by Katie Lightfoot, University of Oregon

The hospitable Oviedo is a city full of wisdom and advice for and about everyone the Spanish family, daily health, politics, and the stranger walking down the street.   It starts with the slow home cooked Asturian cuisine; food plays a strong role in day to day life. Oviedo thrives in its fabada bean stew, seasoned with three kinds of sausages and ham, fresh bread, olive oil, lettuce tomato onion salad, soups, and arroz con leche. The day is planned around eating, the grandmother cooking in the kitchen all morning, the apartments smelling of chorizo, fish, and soup, every store closes up shop, and the children are released from school for a two or three hour lunch break around two o’clock in the afternoon for “la comida” as a family.

Oviedo has an unspoken respect for the elderly, who pass on the importance of friendship through their example. From the close knit family to the unbreakable bonds between friends, there is a mentality of how can I create more time for the people in my life, rather than how many things I can fit into one day. It was a hard adjustment for me to not always be going  from one place to the next, and instead just sitting in a café for two hours talking, enjoying café con leche in the sun, and being waited on rather than being pushed out the door. From the daily afternoon slow pace paseo walks to the talkative merienda afternoon snacks with a café con leche and sweet almond flavored treats, to the twenty minute chats in passing on the sidewalk, the people– the city– Oviedo comprehends the time it takes to create and maintain a solid friendship. In return, the health of the community grows as social capital grows; creating less stress, more support, and a decrease in depression among the people.

On top of these social health benefits is the fact that people walk from place to place, increasing their social network, while receiving the daily exercise that their body needs. I often wondered why there are a dozen shoe shops in every neighborhood throughout the city and almost one on every corner. How do they all stay in business? Until I realized, they are not for the newest trends, but because the shoes get daily wear walking to work, buying groceries, and walking the daily paseo with friends. Instead of needing gasoline, oil changes, and new tires, the people of Oviedo need to invest in comfortable, well made shoes for the health of their feet! As they walk in a slow steady pace with no rush displaying the time for others, looking in the windows of the different stores on the corner, and stopping to talk with people they know. The means of transportation is their own two feet, whether they are off to the grocery store, doctor’s office, beauty parlor, work, school, or cafés.