Viva Jamon!

OK I have good news. According to El Google, Santa Concordia is the patron saint of nannies! Sadly, Santa Concordia is not Spanish and does not live in Salamanca but I’m very happy to know that the catholics have nannies covered in the saint department.

Today I was in town and discovered the other religion of Salamanca when I passed this beautiful stadium:

I thought it was for futbol or maybe Flamenco Dancing with the Stars or something. Que boba! No one dances with stars here, but there is dancing, the dance of death, le corrida. Sadly I have to wait until September when the bullfights begin.

But there is plenty of bull activity anyway because Salamanca is where the best bulls are born and raised. I drove outside of town and found this place:

Dehesa de Rodesviejas where they grow the bulls. The youngsters are so cute! Look! Mira!

Just like little kids. And they are domesticated animals. Just like kids. As a nanny, I thought a little bit of bullfighting might teach me a thing or two about dealing with beasts. At the finca, they let me go for a capea, which is an amateur bullfight.

I don’t want to brag but they said I have some talent. I did not get the ear of the little bull, but I made my entrance, first try. Beginner’s luck.

Salamanca is very proud of its bulls. But, Salamantinos are also proud of another animal, the pig. Pata negra, or in other words, the best ham in the world, comes from the province of Salamanca and the region raises special black pigs, that eat acorns and produce premier ham or jamon and pork or puerco products.

The culture of jamon is incredible here. Jamon is everywhere.

There is even a special bag to carry your jamon in that you can buy at the supermarket:

Ham is so dominant actually, that it is pretty hard to find things to eat without ham in them. Even cookies.

I was enjoying my afternoon cafecito con mantecados the other day, and I started thinking it's funny because manteca is the word for lard. Yes, that’s what makes them so good.

This is Deb in the City, saying goodbye from Salamanca, España, the cerda, cochina, puerco, marrano, conchinilla y lechon capitol of the universe.