcelona at Casa del Llibre, Pg de Gràcia 62, FNAC, Pl, Catalunya (Triangle) and BCN Books, Roger de Llúria 118