Txikisode 2

Bat, bi, Hiru, lau Watch your back, watch your back Ertzaintza's gonna get you Watch your back, watch your back Ertzaintza's gonna get you Watch your back, watch your back Oh, there's a crime here It's a coming from the Euskal Herria Gotta wash those red hands It's the crimes of the Basquelands It's the crimes of the Basquelands 3-day week, awesome We had a holiday The rest of us It's true, I didn't count how many I think I must have worked like 2 days this week So, winning

Very nice, yes it is winning You get those time off Welcome everybody to crimes of the Basquelands Yes, welcome, welcome Ongi et ori Ongi et ori, that's welcome in Basque, exactly Today we're drinking a cider And I'm just checking the name Uxarte, that's U-X-A-R-T-E And it's a nice Bizkaian Bizkaian txakoli, which means, you know Well, txakoli, not txakoli, sorry Sidra It just comes naturally, doesn't it Yes, Bizkaian cider

And the cider is basically one of the traditional drinks of the Basque Country actually It's more traditional, let's say, than wine Yeah, more apples than grapes Yeah, the thing is the grapes grow better, right, towards like lower lands Like the flat lands, like Rioja There's a part of Rioja that is inside the Basque Country And then traditionally, when you get into the mountains instead of the grapes You'd use the apples to make cider And it's a long, long tradition in Basque Country

Probably brought in by the Celtic peoples Who emigrated into the Iberian peninsula But they have taken it and ran with it, haven't they?

It's a big thing here It's huge There's a whole season Yeah, cider season It's lovely and it's a typical thing we do here We go to cider houses with big groups of people And then there's a set number of food like bakalao Bakalao and omelette Which is a dried cod omelette And a few other, lots of meat as well Fried peppers, big old steak Yeah, it's a set menu, sort of a set menu in a way It is a set menu You're also allowed to take your own food You have chorizo in cider Cooked in cider

What else do they give you?

Oh, the cheese with nuts, with walnuts As your dessert And the membrillo, the quince fruit Quince jelly And it's kind of a set menu Basque people like predictability And they like tradition Yeah, so that tradition is very fixed these days It's a great day out It really is, it's a lot of fun It's a lot of fun Exactly But you know, it's been a big part of Basque culture Even fishing for, oops, something fell It's all good It's fine Like even going, the Basques are quite well known

Historically for being one of the first Europeans To arrive to North America as well When they were hunting whales and cods And even in those times they would always take the cider Which was great Hmm, probably keeps for a long time It does, but what's more important?

It has vitamin C Ah, yes Very important, scurvy Yeah Gotta prevent that scurvy Yeah, they didn't really know that, but it works It works, yeah They had no idea what good they were doing for themselves Yeah, better than the gin that the British were taking everywhere Idiots, no, kidding Eventually they I don't want to offend any of you Brits out there Eventually they hit They hit gin on the high seas They hit on the lime and the tonic, so It's a good history, I think Yeah Okay, cool All right

So you're gonna start Yeah, so this is a mini episode today We're gonna be just telling some stories from the news Here in the Basque country or elsewhere Mm-hmm So let's see, what do we have? Okay, so we have three people arrested In, oh gosh, Bortsirak Bortsirak Bortsirak, no?

Bortsirak Okay, so three people were arrested for growing 94 marijuana plants 94, okay, three people arrested, yes We are allowed to have three plants or two plants each I don't know It's either two or three, I think So they're clearly over the limits Yes Yeah, between three, we know that math, right?

That math we can do, that 94 is more than those three people are allowed It's more, yeah Yeah So let's see, so they arrested three people They were 24, 29, and 41 Okay In Bortsirak region And they were on a routine patrol to prevent crimes against property A citizen security patrol perceived a strong smell of marijuana near an abandoned farmhouse That's how they were clued in And despite the abundant undergrowth that made the access to the property difficult

The agents found 94 large marijuana plants Hoses, plastic bottles, fertilizer containers, okay? They found all the stuff needed to grow marijuana, right? Yeah And they also noted that this plot of land had been cleared of weeds and prepared for like cultivation So it was outside Yeah, yeah, it was outside of this abandoned farmhouse Mm-hmm So they found it, right?

