Spain

Sorolla and the Sea at the Norton in West Palm Beach

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Maybe because the Joaquín Sorolla house and museum is around the corner from my family home in Madrid, Sorolla was the first painter I connected to. Maybe it was his Mediterranean scenes that took me to my own Summers in the Med. Whatever it might have been, Sorolla has a special place in my heart.

When I am in Madrid, I often sneak into the garden of the Sorolla house museum to read, and occasionally I will go inside to visit the paintings like old friends (you can read about that here).

So when I learned the Norton Museum was hosting an exhibition to complement their existing (huge) Sorolla painting, I had to see it.

It did not disappoint. Most of the paintings are on loan from the Hispanic Society in New York City which commissioned many paintings from Sorolla. The exhibit includes some drafts of paintings, a bronze sculpture from his dear friend and paisano Benlliure -the marble one is in the garden in Sorolla’s house, even one of Sorolla’s palettes!

Sorolla is known as the painter of light, leaving behind the Impressionists, and creating a space of his own, beyond labels.

If you are in the Palm Beach area you should see it, you are welcome.

The evolution of my Camino packing

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Pilgrims have been walking to Santiago from all over Europe since about the year 800, before Hoka running shoes, before high tech fibers, before ergonomic backpacks, before electronic watches that measure your heart rate, every step you take and your lymphocytes, before, before, before. So chill.

On top of that, most people walk really short Caminos, so your choices are not that critical; you are going to walk for 5 days, eating much better food at half the price of whatever you are eating at home, sleeping on decent beds, showering with decent water pressure, with a fully stocked pharmacy in almost every village you walk through should you need any medicine, and enjoying free, high speed Wi-Fi internet connections so you can post on Instagram. You will not be roughing it (unless you choose to).

As I prepare for my fifth Camino, here are some thoughts on my packing and the evolution of my packing philosophy.

One of your realizations on the Camino might be how happy you are with so little, only with what you are carrying on your back. So packing is or should be an exercise in minimalism. Here are some thoughts:

There are laundry facilities in all albergues, some might be modern washer driers, some might only have manual washing options. If you are not willing to hand wash your own socks, underwear, and t-shirt –ask yourself if you want to be on the Camino. So you do not need to pack a lot of clothes. I pack 3 pairs of wool, no stitching socks, 3 underwear, 3 (long sleeve) cotton T shirs -yes, I am a snob and hate the feel of modern fibers. 2 pairs of cargo shorts (the side pocket is perfect for guidebook, maps, etc.) and a sweatshirt. My first Camino, optimist that I am, I did not pack a sweatshirt, and it was freezing in June in Burgos, so I had to buy one!

Did I tell you I am a snob? My sleeping bag is my favorite bedsheet folded in half and sewn together like a sleeping bag. It is much heavier than a modern sleeping bag, but it is far comfier, with matching pillowcase, of course.

If it rains you are going to get wet. Yes, you can buy a $200 jacket that will keep you dry, good for you. For a few bucks you can have a poncho that will also cover your pack. (although you should also have a rain cover for your pack). Be ready to activate your rain protocol quickly as summer showers might pop up unannounced. (You do not want your poncho at the bottom of your pack.

Bag of mixed nuts (trail mix) in a side pocket for a snack if the walk between villages is too far.

Bandanas (x 3) great for picking up sweat, as an impromptu hat, etc.

Sun hat, people have died on the Camino from sun strokes. On the climb up from Castrojeriz you read the sad story of a fellow who basically got skin cancer -on that climb.

Swiss Army Knife, you are only going to use it to maybe slice some bread to make a bocadillo (Spanish sandwich) or to open a bottle of wine, but it gives you great peace of mind knowing that you have it.

Bathing suit! If you find a spot for an after-hike dip, or a municipal pool, you will need it.

Lightweight towel.

Flip flops. My first Camino I carried sandals for the après-Camino, but then I realized that most of the population of Southeast Asia only wear flip flops. So I ditched the sandals, I now wear my cheap flip flops all the time.

Silk long johns. Some evenings it does get chilly, long johns to the rescue. They weigh nothing and take up zero space.

A few feet of thin rope. No rope space for your laundry? Bring your own line…

Water bottle. A lot of people use bladders, on a sweltering day you will quickly run out of water and those are difficult to fill in a village fountain… you have been warned.

Savon de Marseille: use it for your body, shampoo…or clothes, 3 in 1. If you get it in Spain, it is called jabón Lagarto, every supermarket has it.

Small first aid kit, you might need a few things to take care of blisters, etc. More for peace of mind on the trail.

Small book and writing/drawing notebook.

Sunglasses.

