BEWARE OF THE CULTURAL SHOCK: BEING VEGAN IN SPAIN

When purchasing a property in Spain you are not only starting to live your dream, you are starting a new life in a new country with a totally different set of rules and values. We (Spanish) see life in a different light than British.

The other day I saw in a Facebook group a comment about a lady that was thinking in opening a Vegan catering in Barcelona. My first thought was "good luck with that here..." Because half of the people in Spain probably wont even know what a Vegan is.

We have accepted that some people is vegetarian, and today you can find vegetarian restaurants in big cities, and some restaurants even would have a vegetarian option. But the majority of us will go to a vegetarian restaurant same as we go to a Thai one, or Indian, it sounds very exotic.

The very essence of the problem is that we understand different things when we speak about "meat" and what not eating meat entitles.

For us meat is any part of an animal that runs the earth that you can cook. So when a vegan person explains that they dont eat meat, we dont see any difference with a normal vegetarian.

The vegan will start explaining they dont eat fish. Why not? we think. Fish is not meat, is fish. The problem is literally lost in translation. Because "carne" translates both into "meat" and "flesh". So "la carne del pescado" is not "the fish meat" but the "fish flesh".

Therefore, why wouldnt you eat fish if it is not meat? Does it mean you dont eat langostinos? (king prawns) What do you eat at Christmas then?

We will start to look at you with a funny face, but will carry on listening.

Then the vegan say they dont eat Jamón or any other "Spanish sausage". That is just not on. Basically we dont consider "real meat" the "embutidos", which is what British call too generically "Spanish sausages". Embutido is: jamón serrano, jamón iberico, lomo, chorizo, salchichón, fuet, chopped, mortadela, jamón york, jamón de pavo, ... I mean, we know is made with meat, but it doesnt count because you dont cook it, so why wouldnt you eat it? And it is delicious, if someone doesnt like jamón serrano there is definitely something wrong with them.

At this point the vegan will have to explain that they dont eat ANYTHING that comes from an animal. What do you mean?, the Spanish will ask while his/her face starts to twitch, and you can see smoke coming from behind our ears. Really, what do you mean with that? It means that vegan dont eat any dairy, nor eggs.

Hang on a minute there! Cheese and eggs are definitely NOT meat. What you put in your coffee if you cant drink milk? You must be joking, right? I think I cant breath, you have just disregarded ALL our food.

In a nut shell, the Spanish will think, if a vegan doesnt eat meat, fish, embutidos, dairy products, nor eggs, what do they eat? And the first word that comes to our mind is this: GRASS. Vegans eat grass. Why on earth would you want to eat grass? You are most definitely very weird.

Time will pass and the vegan will probably became our very beloved friend, and we will do our best to accommodate you in our parties trying to cook things that you can eat (basically just gazpacho), but we will get it wrong, because we will probably prepare Spanish omelette (which has eggs) or a lovely potato salad with canned tune. (What! You dont eat canned tune either? That is not even fish!)

And we will defend your honour when someone says that you are weird for not eating meat and will explain to them what does it mean to be a vegan (probably with a slightly patronising tone of voice, like we are very cosmopolitan and they are not)

However, you will be forever and furthermore our slightly odd friend that eats grass. For example, when talking about our vegan friend with a third party the conversation will go as follow:

-Do you know my friend XXX?

-Not sure, who is he/she?

- You know, the one that eats grass

-Ahhh, yes I know

Dont take it personally, it is just that Spain is different.

WINTER HAS COME

You have found your perfect holiday winter sun destination, you have also found the perfect property to enjoy those hard earned holidays. Your flipflops, sun cream and all summer clothes are packed and ready to be used. Then you arrive to Spain and this is what happens:

Ronda, Malaga, Spain 19.01.2017

And this is because, believe it or not, in Spain we have winter too. And one thing that you need to bear in mind when looking for your dream home is that it comes with some sort of heating system.

There is the common misconception that there is an eternal summer in the south of Spain, and that is true for about 9 months of the year, but the other 3 it can get really really cold. Whilts you might be able to enjoy the sunshine and temperatures around 15º-20º C in the middle of the day, those temperatures can drop to 0º-5º C at night time. 

But the majority of the houses do not have central heating. Some will have a chimeny or a wood burner, but some do not have even that, so you will have to rely on electrical heaters which can prove to be very expensive. Just to give you an idea, one of my friends paid for their December electricity bill around 615€ this year. And that is a scary thought.

Instead of enjoying your holidays you might end up being a Popsicle in your new home sofa.

Therefore make sure before you buy anything that you will be able to instal the mentioned heating system. And pack some jumpers!

WHO HAS SWITCHED OFF THE SUN?

I understand that today is 30th of January and that we are in the middle of the winter. But would you rather wake up to this:

Bristol, UK, 30.01.2017 at 8.55 am

Or to any of these:

Loja, Granada, Spain, 30.01.2017 at 8.59 am

San Fernando, Cadiz, Spain, 30.01.2017 at 9.20 am

Ronda, Malaga, Spain, 30.01.2017 at 9.21 am

There are a few very subtle differences between the Bristol picture and the other ones, such us the sunny morning, the light, the blinding sun in your face, the lack of gloominess ... All that bearing in mind that it is winter in Spain too, and it will be probably quite cold.

