Today on gym TV Spain made headlines again this time for the armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization ETA. They announced another ceasefire to a rather unresponsive Spain and for good reason. ETA has declared want of peaceful democratic negotiations before in 2006 only to set off a car bomb in Madrid later on that year. In a sense it's a peace talk with a guy holding a detonator in one hand and a multiple choice card in the other; get the question wrong and he presses the buzzer.
Which brings me to mushrooms. Basque country along with Catalonia, Castile and Leon are versed in the activity of mushroom picking. Sounds dull but apparently it can get nasty. There is fierce competition out there with many making legendary status. A mushroom hunter is called a boletaire and they are very territorial. There is little to no chance of them spilling the beans on where they acquire their stash. The only way to find out is to win your way into the heart of the boletaire by marriage or to be sneaky and eavesdrop on a private conversation. Be aware though as many take on a encautos (outsider) for kicks. They'll take them along for a hunt and get them lost or otherwise alarm them with claims of a wolf tracking them. In any case it's a long tradition in which many men undertake as a good excuse to be away from their wives for a great period of time. Also on my search for mushroom hunting in Spain I came across these guys.
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