And then in order to, you know, kind of catch the people in the act They just started a surveillance of the place, but through drones Wow Yeah, so they had a drone flying over the property for a while Which captured like images of them Oh, wow You know, working on the farm Mm-hmm And yeah, and so they had their evidence And when the three of them left the place one day, they intercepted their vehicle

And they were, they had found in their trunk six bottles of water used to irrigate the plantation So basically all they found on them when they detained them was Water Water I mean, I'm supposing But they did have the photographic evidence The drones, yeah Of them working, harvesting, you know, farming Okay, well, it's kind of surprising Yeah There's a clear It's surprising why There's a clear oversupply of marijuana right now Is there?

Mm-hmm I didn't know that And then outside A clear oversupply There's a very clear oversupply, yeah So there's lots of abandoned farmhouses Yeah, like the thing is like here it's legal to buy marijuana at an association Mm-hmm And of course, I don't know if it's of course But I know as a matter of fact that if you grow it outside It's lower quality than indoor grown Mm-hmm So the normal kind, like the species that we usually smoke here is Critebilbo So Critico Critebilbo

Critico Bilbao is the full name of the marijuana And it usually goes for like five euros a gram And it's down, it's under three right now Ah, and that's why you know That's an inside plant, it's not even an outside plant So it'll be even cheaper It must be real cheap, yeah So you know, it's clearly a plantation for more than your own consumption though, so Yeah Hey Yep, drones Not a good investment Drones But the thing about the drone is like aren't they kind of noisy?

They're pretty noisy Can't you hear, yeah, how did they not notice a drone flying ahead?

I mean some people like to work listening to music Yeah, I was thinking that too Maybe they were listening to music or podcasts Yeah, they might be listening to our podcast, how ironic Well, yeah, at the beginning when you said there was an abandoned house, farmhouse I was like, oh, maybe it's inside, yeah, maybe it had electricity Maybe it would make sense But then being outside, it's like, well Yeah I wonder Not the best businessman, I would say, unfortunately

Well, they were young except for that 41-year-old that was hanging out with 20-some-year-olds Didn't know better But then again, it might not have been, we don't know the species It could have been one of those really expensive kind of Californian varieties That fetch 12 euros per gram Yeah, I didn't see anything about them having like a greenhouse I could see that being more But if it's a good quality genetics, as we would say, you know It would produce way better products

So I'm just going baseline, outside is not a good idea And in general, the market's not really looking for a lot So it is a current story, right? Yeah, this was... Oh, shit, when was that? Oh, it was on the 8th of October Because, yeah, so technically you're supposed to plant your plants within the association So these associations usually are in Alonja, which are the places that are kind of Like commercial space, but...

Exactly, at the bottom of a building you usually have the commercial space And so they're usually big enough that you can have indoor plants But even so, you know, the market isn't very controlled So, you know, people buy from outside as well So these people can easily sell two associations I mean, it can get caught, but that's the only risk But then again, even Amsterdam, you know, they're not either allowed to buy plants in Amsterdam So the buying process for the associations is always illegal

So we have that in common Gotcha But anyway, here at least we're allowed to grow them in sites, especially with associations It wouldn't be a problem to have 90 plants in an association as long as you have a big number The clientele To smoke it, yeah That fits the... yeah And of course, I'm part of an association, which is why I know some of those things Wow, look at you I mean, I partake in smoking Maria Same As I'm sure you know Come on, it's not a crime anymore

People need to get with it, it's not a crime Exactly Okay, all right That's a good story Well, thanks My one now? Yeah We're going for me What's here? What you got?

So my story is about a young man They call him an adolescent, but he's 19 Whose surnames are Orozco Jimenez And Orozco is a village just south of here It's one of the last villages in Vizcaya If you just go south just before Alava Oh, Orozco Yeah There was a crime in Orozco There was Yeah, that's going to be an episode someday That sounds fun Yeah, well, it wasn't fun, but... Oh, no They never are No But I was like, why does that sound familiar?