Rule of thumb is your pack should never exceed 10% of your body weight and should never exceed 10 kg (22lbs). My pack is a 50 liter, but I have plenty of space. Also remember to pack the heavy stuff in the bottom of your pack so it will sit in your lumbar area.

Now, having said all this, forget it! Each person is different with unique needs and expectations, experience, etc. So, make your own Camino, and your own pack. Buen Camino!!

British geopolitics in Spain during WWII; Walter Starkie and “El British”

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My dad could not stop talking about Walter Starkie. I never gave the fellow much consideration, that was my dad’s thing. My dad even found and bought some of his (many) books. But a few days ago, my aunt passed along a brief bio of Starkie –particularly in his time as Director of the British Institute in Madrid (attached). And I loved it! This fellow did more for Britain than you would think.

Mise en scene: Spain during WWII is a neutral country, at least on paper. After all, Franco won the (in)Civil War in 1939 with help from Hitler and Mussolini. Having said that, when Hitler asked Franco to let him transport his troops and tanks by train to Algeciras (next to British Gibraltar -but that is another story) to get to North Africa, Franco -to his credit- said no. But back to our story.

So, in a neutral but Axis friendly country, in 1940, during WWII, what could Britain do to exert some sort of “soft” power in Spain? The answer: send a phenom of nature, a genius, a virtuoso (literally), a wonder, and let him do his thing. Make sure he looks unassuming, a roly-poly, jolly, violin-playing academic fellow. Give him a fairly vague title like British cultural representative. Finally, give him carte blanche to do as he sees fit, oh and a generous budget, I am sure.

Ironically, Starkie was Irish, from a family of scholars and artists, he graduated from Trinity College in Dublin, with honors in Classics, History and Political Science, oh, and first prize in violin from the Royal Academy of Music in Dublin! After graduating he stayed at Trinity teaching Italian and Spanish. Samuel Beckett was one of his students! During WWI in Italy, he played violin for the British troops and met his wife. Back in England Y.B. Yeats made him director of the Abbey Theatre. From there he was sent to Madrid in 1940.

Starkie soon founded the British Institute – El Instituto Británico, “El British,” where my father, my uncle, and my aforementioned aunt went to school as children of a British Embassy employee (read more about my grandad here). Eventually my sister and I would also go to “El British.” Starkie made the school a center for conferences, concerts, presentations, so forth, which is precisely what Britain wanted in Spain: a cultural beachhead in Nazi friendly Madrid. Not only that, but as a Catholic (remember, Starkie was Irish), Starkie soon made friends with influential Jesuits Heras and Otaño, and eventually with government ministers. In fact, one of Starkie’s biggest victories was to have English as a language option (together with German) in Spanish secondary schools.

On any given day, Starkie could meet with a Spanish government official, play the violin with gypsies, whom he loved and wrote his most famous books about (Raggle-Taggle: Adventures with a Fiddle in Hungary and Romania (1933), Spanish Raggle-Taggle: Adventures with a Fiddle in Northern Spain (1934), and Don Gypsy: Adventures with a Fiddle in Barbary, Andalusia and La Mancha (1936)), host a conference, write or translate a book -like Don Quijote, and then go home, which served as a safe house for Jewish, Gypsy, and other prosecuted refugees on their way to America.

I asked my uncle what he remembered about Starkie. He told me how the Embassy’s country house was used as a safe house for downed plane crews rescued by the French resistance who were on their way back to the UK to fly again. But to get to this country house one had to drive by a gypsy settlement. Because of the friendship between Starkie and the gypsies, nobody ever dared go near that house to investigate what was going on, why there were cars and vans coming in and out at all times of the day and night, another point for Starkie!

So, besides the eventual victories on the battlefield, Britain scored a major victory in WWII by sending Walter Starkie to Spain.

Walter Starkie, a true friend of SpainDownload

On the importance of family

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Antonio Balson x 2

There is an old African proverb that says,

“If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together.” African Proverb –

It is only within the last few years that I have arrived at that same conclusion myself.

This realization came from seeing my parents and aunts and uncles getting older, and dying. So, I started calling cousins and aunts and uncles regularly to say “Hi”. Whenever possible, meeting them for a coffee or a meal.

Maybe part of what triggered my reaching out is the fact that I live thousands of miles away from Spain, making my desire to be close to my family even greater.

What difference does this make? You might ask. Well, for me, besides feeling closer to the people I grew up with, I feel richer, much richer; my heart feels fuller, I am happier knowing that I spent quality time with people I love and that I know love me.

