“You’ve been Span’d!” I’m not sure who coined the phrase, but I’ve been using it for over 25 years. It refers to things happening to you largely because you are out of phase with the Spanish culture and don’t know things won’t work out the way you planned. This morning was a perfect example.
We had a tour scheduled at Bodegas Tobelos at 11am. It’s only 4 miles from the hotel to the bodega, so I asked the front desk to call us a taxi at 1030. Turns out there were ZERO taxis available in Haro this morning! We started walking in hopes of finding a taxi sitting at a taxi stand. No luck! Finally, I stopped in at the Cune winery (where have a tour scheduled tomorrow) to see if they could help. They gave us the number for James, the owner of a private car service. We contacted James (aka Jimbo) and he agreed to come pick us up … in 30 minutes. To pass the time we sampled some of the Cune wines. After all, you can’t drink all day if you don’t start in the morning.
We finally arrived for our Tobelos tour at noon, and, in spite of us being an hour late, Álvaro was gracious and understanding. We had a wonderful tour of a small winery that ended with the chance to sample six wines while enjoying at lovely view of the Cantabrian Mountains. If you plan to visit Haro, I recommend Tobelos. Also, let me know. I’ll give you Jimbo’s phone number.