Oh, yes, I've been researching that It's quite a common name I think there's a couple of streets At least this one street with Orozco and Bilbao, right? Oh, maybe, I don't know It just seems very familiar And the story comes from Managua, Nicaragua, Central America And unfortunately, the young man was mining in an illegal mine In an informal mine Oh And he went down into the mine at 10 a.m.

And started feeling a little bit dizzy He came out, had a breather And then he went back in half an hour later and never came back And his friends went in to get him He had... Friends or coworkers?

Co-workers, yeah They found him on the floor, kind of unconscious And unfortunately, when they managed to get him to the hospital He had already passed away And they concluded it was CO2 poisoning Yeah, that's what I was thinking, like a gas From a mine, yeah, no canaries No I mean, I don't know what the...

Clearly the crime here is health and safety Yeah I mean, a minimum of health and safety is necessary for a ton of things Yeah, you'd think they'd have like detectors Because you can get pretty basic equipment Yeah, I mean, you know, the famous old canary I mean, any... Or a bird Any bird, yeah Would work, right? I suppose Poor bird Little birds I just hope the bird do that I know, but what I mean is... There's machine... There are two, you know There's equipment now It can be a nice...

That you can read a meter and it says you've got a too high level of, you know But how much money do they have in Nicaragua to spend on health and safety? I feel like people buy these for their houses and they're not that expensive True, like I have a CO2 meter, but... See? It was like 120 euros For a mining company? That's nothing It's not company, it's informal It's just people going underground What were they mining?

I didn't mention actually I guess if we look at what they generally get in the area, we can find that out Oh Do you want me to? So was it like a group of friends or was he working for a company? Do you know anything like that?

That's the only news is that, you know, it was just a health and safety piece of story I mean, I just assumed it was a situation very similar to what happens in the Congo where lots of rare earths are mined and it's completely informal, as they would put it, you know It's just people that are told what we're looking for and they learn how to look for it but it's pretty rogue and sort of haphazards and the way they describe these two other coworkers of his, you know

they're just other young kids, you know Yeah Typically gold and silver Okay, thank you Gold and silver That's easy to identify Is that ring bells?

No, only because in the Americas that's what they were, you know, I think back to history It's a typical thing They went and got all the gold out of Central South America or the Americas That's a story That's a big crime Brought it back to the crown All those churches covered in gold and silver That's definitely a thing Yeah Wow, that's too bad As you can see, I mean, actually there's an interesting historical aspect which I think we're probably going to come across quite a few times

which is actually Basque people were extremely viable in the beginning of colonization of the Americas because they were already mining here in the Basque Country and so they were experts in that field of mining So they were always generally chosen to lead those efforts to organize the mining to You know, clearly this guy unlearned his health and safety traditions Well, isn't it like odorless? It's hard to know

Oh, for sure. Yeah, but you know People are dying their houses all the time of that Yeah Yeah, like elite And they just die overnight sleeping I'm amazed at how much CO2 one person can create in one room, you know Is that why you have a meter to see how much you're producing?

I got it because I've been smoking inside the house and I was curious how bad it got inside the house I do open the window sometimes, but not, you know, it wasn't automatic or constant After I've gotten a meter, I've realized how bad it is I mean the CO2 doesn't get so bad But just seeing the CO2, how bad it gets, how fast Like within three hours, it'll go like the normal base is like 380, I guess It's the normal sort of in town parts of CO2 per whatever they count

And then the worst I've gotten like when two friends of mine came to visit It was Zach and his girlfriends Us three, because it was a cold night So we closed the windows and us three got to 1200 With three people overnight Immediately in the morning we opened it But anything over 800, it's like, it's bad So I was quite surprised when it got to 1200 or 300 It was like a thousand over It's like four times the concentration than normal So where did it come from in this mine?

That's the thing, I mean I know CO2 poisoning is a thing But I don't know if it's just randomly in the earth I suppose there's just CO2 in earth, you know Oh, I guess like, because also if it's related to gas, right? Like then there are gas deposits So that's what I was thinking Shale mining, but like would you count that gas as CO2 poisoning?

