The Café/bar vs The Pharmacia (phar-MA-tzia}

[scruffy1]

I have touched on this before but I will expand. The Camino café/bar is an important institution to explore-offering quick revival through coffee, lunch, or later in the day cerveza or wine. Pilgrims with a penchant for sociology and anthropology will find them an attractive visit especially on a Sunday, a place where the game of dominoes is revealed as a contact sport and the seemingly incomprehensible but quickly learned Botifarra card game is played for pocket change. The television is flashing the re-broadcast of the last Real Madrid futbal game or last summer’s bullfight – neither are watched by the men – usually only men – around the tables. No longer chokingly smoke filled, a visit is a lot of fun.
Pharmacies – since the position of pharmacist demands a university education, pharmacies are often a place for salvation. Beyond supplying required medications, over the counter triple strength Advil, occasionally allowing the acquisition of prescription medicines with no prescription – the presentation of my blood pressure pills soaked after a violent rainstorm did the trick, anti-blister poultices, knee/ankle elastics – pharmacists know languages-Spanish, French, English, even once German so they will often be the most easily accessed interlocutor in stressful moments of language distress. A true story: early evening after dinner before albergue curfew while sitting in the small town square (perhaps Los Arcos) with a Swiss woman – New Age in persuasion – soft soothing (?) music from her phone with the required water splash (drippy faucet?), incense burning, and as she lit a floral perfumed roll of organic something leaves…along comes an important looking member of the Policia Local to inquire somewhat menacingly as to our doings-in such a public place. Our Spanish not good enough – he no English. Things not looking particularly optimistic when along comes the pharmacy lady from whom I had purchased some lip balm and understanding immediately the situation - saved the day, well, evening with some sharp words in one direction and pleasantries in ours.
Another Camino, another place, I enjoyed a conversation in Latin with a pharmacist on Seneca – he speaking as well as my tutor from school myself in my all but forgotten schoolboy Latin! Pharmacists are an interesting lot.

 

[Marbe2]

Interesting perspective! Thanks!

 

[Tincatinker]

Explained my various conditions once to a Pharmacist in Villafranca del Bierzo. We Googled a couple of times just to make sure. Then she handed over my prescription drugs sin prescription. Wrote (and translated) a note in her ledger and asked me to sign it - and then suggested a couple of bars I shouldn't miss. I like the Farmacéuticos of Spain.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Pharmacia (phar-MA-tzia)

Far-may-CIA will not be understood I learned.

 

[Mike Blackard]

For me, the most fun was going into la farmacia and asking "tienen un peso?" The nice lady said "si" and walked me over to the scale, where for 40 centavos they will weigh you. In my case I started with everything, including backpack, on and then weighed a second time without backpack. First thing she said was "way too much weight in backpack!" At first the lower numbers had me feeling pretty good, then I did the multiply kilos by 2.2 to get pounds- yikes! But the good news is, after 6 weeks on the camino, I did lose about 18 pounds, or a little over 1.3 kilos per week! Got to get back to the camino- best diet plan on earth- never missed a meal, never got hungry, never got bored, never binged, never had midnight snacks, never missed any of it.

 

[Pelegrin]

Pilgrims with a penchant for sociology and anthropology will find them an attractive visit especially on a Sunday, a place where the game of dominoes is revealed as a contact sport and the seemingly incomprehensible but quickly learned Botifarra card game is played for pocket change.

I liked your post but I am sorry I have to insist that the cards game played in Los Arcos was not Butifarra, it was Mus.
I am a Mus player, I am playing Mus once a week for more than 30 years so Mus is important for me. I know that in Navarra the game is Mus, actually the rules for this game were set in Pamplona in 1804. Butifarra is a Catalan game about which i haven't heard untill your previous post.
Mus is not played for money, the loser couple pays the drinks. The coins on the table were only for counting points.

 

[scruffy1]

Very true my mistake but do they use the same cards?

 

[KinkyOne]

I liked your post but I am sorry I have to insist that the cards game played in Los Arcos was not Butifarra, it was Mus.
I am a Mus player, I am playing Mus once a week for more than 30 years so Mus is important for me. I know that in Navarra the game is Mus, actually the rules for this game were set in Pamplona in 1804. Butifarra is a Catalan game about which i haven't heard untill your previous post.
Mus is not played for money, the loser couple pays the drinks. The coins on the table were only for counting points.

I learned about Mus (pronounced like Mush but not like Mushroom, maybe you @Pelegrin yould help me with this?) in SJPdP where I quite incidentally entered the Basque only bar and everything went quiet. Then the hospitalero recognized me and everything went back to normal
I didn't understand it one bit and the same with language but it was fun watching those Basque men playing it while sipping wine. And they were singing later in the evening. Nice start to my 2011 CF although I didn't make any Camino family on that first day

 

[Pelegrin]

Very true my mistake but do they use the same cards?

Yes Spanish cards, but in Mus are only four.

 

[Pelegrin]

I learned about Mus (pronounced like Mush but not like Mushroom, maybe you @Pelegrin yould help me with this?) in SJPdP where I quite incidentally entered the Basque only bar and everything went quiet. Then the hospitalero recognized me and everything went back to normal
I didn't understand it one bit and the same with language but it was fun watching those Basque men playing it while sipping wine. And they were singing later in the evening. Nice start to my 2011 CF although I didn't make any Camino family on that first day

Actually Mus has two Basque words that players say in the game and a few of them know the real meaning: " Ordago" (hor dago) Here it is and "Amarraco" (Amarrako) Of ten.

 

[OTH86]

Thanks for this, @scruffy1 !! Wonderful commentary on both topics, but especially on pharmacies - from my experience. The pharmacists are able to triage anything!

 

[KinkyOne]

Actually Mus has two Basque words that players say in the game and a few of them know the real meaning: " Ordago" (hor dago) Here it is and "Amarraco" (Amarrako) Of ten.

Completely agree.
But I think it's kind of cultural or historical thing. Here in Slovenia we have one of the best three EU medical systems/care but even in the villages where there is a small doctor's office there's no pharmacy. OTOH in Spain it's almost vice versa, if there's no doctor (or just one day per week visit which is very common) at least they should have Farmacia. And maybe that's why the pharmacists in Spain are so good at dealing with most of the everyday health issues. Not that I needed Farmacias much but I love them and their employees

 

[Biff]

Ah, yes. Broke a tooth one evening. Walked on the next day, then asked at a Pharmacia if they had anything (mouth wash etc) to help. She suggest a nearby Dentist. Now that was fun: they had poor English (which, I hasten to add, was far, far better than my miserable Spanish).

Anyway, injections given, tooth filled, bill paid. All quickly and efficiently. Great. Wonderful people.

Burnt my mouth on Chocolate y Churros!!