The Eighth Plague
Writing in the local paper. Local Issues with a global take. I never translate literally and the editor trims at will to make it fit. Here’s my version, then theirs, which can now be seen online (in Spanish) as well.
Are your Toothpicks Ready to Race?
Just when you thought you were getting the hang of the way Spaniards lisp their Cs, they go and change the language on you. More discreet than their more famous Catalan, Basque, and Galician cousins, speakers of Mañego in this hidden green valley have been ‘falaing’ (falar=hablar=to speak) their curious mix of Spanish, Latin, Gallego,…
Idanha-a-Velha…Good Coffee starts here
Around these parts the border is porous and exactly where Portuguese villages become Spanish is lost among the cork tree forests (and in today’s Europe so is the point). Sometimes the little white houses are fringed with blue sometimes yellow but walk through the immense walls and past the Visigothic church and into a bar and the confusion ends.…