Of course I am not talking about immediate family, my sisters, in laws, nieces and nephews, that is sort of a given, but one must make every effort to make sure one stays close to their loved ones, who have known you the longest, even if you did not necessarily hang out with them regularly when you were children.

This is the lesson for this week: pick up that phone and if you have the luxury of still having them, call a grandparent, or call a cousin, an uncle, an aunt you have not spoken to for a while. Guaranteed it will put a smile on your face.

Mi 92 year old uncle, Luis

Captain Olson. Sibling pride, my sister at Ronald McDonald House Charities Spain

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Keeping families together while a child is hospitalized is an important task, and one that Ronald McDonald House Charities is dedicated to. They build houses next to children’s hospitals around the world so the family can stay -for free- as long as the child is in hospital.

My younger sister has worked at the Spanish operation for years, which led me to volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House of Chapel Hill while I studied for my PhD, and at the Neonatal unit’s Ronald McDonald Family Room at the La Paz Hospital in Madrid while I lived in Spain.

McDonald’s is the key and main sponsor of the organization, but not the only one. Recently, my sister convinced McDonald’s Spain’s advertising company to lean into the cause by creating an ad for the organization. The result could not be any better. Grab a box of tissues, block the next eight minutes of your day, and enjoy, you are welcome!

Tonxo Tours update

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Here is a mysterious story for you…

If you follow my blog (thank you, I really appreciate it) you know I now have a deeply rewarding, full time job, which means that Tonxo Tours has become a bit of a side gig, which I can only indulge in during a few days at Christmas time and during Summer. I still love sharing my love for Spain, especially Madrid and its surroundings. I also get a kick out of promoting it. I love taking photos to put up on the Instagram (tonxotours) and I also love recording short videos explaining bits of Madrid which I also post to Insta and to the Tonxo Tours YouTube site. Here are a couple of my recent clips, and you can watch the rest here!

The videos are not great quality, in fact they are all home made with little to no edits, because I believe the story is what matters here, so unless you are a video snob, enjoy!

So, if you are in Spain for Christmas or Summer, hit me up and I would love to show you around!

Here is a quick one with a special guest: my niece!

Tonxo Tours first birthday!

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My homemade logo
Promoting electric scooter tours!
Working at the tourism trade show FITUR
The almost 300 year old oven at Botín
El Escorial
A Belgian family
I have done a wheelchair tour
Philip the IV (in the background!)
A group of French bakers!
The oldest restaurant in the world!!
A French group
A group in the Prado Museum (in the Jerónimos cloister)
Team building activities for groups
The European School of Economics group

As we sit in our quarantine, as I sit at home, Tonxo Tours has quietly turned one year old! So it is only befitting that I write a quick report on our first year of existence – Although it already existed informally and for many of my friends and friend’s friends who had gotten a tour from me.

My first memories of giving tours was as a teenager living in London, whenever friends or families of my dad’s work came to town I was often asked to take them to see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham palace. At that time I also took a lot of tours of museums, palaces, etc., so obviously that must have left some valuable residues. In university I started showing Madrid and Spain to my friends who came to visit. One friend showed up with English Rock groups who we would take out during their visits. A friend once showed up with the Monaco Olympic Sailing Team for me to show them around a bit! Then, living in New York and Boston I continued showing people around those cities. With experience and learning, every tour became better and better. Fast forward a couple of decades and many tours of Madrid, Barcelona, Boston and New York later, and I finally made Tonxo Tours a reality. As they say: turn your hobby into your work and you will not have to work again.

This first year has been the expected mix of wins and frustrations. I must admit the wins and the rewards have far outweighed the frustrations. I was lucky to start off right away finding a couple of sources of business: a couple of Internet platforms and a local transport company whose customers ask for tours. I created a homemade website and logo with my trademark bow tie, and I was in business. In my first year I have shown Madrid to over 200 people. My most popular tour has been Old Madrid, I have shown the Prado Museum a few times, the Royal Palace, a handful of other museums, and I have also gone out of town to El Escorial, La Granja and Segovia. I developed a game to play when children come on the tour. I have used the same game adding activities as a university orientation team-building game which I did with my uni, the European School of Economics. I did a tour with a woman in a wheelchair (she had broken her foot doing the Camino de Santiago), I have done tours in minivans and buses with 50 people,  one customer with a chain of pastry shops in Belgium wanted to see the pastry shops in old Madrid, that was fun-and tasty! I have done tours in Spanish, English and French, and I have even done a couple of tours in Italian, which, with only one semester of training, was tough (see the video below for proof). The experience has been so much fun and so rewarding!

Unfortunately due to the Covid-19 I have had to cancel a handful of tours I had booked.