That's what they called it, but I could be wrong Yeah, I'm gonna assume that's what it is I'm sorry, we're clearly not experts No Well, Douglas sounds like a better expert than I am Just from what people release regularly That's the CO2 you're counting I'm counting that We excel on a regular basis And I imagine this counter is gonna count carbon monoxide as well Oh, maybe that's what I'm thinking, carbon monoxide That sounds more appropriate when I'm thinking of the meters for that

That's what the car does, right? When a car burns fuel, you die from more carbon monoxide I think, I think I remember reading at some point Our listeners were correct Yeah, they're gonna come at us I mean, it was a nice exploration of the history of the Basque Country in mining It's a very ugly history But it's clearly... Yes, mining always is, isn't it? But it still has, you know, clear, you know, the guy not only is...

Regardless, yes, he died in a mine Yeah, his surname is Basque What was his surname? Orozco Oh yeah, Orozco And he's still, you know, his family probably never stopped mining Hmm, yes, he comes from a long line of miners Hmm, and well, that was that story, yes You can build a whole backstory for him and his family I mean, it's a bit of a guess Maybe half the country is Basque surnames and we're just taking...

And half the country are ex-miners or of miners I'm not sure, I mean, Nicaragua is not known for a lot of gold or... I don't know Maybe it just gets... Back in the day, maybe Maybe it's just not taxed Who knows? Well, our feelings grow out to his family Well, this is not about Nicaragua as a podcast, so...

And even if it were I mean, it's about the consequences of Basque people around the world as well And clearly, that was not the best of consequences But hey, you know, maybe rest in peace Good, yeah, exactly, poor guy So you have a story for us now? Yeah, this one... This was the biggest story I think from this month Mm-hmm So I'm going to try to find...

Because I have a lot of information on it, but I'm going to try to summarize it Okay Well, basically, a woman went into Bursurto Hospital Bursurto, yeah Mm-hmm, which is here in Bilbao I think it was about the 19th of October She went in dressed as a worker there, like in white scrubs Mm-hmm So, you know, impersonating a worker Impersonating someone that worked there, yeah And went into a room where a couple had just had a baby Okay

And told the mother that they had to do some tests on the baby and kidnapped the baby Oh my gosh Yeah So they, you know, of course, everything went... You know, alarms went off very shortly after Good Like maybe another nurse came in and the woman... Yeah The mother said, oh, I thought you just took the baby for tests And I'm like, what are you talking about? Mm-hmm So she, yeah, took the baby and... And then it was until it was like...

That was at night Okay It happened at night I think it was about 11... Oh, it was 11 o'clock at night Mm-hmm They had like a CCTV cameras caught her Yeah So they were looking for her, looking for, you know, asking everybody to keep an eye out for someone who looks like this Or come to, you know, report to the police And this is how they describe her

6... 1.6 meters tall with an obese body Complexion Complexion is how they put it But complexion in English is your skin, not your body type I guess, yeah Sorry, sorry Obese Long curly hair tied up in a bun So that's how they described her Okay And it also said that...

Then, okay, so the following morning, like 8 o'clock in the morning Somebody in Santuchu opened their door to their house, their apartment door Mm-hmm And there was the baby laying on their, like, welcome mat Oh my gosh Yeah Like, fine, yeah Which is just...

It's perfectly fine Greater Bilbao, just in the north Yeah So the woman apparently dropped it, like, knew she was gonna get caught or whatever And just put the baby on someone's doorstep, basically Okay I'm getting mixed up, Santuchu's just downtown Yeah, it's not that far I mix up with Santulci, that's why Yeah, yeah Sorry I used to confuse those, too So then they were still looking for her because the baby appeared, but not her What a horrible night for the parents I know

I'm glad they figured out the child by the morning Okay, that's something I heard something about a baby I'd never heard all those details That's a horrible story Yeah And so eventually they did arrest her They figured out who she was I'm trying to find the article that I had I have a lot of them here Oh yeah, could you post them?

