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Librería Hernández Religious Bookstore in Madrid will close this year after 158 years of service. Incredible, isn't it, that any business, let alone a RELIGIOUS bookstore, could survive so long. Religious stores, at least for me, have always been a curiosity which I've always associated with Spain as well as Italy since we don't have them - to my knowledge - in Ohio, USA.

Upon visiting Madrid the first time in 1995 and in subsequent strolls through Madrid's downtown, these religious stores always turn up, causing me to ask myself, "How can these places stay in business? Do they receive some funding from the church?" I doubt the latter but where else in the world is - read: "was" - religion so profound in the makeup and history of the culture?

Upon entering nearly any older-person's house in Spain you'll usually find the following: a wall-mounted crucifix, a painting/portrait of Jesus Christ on the cross, and oftentimes other ceramic angelic figurines. You don't find these religious items so openly displayed in younger peoples' homes although they may be religious.

Religion in Spain, according to WikiPedia:

Roman Catholicism has long been the main religion of Spain, though it no longer has official status. According to a July 2009 study by the Spanish Center of Sociological Research about 76% of Spaniards self-identify as Catholics, 2% other faith, and about 20% identify with no religion. Most Spaniards do not participate regularly in religious services. This same study shows that of the Spaniards who identify themselves as religious, 58% hardly ever or never go to church, 17% go to church some times a year, 9% some time per month and 15% every Sunday or multiple times per week. But according to a December 2006 study, 48% of the population declared a belief in a supreme being, while 41% described themselves as atheist or agnostic. Altogether, about 22% of the entire Spanish population attends religious services at least once per month. Though Spanish society has become considerably more secular in recent decades, the influx of Latin American immigrants, who tend to be strong Catholic practitioners, has helped the Catholic Church to recover.

But lack in interest is not the reason, nor the world economic crisis, for closing the historical religious bookstore which has spanned 4 generations. The reason is clear and all too common in longtime family businesses; the children no longer want to keep it going. Librería Religiosa Hernández is attempting to sell or rent the shop but as the service and items sold is so specific, detailed, personalized, and studied, there's little realistic hope it can stay open as it is. It's not simply the sale of religious items, either. Certified artisans work for the shop, creating and painting dolls and portraits, among many others things.


I've walked past this shop several times as it is just off Madrid's Puerta del Sol, nearly across from the also-now-closed Teatro Albéniz on the Calle de la Paz, 4. When tourists stray from the Puerta del Sol to explore Madrid's quaint, narrow streets, they'd inevitably pass this old book store and pause to examine the window dressing of cherubs, baby Jesus dolls and statues, books, and crucifixes. But while this historic Madrid bookstore closes, others remain open and can be found throughout the city, but undoubtedly their numbers will dwindle with time.

If you have an opportunity to visit the Librería Religiosa Hernández, do so quickly, at least before May, to see what a 158 year old shop looks like.

Librería Hernández
Calle de la Paz, 4

Article (in Spanish):
Somos Centro: "Librería Hernández, otro comercio centenario que se va"

While extracted today, a (potentially) 174 year old lead box was discovered about a month ago from the pedestal of the statue of Miguel de Cervantes, author of the famed Don Quijote novel. The Cervantes statue, the first one in Madrid dedicated to an author, is located in Plaza de las Cortes, immediately in front of the Congreso de los Diputados building. This entire area is undergoing extensive construction to build a new underground parking garage. Part of the public works also encompass the plaza and statue.

The "Time Capsule", as it's being dubbed, could date back to 1835, the year the statue was erected - albeit originally erected 20 meters away in the same plaza. The box has not yet been opened but will probably be examined in the next week under controlled conditions at the Regional Archaeological Museum laboratory in Alcalá de Henares, where, coincidentally, is where Cervantes was born in 1547. Curiously, the lead box was the innermost of three; the outermost being of granite and then one of wood.

This, while minor in the scheme of world events, is absolutely intriguing to me and apparently to many others as well. Can't wait to read/see what was inside from so long ago. Everyone loves the thought of finding a treasure chest with unknown riches inside.

In fact, other "treasure chests" have been found in Madrid. During the year's long (and ongoing) construction & renovation of the Plaza de Isabel II (a.k.a. Plaza de Ópera), the statue of Queen Isabel II also contained a box of ancient artifacts including coins, documents of the time, and a copy of the act of the statue's placement among other objects.

