For the Love of España

Note: I wrote most of this ages ago but somehow it never made it into the feed.

Partying after the Spanish EuroCup win.

In the month and a half of travel so far, I've come to like Spanish culture a lot—strange, considering my wanderings have been confined to the U.K. As with most hostelers I meet a lot of people but for some reason I get on really well with those from Spain.

Maybe it's the bit Spanish in my Phillipino heritage. Maybe I've just been lucky to meet nice people from that country. Or maybe it's because I already had an interest in their culture before, especially through music.

Anyone who asks what kind of music I like will have the name 'the Mars Volta' thrown at them somewhere in the list of artists. The band is prog-rock from the U.S. but features a fair dosage of Latin influence*. That includes a few songs with Spanish lyrics, one of which I've been trying to learn on the guitar.

I'm also a fan of the Gypsy Kings and I've even taken Salsa lessons at one point. I'm actually pretty terrible at it but I don't resist too much when friends try to convince me to go embarrass myself on the dance floor.

I would also love to be able to speak Spanish. Before the trip I only knew how to say "Yo no soy marinero, soy capitan" from the song La Bamba but friends in Edinburgh have taught me some new words and phrases. Now I can say, "Yo no soy caballo" (I am not a horse) as well as the usual bad words.

Those same friends called me Alonso, after the F1 race car driver—not, unfortunately, because I share his driving skills but because of my last name, McLaren. Fernando Alonso drove a McLaren F1 last year so in a roundabout way, I've ended up with his surname as my nick.

I'm not due in Spain for at least a couple months but I'm definitely looking forward to it.

Spain isn't part of Latin America but Spanish and Latin music have a huge influence on each other. At least, according to Wikipedia.