While in the Costa Blanca region of Spain we heard that the small town of Pego was having one of its many traditional fiestas’s that weekend. It seemed like a wonderful opportunity to experience the local culture and we felt like the first foreigners to explore this little town. After walking around for a couple of hours we attempted get a drink at a local bar. Feeling somewhat apprehensive we entered and with my very limited Spanish I attempted to order two beers above the din of the festive crowd.

“Dos cerveza por favor” I said exhausting most of my Spanish vocabulary

“Cerveza?” the bartender asked above the noise of the crowd”

“Si” I responded

“Dos Cerveza?” She asked quizzically while holding up two fingers. Now I am having grave doubts about my ability with even the simplest Spanish phrases and having exhausted my vocabulary I switch to English
“I would like two beers please” I enunciated slowly

Well, why didn’t you say so” she said with an obvious British accent
“Oh, you speak English” I said.

“Yes, my husband and I own this place but I have only been here a very short time so I speak very little Spanish.

She was just as apprehensive about speaking Spanish as I was. To make things more embarrassing as we became more acclimated to the bar, we quickly realized that everyone else in the bar was speaking English. Seems we had stumbled into a local haunt for foreigners living in Spain.