So the mystery continues until they open "Cervantes' Secret" for the world to see. Is it a hoax? Is it newer than anyone expects? Is the box empty? Or maybe it contains the original manuscript of Don Quixote, written in the hand of Miguel de Cervantes himself!? (doubt this last one, but wouldn't that be cool!?)



Related Articles (in Spanish):
ABC.es: La <<Cápsula del Tiempo>> de Cervantes
Europa Press: Patrimonio extrae una 'cápsula del tiempo' de 1835 enterrado bajo la estatua de Cervantes

CONTENTS UPDATE: 18 December 2009

Today, the contents of the mysterious "lead box" time capsule was revealed to the public - as was its verified date of placement in the statue. It contained:

• 4 volumes of Miguel de Cervantes' "Don Quijote" from 1819
• a Royal statute of the King's court of 1834
  
• a book about Cervantes' life
• legislative texts
• manuscripts (of what, we don't know)
• portraits of important people of the era

Interestingly, the above documents were inside a thin, sealed glass box immediately inside the lead box. Finding nearly 200 year old volumes, original or not, of Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote is really something. Now we only have to wonder if the documents will be replaced into the statue - as in the case of the "Time Capsule" in the statue of Queen Isabell II in the Plaza de Opera - or be guarded in a museum for all to see. I'll bet the latter.

I have to admit that while an interesting a historical find, it's far from an archaeological find in my opinion. I don't know. I guess was hoping for something more, well, exciting.

Article links about the contents:
El País newspaper: Los secretos de la 'cápsula del tiempo'
El Mundo newspaper: Cuatro tomas del Quijote de 1819 y otros textos en la cápsula del tiempo

So that's that. Mystery solved.

"The American Store" in Madrid is great. They have absolutely everything - WHEN they have it, that is.

I took the 30-minute walk+metro+walk trip to the store next to the Hospital Clínico San Carlos today (metro Moncloa), all bubbly and confident that I was going to get my Thanksgiving Day supplies - ONLY to be PYSCHED!! I did call beforehand, sure, to see that they'd be open, but that's all.

Oddly and wonderfully enough, they don't close during the lunch hours so that's cool, I went just after lunch. No problem. But when I arrived, after taking a tour of the construction site of El Faro de Moncloa, I found they had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for Thanksgiving Day.

Last year I went there and stocked-up on all their goodies for Thanksgiving Day, no problem, but this year the clerk said they were sold out but expected a new shipment - LATER THIS WEEK. That's great, but.... Thanksgiving Day is... errr.. ummm.. THURSDAY!!

They had no pumpkin pie mix, no cranberry sauce, no stuffing, and not pancake mix or syrup, of which I was also super low at home. But nothing for Thanksgiving apart from a few graham cracker pie shells, turkey gravy mix, and the turkey baking bags - which I used last year to disastrous results.

So I guess I'll simply call before making the trip next time - AFTER Thanksgiving. What a shame. I'm hosting a bunch-o-Spaniards for Thanksgiving Day - the weekend AFTER Thanksgiving Day weekend and, as usual, I'll be the ONLY American in attendance - and I'll be doing ALL the cooking, too!

Happy Thanksgiving Day, Americans! If you're home with family, great. If you're abroad, just make the most of it and spend the day with people you love.

Today's Halloween, we've already changed our clocks back 1-hour, and the temperatures are getting a little cooler - but only a little. Some of the leaves have gone from green to brown, seemingly overnight, bypassing the oranges, reds, and yellows we would see in many parts of the USA.

NFL football is in full-swing although it's hard to notice from Madrid. I catch a game or two each week, whether live on Sunday afternoon or as tape-delayed on a weekday, but it's not the same. NCAA football games come and go an there's nary a whisper about them here. I actually had 2 tickets to today's Ohio State University football game against New Mexico State University in Ohio Stadium but sold them to a Columbus friend. I sell my one-game pair of tickets every year as I haven't been in Ohio to see an OSU football game since moving to Spain 4 years ago. I miss my Buckeyes.

By I do love autumn, more so in Ohio than here, but at least the temperatures are cooler since I don't like the heat. Saturdays, one would think, would be a day of rest - but not here. Saturdays are when I sleep only as late as normal (9am), work a little until nearly noon, then go to the market to buy food supplies for my Spanish lunch guests arriving at 2pm. This happens almost every Saturday. I enjoy the company, conversation, and even the cooking - but the lack of house space after the meal prevents a proper siesta, plus there are all those dishes to wash.