She was a 24-year-old girl She was arrested on Thursday, so that must have been... I don't know Some days later Must have been a few days later, yeah Mm-hmm Yep, so she was arrested She was located in the company of a friend at about 10.45 a.m.

They were in Asoka Square in the Sorosa neighborhood, Sorosa Okay, yeah, that's north of the city of Bobao Yeah, so they found her They went to search her house They found baby stuff at her house, like a high chair and a stroller Okay So as if she was expecting a baby And also that according to her neighbors and her partner She had been saying she was pregnant Oh, wow, so it seems like some kind of psychological issue Well, yes, or maybe she miscarried and didn't want to admit she didn't...

She wanted to produce a baby I've heard of stories like this, like all the true crime I've read There have been several stories like this and some worse than others You know, like murder and... For sure So yeah, it's not surprising that somebody was faking a pregnancy I mean, it is surprising, it's obviously troubling I mean, it's not the first time I've heard of that either Yeah, so apparently that's what was happening So she was desperate to find a baby She's kind of young though, right? 26?

Yeah, 24 24, wow Yeah Like, I wonder And now she's been released on provisional release So...

Wow Awaiting her trial or whatever is gonna happen That's intense, I mean Yeah, so that was the other... that was the big story in the last few days Wow, so that was this week as well, yeah Yeah, it was like not this week but the last week So it says here, there was another thing, two similar cases a decade ago 2014, 2012 In the Osaki Vecchia Hospital Network So Osaki Vecchia is the... VASC health system Yeah The first kidnapping took place a decade ago at the D'Nostia Hospital

A woman with psychiatric problems took a baby while her parents were sleeping The parents of the baby, I'm assuming The little boy was found a few hours later in perfect health Good to hear The one who took her was...

Got a taxi, and it was the taxi driver who notified the police Right And then another woman in 2014, dressed as a health worker, attempted a similar adoption at the same hospital In this case, a nursing assistant realized that she was not a worker Wow So took the child from her Nice, good job nurse I'm glad all the babies are safe in those stories Yeah That's the most important thing And the mothers, because I've heard terrible stories about a mother

I mean that mother, this week's episode, she would have had a terrible first night That's a good story though Yeah For mine to tell you, guess what? Your first night you were kidnapped Yeah, I know, right? That's your history They keep it from you until you're older to understand I mean, yeah You guys have been told that Two years old, it doesn't make sense What? Mother? That explains so much As if, as if I should have been in therapy from day one Hilarious

Do you have many memories as a very small child? I have barely any No, but I feel like, I mean, I've heard that those things affect you as a child You like, even though you don't like, remember them exactly They still imprint something on you These experiences of being away from I know, like Your mother and In the first hours, it's quite And with somebody who's like agitated, obviously, because they just kidnapped you

And they're freaked out, you know, so like it's a very strange first bonding experience with somebody Yeah, yeah I mean, that you should And then being left on a doorstep They were in a room before with the mother, so it was a little bit initial bonding, but yeah Right, and then to immediately have that go away Whole night without, yeah, that's pretty random But I mean, you know, people, the babies are taken away To get generally, yeah Yeah, or put in an incubator So

But I feel like they say that kind of imprints on you too, like if you were kept in an incubator for the first few months or something For sure, because yeah, you barely any human contact That sounds very difficult on any child, but yeah, in my case, I remember very little before I'm seven In my case Oh, me too Me too So they could, you know Excuse me My mom actually, she always tells She was always very irritated with the United States And why not, right? The whole planet is But What?

Her, I mean, you know, for different political reasons or whatever But in her case, it turns out, like when I was an adolescent She was like, yeah, like when you're a baby Like they were like opening your nappies and checking if you didn't have drugs inside And I was all like Oh, going into the States Yeah, because we So I was a baby And then mom, I was born in Latin America Classic drug trafficking Yeah, my mom went to visit Scotland, her parents

And then so obviously the flight would be coming back through United States somehow Probably LA because mom would probably have stayed with My her her aunt and an uncle And so, yeah And then search by customs as a baby Yeah, and she felt very mistreated And then I remembered in the same trip She took me out on a walk That's a no no What? Yeah, the police stopped her because they were like It's LA You gotta be in a car They put her in a car and took her back to my uncle and aunt's place What?