And I have learnt. What a learning curve! Like many things, being a tour guide involves psychology, salesmanship and, of course, knowing your stuff. I cannot wait for many more tours and many more years!

Please spread the word! My favorite and best marketing tool is word of mouth!!

Feel free to share my web www.tonxotours.com and Instagram and Facebook tonxotours

 

Tonxo Tours

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Our plane with our super pilot!!
Private plane tours? Check (Over El Escorial)
Leading a group of students around the Royal Palace
Showing Valencia to some students (During Falla festivities!!)
Showing some students the castle at Segovia
Bottom line: I am passionate about showing you Spain
Yes we are wheelchair friendly!!
Deep into explaining the curved facade of a Baroque church
We have fun learning games for kids to enjoy during our tours!
Guiding students around the Dalí museum in Florida!!
Cold will not keep us from showing you around.
Another group of satisfied customers!
We love food and drink tours!!
We can do tours by bicycle, moped, motorbike, airplane, you name it!!

 

Well, I guess the first thing I must do is apologize to my followers for a very long silence. Soon you will know the reason. As you might know, about a year a ago I returned home to Spain after many – thirteen to be precise – years in the US. With a clean slate, I decided to start a business that had been on the back burner for years: I have become a personal tour guide, creating bespoke tours of Spain under the name Tonxo Tours.

Showing people Spain is my life calling. I am passionate about sharing my culture, history, language. After showing Spain to all sorts of folks for years, I have decided to start Tonxo Tours and make my joie de vivre available to all! I have been toying with this idea since the late 90s, so it is about time to get going, don’t you think?

Most tour companies boast about their team of specialists, well, I am that specialist. I have been giving tours of Madrid and of Spain since my twenties. I have worked with British rock bands, schools and universities, foundations, executives from all over the world, even the Monaco Olympic Sailing Team, I would love to show you around!

After twenty odd years in the business world and thirteen teaching in high schools and universities in the US, it is time for me to do what I do best, which is to share my passion for Spain.

Why has it taken so long you might ask? My life has been marked by a peripatetic lifestyle, moving to New York when I was ten and then to London, Boston, Paris, Bordeaux, Geneva, Lausanne, Chapel Hill, Naples Fl., and so forth to over eleven cities. Cities became my friends. I loved discovering what made each one unique ̶-how they got their personality. I spent my time in museums, cafés, theaters, concerts, operas, ballets, all of which unavoidably infused me with a love for the arts. Sharing my love and knowledge of cities and their cultures soon became a venue to express myself. As a teenager I gave tours of Madrid and London to friends and family, something I continue to do and enjoy, which has led me to create Tonxo Tours. My experience and passion radiate on the street: Explaining Spanish history, architecture, food, music, sometimes all of them at the same time!!

When I started thinking about setting up a tour company I was aware of the tremendous competition in the market. Just in Madrid you can jump on a sightseeing bus and casually check out the city while chomping on some churros, you can take a Segway tour, there are a bunch of tapas tours, there are free tours, you can get a tour on a tuk tuk, a golf cart, an antique car, even in a pink Rolls Royce! In contrast to that, my philosophy is simple: a no gimmick, quality driven, discreet – yet fun – bespoke tour that will cater to what you want to experience, see, taste and hear, not the other way around.

I can arrange exquisite lodgings, extraordinary experiences, delicious food and drink,

with only one purpose: creating unforgettable memories.

But why would anyone choose Tonxo Tours? you might ask. Here’s a few more reasons:

  1. I am a native, a local, born and bred here, but with the advantage that I have lived abroad many years. I have dual citizenship USA / Spain, offering me a perspective unattainable to most.
  2. Passion: I love sharing my culture, my history, my food, my architecture, art, music, dance, etc. This drives me.
  3. Experience: I have been doing this for years with friends, colleagues, schools, universities, foundations, etc. From 1994 to 2004 I had my own company (but that is a different story) which took me to every city and town in Spain at least a couple of times a year, more for the big cities. So I really know Spain like the back of my hand.
  4. DNA: My grandad worked for the British and American embassies, often times driving dignitaries around – he even got a medal from from Queen Elisabeth (but that’s a different story). My dad was restless. We would go on excursions every time he got bored – which was often – He was also a Spanish history buff which rubbed off on me, so I have been reading Spanish history and literature since I was a youth, which eventually led me to get a PhD in Spanish literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (again, different story).