October is, by far, my favorite month of the entire year so I'm just a little melancholy to see it go. Growing up in the Midwestern state of Ohio, our autumns are always beautiful with a dozen different leaf colors - both on the trees and as they start to fall to the ground, scattering across the soon-to-be-raked front and back yards. Where I grew up - and where my parents still live - we have several large, mature maple trees surrounding our farm house. The smell of piles of fallen autumn leaves is something one never forgets. By this time of year the fields on two sides of the property have already been harvested of their soy bean or corn plants, providing a clean 100 acre view of field land and exposing the occasional passing deer scavenging for grains.

So autumn is over, although not by the calendar. We'll now turn quickly to winter and a short string of holidays. This is nice to look forward to too. I plan to cook a big Thanksgiving Day feast the weekend before the holiday for Spanish friends just as I did last year - but hope to have learned from that less-than-positive experience. That'll take a good deal of preparation as anyone knows.

Goodbye, October. You'll be missed. But my memories of apple orchards & cider, dressed up Trick-or-Treaters & candy corn, leaf-covered yards & leaf-stuffed scarecrows, and cool, crisp air stay with me.

Sunday nights in Madrid can be pretty relaxed. You know you have to get up early (or not) to work the next day but you still have some wonderful memories of a nice weekend fresh in your mind.

So how does one push forward past the midnight hour, making it officially a Monday morning? I guess it's not easy for many but, fortunately for me, it's never been hard. Sure, I have to go to the gym and catch up on emails and the usual administration stuff but I also have to prepare my 3rd quarter invoices for my accountant (he's Irish, thank goodness).

My mind swims with blog posting ideas, upcoming client contract renewals, and of course the shopping and other daily chores.

Friday afternoon I went to the Plaza de Oriente in Madrid to cheer on/support the 2016 Madrid Olympics Host City Bid, only to lose in the final stage to Rio de Janeiro. They deserved it, I think. The Madrileños were somewhat disappointed but they definitely weren't sulking. They seemed to simply say, "Oh well. That's the way it goes. Shall we go get a beer?" And that was that.

Saturday night I met some total strangers from the message board for drinks at the El Anciano Rey de los Vinos (across the street from the Almudena Cathedral) and from there we went to the Restaurante BelaLúa where we had 10pm reservations. We chose a table on their terraza and enjoyed some GREAT Rioja Reserva wine along with our meals. Some had grilled vegetables while others had the steak and potatoes. We started with some croquets and ham which was really good. After the great meal and the good conversation, we strolled over to the Chocolatería San Gines for some Chocalate con Churros. It was a good night and got back at 2:30am.

So Sunday nights are calm. I'm all alone, had leftover langostinos and Rueda white Spanish wine for dinner, watched NFL football live on Canal+ satellite TV, and now contemplating going to bed with a good book. Tomorrow's another day and it's a new week. Hope we have cool temperatures, too.

At about 10:30am this morning, Madrid's city symbol, "El Oso y el Madroño" (bear and the berry tree), was moved to a new location in Madrid's Puerta del Sol. Actually, it has returned to its ORIGINAL location where it stood from 1967 to 1984. Its re-placement returned it to the eastern end of the Puerta del Sol where the Calle de Alcalá meets Sol, just in front and to the left of the Tío Pepe sign.

Last Tuesday, I witnessed the removal of the bear statue (see my video below-the first one), designed by Antonio Navarro, where the Calle de Carmen meets Puerta del Sol; its 25 year home. People gathered for hours watching the detachment of the bear statue from its pedestal where so many millions of photos had had their photos taken. I had the perfect vantage point, relaxing at the edge of the terraza of the Hotel Europa with a coffee and slice of "tortilla de patata". It was this terraza and hotel whose sign had been in the background of so many photos of the Bear and the Berry Tree.



So why was the statue moved from one place to another in the Puerta del Sol? Officials claim the move would help alleviate foot traffic from where the pedestrian Calle del Carmen meets Sol. I guess this could be true, lots of people and street performers did gather there for photos, creating a bottleneck. But what better marketing symbol could anyone wish than to have Madrid's city symbol on your shop's street, bringing millions of people to this point which may otherwise not come? Surely the Hotel Europe's terraza (and maybe hotel) business will see some decline in overall income.