However, the question still is what would you rather wake up to? What makes you smile in the morning?

After a few years in the UK I realised that what I miss the most is not even the sun, but the light during the day.

It potentially means a total change in your way of life. Instead of spending your evenings at home watching telly, because there is virtually nothing else to do, you can go for a walk. It is the possibility of staying with the kids in the park until 6 or 7 pm, instead or 4 pm. Just to name a few.

So a dream home in the sun it is not only for holidays, it is to improve the quality of your life: better health, everything tastes better, people is normally in better spirits ...

As I have woken up in Bristol, I am going to go and cry a little and enjoy another day in the rain.

BARGAIN!!! OR BARGAIN???

You know that saying that if it looks to good to be true is because probably it isn't true?

It cannot be truer when you are searching for your dream home.

A couple of years back I found THE bargain of the century. Fully refurbished detached villa, I think it was 3 bed property, with plot of land and a swimming pool, only 10 minutes drive away from the coast for 25,000 €.

25,000 €? 25,000€????????? Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

Yeah, exactly my reaction. So I carried on reading. The property was illegal. It was built/refurbished without asking the relevant planning permission to the relevant authority and it was built in rustic land, which a type of land where is not allowed to build anything. Which means that the relevant authority can decide to knock it down at any time. You might be able to change the status of the land and to ask for retrospective planning permission, but that will cost time and money.

Therefore you have to be veeeeeeeeeeery careful when looking at buying a place anywhere. Research the area as much as you can, even if possible go and spend some holidays in your chosen destination. And please, ALWAYS use professionals such as local solicitor or "asesor" (consultant/adviser).

When I am watching programs like "A place in the Sun" (which I am addicted to, by the way) I cannot believe when people go for the first time ever to a place, see a house they like for their budget and they decide to make an offer! Come on! What do you know about how the place really is in winter? Or what do you know of the neighbourhood, or the town itself? If there are no real facilities/amenities closed by, how are you going to cope with that?

Because, my friends, one thing is the dream and other is the day to day living reality.

So it is very good to have a dream, but you wouldn't want it to become a nightmare, would you?

A DIFFERENT HOBBY

Some people like to play with their phones, others to go cycling, or to exercise their muscles by going to the gym. I like looking at properties in Spain via online.

I use a variety of web sites, some Spanish and some English but mainly fotocasa.es and rightmove.co.uk/overseas.

I can spend hours (if kids allowe me anyway), and I do so because I believe that if you visualise yourself following your dream then you will be able to get what you desire.

For example, sometimes at work after a particularly difficult conversation with a customer I might need to take a 5 minutes for myself. Some people go for coffee, to the toilet or to chat with a collegue. If posible I would go to rightmove and check the latest deals regarding property.

Just need to introduce your search options:

Country: Spain

Area: Costa del Sol

Property type: any, as I might feel like buying a plot of land or a mansion

Currency: euros

Price from: 0

Price to: well, that depends on the day. Sometimes I feel like really living the dream and I would look at properties like this one

At the end of the day I think that if I make just a few cuts in my budget and save a few quids here and there I will be able to be living in this 12 rooms mansion for sale at 40 million euros by this time next year and leave a couple of millions to put it to our taste, why not.

However other days I am just a tad more realistic and try and check what I would be able to buy if I was a cash buyer (which unfortunately I am not), so I would limit the price to 50,000 €, and will check properties for lower price first.

Once your ignore the garages for sale and the share/fractional ownership properties, first of all you will find the static homes in caravan parks with prices starting at 16,000€ for a 2 bed.

However I do not think it would suit my family. If it was just hubby and me, maybe, but with the kids and our five hundred million possesions there is just not enough room.

Oh! Just spotted a bargain! 18,000 € for a town house, close to amenities but in need of a total refurbisment.

Do I really want to take on some much work? It would be a pretty special project, and for sure we would be able to make the place totally ours, but it might be a bit too much perhaps.

On the other hand, I could buy this property with a personal loan from my bank here in UK and not having to think about mortgages etc... Something to be considered definitely, as it would cost about 400 pounds a month but would be paid within 5 years.

For 29,500 € I could have a 3 storey building with 2 double rooms already modernised and with doors and windows replaced ...

So, which one would you go for?

THE BEGINNING OF THE DREAM

I have been living in UK for nearly 8 years now. My first time around I was fresh from University and I really wanted to move away and experience what it meant to live in another country.

Back then I thought my English was very good, that was until I set foot on Heathrow and people started to talk to me! My main priority became to learn the language and I gave myself 6 months to do it, the length of my trainee course.

But of course I met a guy and I ended up staying for nearly 3 years.

However, like it happens to so many Britons, I was missing the sun. Not even the sun, I was missing the daylight. And I kept seeing how British would go to Spain and buy a place in the sun and I remembered thinking "that is what I want". The pound has always been stronger that the euro, so it was an advantage to be earning in pounds.

Finally I decided to move back to Spain altogether. Few years passed, met my hubby and started a business. Unfortunately the global crisis hit us (among other things) so we have to close down and we decided to return to UK.

We have been here for over 4 and a half years now. And again from the very beginning I had that feeling: I want my own place in the sun.

We haven't managed so far, so the question is how does other people do it?