I received my undergraduate degree in business. I specialized in management, the human part; what motivates people? What makes them tick? I used these skills in my first jobs in finance, photography and management before using them to run my own business for ten years, importing and selling industrial machinery in Spain and consulting for European companies wanting to expand into Latin America. I moved back to the US, where I started teaching in 2005, and although I was making a fraction of the money I used to make, I felt much happier and more fulfilled. In the meantime I got a Master’s and then a PhD in Spanish Literature from UNC. Returning home to Spain allows me to indulge in my true vocation. I am able to apply my many skills developed and honed over the years. So don’t over think it, contact me and I’ll be happy to show you around!

Let me know when you are going to be in Spain and what you want to do and see. I will personally take care of you, if you just want to spend a few hours walking around old Madrid or if you want to spend two weeks exploring Spain, I will be happy to set it all up.

If you want to know more about me, you can read check out this blog about my random thoughts, travels, and whathaveyous.  You can check out my website tonxotours.com and/or my Instagram: tonxotours

Homecoming

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Playing hooky with Victoria (she had an eye infection)
Back to Alfredo’s Barbacoa with friends
It might not be New England, but it’s still beautiful
Taking my girls to the Nutcracker
In Madrid even the trash has art
My favorite tapa in Madrid (secret location)
Back with my buddy Don Miguel (de Cervantes) buried here
Decent tapas bars
Hanging out with my niece (in front of Muji)

And so, fourteen years after leaving Spain, I return home to my beloved Madrid. My exile is over. There are two main reasons to explain my homecoming: a personal and a professional:

The first is family. My mom is 85 years old and not getting any younger, health issues start popping up with more and more frequency, her hearing is diminishing. So I decided to be with her. She lives in a big old apartment downtown and it is wonderful to have breakfast with her, help her with the cleaning and maintenance of the apartment and hang out with her throughout the day. My sister lives nearby with her three great kids who are growing up so fast (13, 11 and 7). Last week I went to my nephew’s soccer game and it was marvelous to see him score two goals. My oldest niece and god-daughter is just starting her teenage years and I am happy to be here to support her. As for the little one, the other day she was dropped off at home with an eye infection that kept her away from school, so I took her with me for my coffee and errands and we had a blast!

Just like family there are friends, old friends, real friends, friends that I have missed, friends that listen, that help you, that make you laugh, friends that are not afraid to call you out. And last, but not least, as the great late Robin Williams as psychologist Sean says to Will (Matt Damon) in the awesome Good Will Hunting: “I gotta see about a girl.”

The second and also important reason is a professional one, a pedagogical one. Over the years I have gotten tired of the narrow American definition of success, and of teaching in schools that thrive and endorse this way of life implicitly and explicitly. I have been fortunate to teach at schools like Seacrest and Walnut Hill, where the emphasis was much more on the humanistic development of the child. Even “pressure cooker” schools like Buckingham Browne and Nichols in Boston had a solid notion of a quality of life not necessarily related to money or the rat race. I believe that everybody in a school, (and in any community for that matter) students and teachers, benefit from playing, from hanging out, from conversation. Maybe as I get older I value quiet, and time, I believe in the beauty of conversation, of enjoying a chat and a coffee. We have the scientific evidence that happiness is not based on your SAT scores.

So I grabbed my bag and came home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg_9FQk6UnA

 

 

Catharsis, Jacob’s ladder (at least one rung) or pulling splinters from my heart

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One of the things I love about being a teacher is that once students graduate some of them become friends and mentees. This is the case of Jacob Virgil who, having graduated from UNC was backpacking around Europe when he contacted me to tell me he was in town. It has been four years since I gave a good tour of Madrid, and it was very cathartic. Visiting old favorite haunts, seeing old friends and acquaintances: eating roast chicken at Sidras Mingo by the river, having chocolate con churros at San Ginés, drinking bone dry sherry at Torre del Oro, it all brought back many memories and tears to my heart.

The highlight of this visit was taking Jacob to the bullfight. It was a Monday afternoon fight, so I managed to get excellent seats, the reason being, that as a Monday fight, the bullfighters were on the younger side, not that the bulls were any better. But still, the afternoon was beautiful. I lit up a fabulous Montecristo Petit Edmundo from my friend José at Estanco Barquillo and enjoyed the event. I walked Jacob back to his hotel, stopping for some great tapas at Estay in the Barrio de Salamanca district.

The Biblical Jacob dreamt of a stairway to heaven. This XXI C. Jacob didn’t bring that ladder, but he nonetheless helped me in my healing process. Which was totally unexpected – as it should be. Walking around with him, visiting old haunts and especially the bullfight, helped me renew and cleanse myself. Apparently we were even given a close up shot on TV, proof, if any was needed, that they were good seats!

Montecristo

Montecristo

Torre del Oro

Torre del Oro

A young fighter

A young fighter

Bulls, friends, cigars

Bulls, friends, cigars