I understand why they chose to the new location, roughly 50 meters away and below the Tío Pepe sign as it was the original location of the Oso y el Madroño statue. Returning things to their original place is always historically correct. But apart from its shape, the Puerta del Sol is nothing like it was in 1967 when the Bear statue was originally inaugurated and they're not likely to return SOL to its original state. In 1984 the Puerta del Sol was a congested, busy, traffic filled plaza with several bus stops just in front of where the bear used to stand. Now, the finishing touches are being put on the nearly-totally pedestrian Puerta del Sol. This, I think, is a good thing. The Puerta del Sol has been a construction site for the past 5 years, since before I moved to Madrid, and everyone is tired of it. Imagine the millions of tourists whom made their once-in-a-lifetime trip to Madrid to find it in this state.

El Oso y el Madroño has always been a meeting point for Madrileños and for tourists but I imagine tourists always had more difficulty finding it in the busy plaza than did the natives. The statue itself is relatively small, possibly only 1.5-2 meters tall but standing on a pedestal of equal size. And, where it was at the Calle del Carmen, it was dwarfed by the tall buildings surrounding it. Now, at least, it's more out in the open.

My only qualms about its new location on the Puerta del Sol - where the Calle de Alcalá meets SOL - is that there is through-traffic between it and the building which holds-up the grand Tío Pepe sign. This can create problems for not the people having their photo taken below the statue but for the people actually taking the picture! Imagine backing up, backing up, and backing up more to get the best panoramic photo only to find a huge, honking bus "bearing" down on you as it makes the turn from the Calle de Alcalá to the Carrera de San Jerónimo. The perspective is still nice, however, with the Puerta del Sol in the background, having the Comunidad de Madrid building on the left, the sky in the middle, and, well, buildings to the right too. From the other side the perspective is not nearly as nice, with the Calle de Alcalá (and oncoming traffic) in the background.

Change, regardless of its form, is often accompanied by a certain degree of melancholy. I'll miss "El Oso y el Madroño" in its "original" (original to me, that is) position, the place where I've always known it since my first visit to Madrid in 1995. More changes are coming to Madrid's Puerta del Sol and I'll write about those in the days to come.

This statue was among the first things I saw upon visiting Madrid for the first time in 1995. Madrileños are so proud of their city and monuments its no wonder this bear statue was chosen as meeting point. "Meet me at 8:30 at the bear statue and we'll go on for drinks from there."

How many times have I had my photo taken at the famous bear statue in Madrid? COUNTLESS! Here's the latest - AND LAST - photo of me, taken just last June 2009.

I'll miss the bear in its old location at the mouth of the Calle del Carmen on Madrid's Puerta del Sol. It seemed to be so cozy there. But like everything, new first-time memories are created as time marches on and new photos of tourists in front of "El Oso" at its new location will flood the internet, further erasing our memories of how things used to be.


What do YOU think about the change in location of the Bear and the Berry tree?

Tomorrow - or today - is the last day of summer vacation in Spain and in many European countries. Today is the 31st of August and many Spaniards have been on holiday the entire month, facing not only return traffic but also the stressful first-day-back to work. Traffic is tough but returning to work after a one month break is quite another thing.

Personally, I don't know what all the fuss is about - but I realize I'm in the vast minority of those whom feel this way.

I'm tired of finding my neighborhood stores, bars, and restaurants closed. Sure, the owners and workers of those stores really do deserve a much-needed break but when you want that roasted chicken, churros from your favorite bar, fresh made potato chips from the Fabrica de Patatas Fritas, or need a new mattress and you find these places closed, well, all you can do is bite your lip and make do until 1 September 2009.

It's great to have less traffic and fewer pedestrians in Madrid and you find many of those bars and restaurants - which stayed open - nearly empty. THAT is nice. The terrazas still seem as full as ever, however. Apart from closed businesses, the number of public works projects, construction, and renovation of streets and sidewalks can be particularly bothersome for the driver or pedestrian.

These days on the internet, in chat rooms, on message boards, Facebook and Twitter, you see a lot of people complaining about having to start working again. It's always hard to "reincorporate yourself" after a long period of time. I get that. But Madrid isn't Madrid without a lot of people, lots of movida and activity, and everything open!

So for me, I'm HAPPY all my friends are home again. I missed them! I'm also happy to have my Madrid back. Maybe I'll change my tune when I'm waiting in long lines at the cinema or dodging cars at the crosswalk.

