The Good:
1. Chorizo. My favorite lunch was a chorizo sandwich, made right on the trail. It got even better when I bought a bottle of mustard!
2. Aquarius Limón. Nectar of the gods!
3. KitKats. I don't know what it is, but KitKats tasted different in Spain.
4. At the Albergue in Arre, I loved the fact that I could get both peanut M&M's and beer from one machine.
5. Sopa de Ajo
The Bad:
1. That awful, terrible, unholy substance that can sit in a box for months and is somehow allowed to be called "milk."
2. Un-shelled, un-veined shrimp for tapas. In case you didn't know, the "vein" found in shrimp isn't actually a vein, it's the digestive tract and that brown stuff isn't blood, it's... well it's the same thing that's in your digestive tract. And I'm pretty sure it's impossible to look dignified while trying to remove the edible bits of shrimp from the shell.
3. I found the pilgrim menu to be overpriced in most places. I had trouble justifying paying $12 euros or more for over-cooked pasta with ketchup, a piece of meat that had to be sliced with a razor, and a pudding cup. Others though, were quite excellent, such as Ave Fenix in Villafranca and the Albergue Verde in Hospital de Orbigo.
4. Sardines. I bought a can of sardines my second day. I was going to save them for when I really needed them. That time turned out to be on the long, empty stretch after Carrion. Worst sardines I've ever had.
The Strange:
1. In Burgos, I stopped at a store and bought my usual bread and Chorizo for sandwiches. The lady at the counter says, "No, no, no! Picante! No, no!" Now, it took me a minute to realize she was trying to warn me that said Chorizo was supposed to be very spicy and was to get the "regular" kind. This was the same kind of Chorizo I had been buying since day 1. Now it's tasty as all get out, but spicy? I've had rice crispies spicier than that.
2. After coming down from the Cruz de Ferro, I stopped in a bar and checked out their sandwich selection. I'd been having ham sandwiches most of the way and I saw they offered either Spanish or York ham. York ham? What's that? Well, well, let's give it a shot! To my disappointment, York ham turned out to be something on par with sliced "ham" luncheon meat from Oscar Mayer.
3. I got pretty good kick out of how Europeans thought Doritos qualified as Mexican food! Actually, I was surprised at the lack of familiarity of Mexican cuisine among Europeans. I met many "foodies" over there, and it seemed like they were familiar with every style of cooking from every part of the globe, but they had never had a taco before.
4. One the third day, my friend and I went out for dinner. I was looking at their pizza menu and saw "Hawaiian", which had "jamon and ananas." Now, I know very few words in Spanish, so when I saw "ananas," I thought that was just the Spanish spelling of bananas. I thought it was an odd combination, but I thought, hey, that might actually be good. I mentioned to my friend that in America, a Hawaiian pizza came with ham and pineapple. He informed me that ananas is pineapple. In fact, that's what most of the world calls pineapple. I thought about that for moment. "So why isn't it called a ananas colada?" He had no response. I still have yet to try bananas on pizza.