54 year old American Robert Todd W. attempted to smuggle more than 4 Kilos of cocaine through Madrid Barajas Airport today but was detained by police. The American arrived at Barajas from a flight originating from Sao Paolo, Brazil. Apparently he had several packs of cocaine wrapped under his belt as well as attached to his legs and thighs under several layers of woman's girdles.

The economic crisis will make smart people do stupid things - or maybe they are simply stupid. Who knows, maybe this guy had lost much of his retirement savings in the last year, lost his job and had a mortgage to pay, was a drug addict himself, or was simply tricked into thinking it would be easy to get past those dope-sniffing dogs at a major airport like Barajas. I suppose a percentage of drugs do get through security, possibly a high enough percentage to urge drug dealers to continue. But what do they care? It's not (usually) the drug dealers who get caught wearing woman's girdles and forced to a full-body (and cavity) strip search by overzealous, latex-glove wearing sadist.

I'm not forgiving stupidity, that's for sure, but really. These guys should know better. I could almost understand if they were young, late teens, or even 20-somethings. But past that, well, come on.

There's a very interesting program on the National Geographic Channel that I love to catch called "Locked Up Abroad". It's all about this topic - and one episode was just about this. Two 20-something American girls were offered a free trip to exotic Latin America. There, they were promised a week near the beach, fun, dancing, and would later be contacted by the drug dealers. Well, the house was actually in the jungle somewhere, cut off from everyone. They were basically held prisoner, had no car, no phone, and were left alone the entire week until their contacts arrived. The dealers/kidnappers forced the girls to put on two sets of girdles into which they stuffed full of drugs, causing them to walk funny. To make a long story short, the girls were about to board a plane to Bangladesh (or somewhere) when they were indeed caught and sent to a local prison for a number of years, barely surviving some very raw conditions in the overcrowded prison, everyone sleeping on the floor, nothing but rice to eat, and on and on. I don't usually care for re-enactment-type programs but this one is very well done and you almost believe you're watching a television movie-of-the-week. Throughout the re-enactment the actual (and naive) smuggler recounts his/her emotional experiences.

Anyway, very little of this Madrid blog posting has anything to do with Madrid, Spain but the boldness of this presumably mature American man caught my attention. I don't think the prisons in Madrid are particularly known for their roughness. It's my impression that their conditions are much better & safer than at most American prisons, in fact. And food HAS to be better. Who couldn't eat tortilla de patata everyday? Okay, maybe not EVERY day.

July 20 passed without fanfare - and without evening noticing it, in fact. Had this been a wedding anniversary I'd missed I'd be in the doghouse but thank goodness it was nothing so monumental. This happens to me every year, in fact, with the exception of this date in 2007 when MadridMan.com - the date of the domain name registration - turned 10 years old.

I'd had grand thoughts of organizing a huge affair at one of the larger downtown Madrid bars, reserving the whole room for the private gathering - by invitation only, and throwing a party worthy of newspaper, radio, and even television mention. I'd even looked into sending out news releases, contacting news agencies, etcetera, etcetera. But.... it didn't happen. None of it. Instead, nothing was planned because it was summer and no one was around anyway, I was lazy, and I thought better of blowing my own horn for the sake of self-promotion. Doesn't a business need promotion? Isn't mine a business?? Well.... yes and no.

I'd started "MadridMan's Yankee Home Page" - what it was called for the first ten years - on a free Geocities site in 1996, shortly after the invention of the graphical interface of the internet. At that time there was only my website and another one or two about Madrid in English so I enjoyed some incredible success since mine was one of the few.

Now, 13 years later, there are a couple dozen personal websites online about Madrid in English and a couple thousand more corporate websites about Madrid in English. Needless to say, now there's a lot more competition and the piece of our pie gets smaller every year.

There's a certain value applied to those who came first, those who stuck it out and rode through the storms. Only those who really enjoyed managing the websites and those making money survived. Fortunately, MadridMan.com have both things going for it.

Back in 2001 my Dad casually told me from across the living room, "Why don't you contact a few language schools or hotels to see if they'd like to advertise on your website." My response was quick and just a little bit rude, "Dad, no one in their right mind would want to advertising on my tiny, personally, horribly designed website." To that, his reply was, "Well, it certainly doesn't hurt to try and you have nothing to lose." I promised him I would - and I did. The next week I sent out 5 emails to language academies in Madrid. 2 didn't reply. But 3 did, all three saying they DID want to advertise on my website. I as shocked and truly amazed. And that's how MadridMan.com began making some money. Shortly after that, clients started writing to ME, asking how THEY TOO could advertise and I never had to solicit clients ever again, they all contacted me since then.

Now, in 2009, MadridMan.com and "Martin Media, S.L." - a registered company here in Spain - does pretty well for itself, although less-so in these times of economic crisis and increased competition. But I can pay my own salary and the monthly bills without problem.

Will I be able to do all this, managing MadridMan.com, BarcelonaMan.com, and all the other websites on my own for the rest of my working life? Who knows. I imagine someday contracting someone to assist me in the administrative or design part of the work but probably not both. I do love what I do although it can be overwhelming at times, lots of goals, lots of dreams & plans with no spare time to develop them, lots of emails back and forth with clients; both potential and long-standing.

But I cannot imagine giving up this "job". Few people get to work at home. Mine is one of those jobs I'd happily do in my spare time if I had a "normal job", something I'd like to do until the day I die to keep busy - assuming I can keep up with technology and internet trends. Who knows what's in store for "MadridMan". At least I've made a name (brand) for myself in this industry and that really does mean a lot.

Last night I went along with a good Spanish friend to meet a group of her friends - all Spanish too. We met at 9:30pm and went to the La Latina neighborhood in Madrid, an area very well known for its bars and active nightlife. This being August, I imagine there were fewer people in the streets - or maybe it was just too early to see them.

We went to a Basque bar, one of the typical long, narrow bars in Old Madrid, where the bar's on one side and a space of maybe 1 meter separates it from the far wall. It's in this 1 meter space where everyone stands. If you have to go to the bathroom in the back you literally have to swim through the beer-glass-holding mass, trying to make your presence known without spilling their drinks.

Upon arrival I did pretty well as the bar was still only about half-full and the music wasn't yet too loud. I did okay understanding people's Spanish in our little circle of maybe  7 or 8 people. But as the minutes ticked by the bar became fuller, the music got louder, and I could understand less and less of the conversation. I could barely understand the person standing right next to me when she turned her head towards me.

Instead of sticking my ear in front of each face as they spoke, I stood back in my space in the circle and just nodded and smiled politely, watching people's expressions, smiles, and laughs, but the Spanish words coming from their mouths got washed out in the environment. I was lost.

Time went on and I discretely looked at my watch, knowing my last bus home left at 11:30pm and was about 15-20 minutes walk away from this bar. And since the metro stations near my house are closed for renovation, I would've had to get a taxi and pay the 10-12 Euros price.

Fortunately for me, by 10:30pm we went into the back part of the bar where there was more space and a little quieter and I could finally understand just a little more of the conversation. Really, I felt like a fish out of water. Surely the Spaniards were wondering why I wasn't talking, maybe they just assumed I didn't speak Spanish and took pity on me by not asking me any questions. My Spanish friend turned to me from time to time to ask me if I understood what was just said but, as the honest person I am, could only say that no, I couldn't hear anything.

By 11:00pm a friend of the group, a guy from New York State arrived and I could finally speak with someone in a language I could understand. He was nice enough but since I had to leave in 15 minutes I didn't get to know him very well. At 11:15pm I said my goodbyes and the growing group of Spaniards wished me well and they were pleased to meet me, etcetera. Some gave me looks like, "You're going already? It's EARLY!" but I explained I needed to catch my last bus.

It was a small shame I did leave so early because just 10 minutes before 7 additions to the group arrived, 3 or 4 of which were very attractive, young Spanish women. Oh well. It doesn't matter. I wouldn't have been able to talk to them any better than I could with the rest of the group. Sure, they would've understood me and my Spanish, but I never would've heard them and it gets annoying to constantly asking for a repeat of what was just said - a repeat directly in my ear.

Speaking in a like language, in your language in these noisy situations is easy, or easier. Try to do so in a language which is not your own, trying to hear EVERY word so that you can string together a sentence and get some meaning from the statement, is very very difficult to do. If only we could've been seated outside at a terrace bar I'm sure it would've been quieter and, at the very least, I could've spoken to the person directly to my left or right and I could've, probably, heard and understood them.

Is Spanish NOT your first language and do you have the same trouble understanding people in noisy situations?