Yeah, they were like, you don't walk here What?

My mom's like That sounds far fetched I'm European I mean, I guess if she was on the road That would be dangerous because there's no sidewalks Because I can see that there's probably no sidewalks in long places So you can't really be walking in the street It's a thing That's where the cars go I've heard of many stories of Europeans walking And the American police just going, no, you're not allowed to walk here I know it's not a total rule in LA Because my other friend Inigo, you know Inigo

He was working there for some months And he was walking everywhere Through all the neighborhoods you're not supposed to But he'd walk from the sea for like four hours into downtown And I'm like, that doesn't sound like a nice walk He's like, it wasn't It was just a long walk, yeah, like a very busy roadway the whole time He probably took the same amount of time as a driver But you know Probably LA for you There you go, baby stories Well, there you go, I didn't know that

That's something I've learned about you today That you had customs going through your diapers And I couldn't go for a walk without a car I mean, a bit of a contradiction, but That's that's ma'am, we're going to need you to park or something Yeah, yeah, yeah, in a car Get there by car, please But yeah, not part of my memories, but part of my history Yeah No kidnappings as far as I know Same I haven't been told anything yet I think they would have told me by now

I mean, maybe they're asking you to ask or waiting for you to ask Should I ask the next time I talk to my mom? Mom, have I ever been kidnapped? Mom, have I been kidnapped? Yes or no? It would be hilarious if she goes Well, one time Was that you or was that your sister?

Yeah Well, we lost you for a few hours Somebody brought you back though You were fine It was the 80s Yeah, it was So I would be talking about about 1981 When these two things happened Yeah If we think about those around about there My sister was born in 82, so she wasn't there yet So it would have been a difference She would not have gone out walking with two children She wouldn't need a car for that She would be in the road basically

I mean, I can see the cops stopping her if she was in the road You're defending American cops way too much I'm not defending the cops, I'm defending the fact that there's probably no sidewalks Because nobody walks Or you're walking on private property Yeah So that was probably what the cops' issue was Either they were in the road or they were on private property Well, actually Lawns or something I didn't think we'd get to this point of the story But we've circled back to the Basque Country

Oh, how did we do that? Because my uncle and aunt The latest place I know they've been living in I don't know if it's where they lived then But they lived in Thousand Oaks Well, my uncle still lives there Familiar with that And Thousand Oaks is still well known As originally being a Basque herders region Oh really?

In the North of LA and the mountains, yeah And even when I visited there last My uncle was reminding me of that So it's still a well-known fact around there Of course it's been filled with people now But historically Full of shopping malls and strip malls And suburbs Fast food joints And maybe a farmers' market I don't know how affluent it is Is it pretty affluent?

Oh, then there's a farmers' market For sure, for sure Short drives to some gorgeous beaches That was a good memory No, actually on the West Coast it's not so privatized Like on the East Coast Even though they're not allowed to The residents along the coast are making the coastline private And non-residents aren't allowed to go there And people go out and harass people That try to just go to the beach for the day I think that's just outrageous Yeah, I've read about that

Like what? This is public land Even in California I've read about that happening I can see it like in Malibu Like the really, really affluent places Yeah, I remember reading some story And there was this Santa Barbara Let's say crazy woman Karen, some Karen Perfect term I shouldn't use it as my mom's called Karen Oh, is she?

It's unfortunate for nice Karen's out there It's very unfortunate So this Karen was putting up some signs All over the place saying like There's like dangerous sharks in the water To get people not to go in the water Or go to the beach She was like But then of course the surfers knew better For one, there are sharks everywhere So it's not going to work So I remember that story And they were talking how a number of beaches Had in practice become sort of inaccessible

Just harass people so they'll leave And I don't know if it was Where are you? Where's your ID? Do you live here? What are you doing here? What reason do you have to be here? And people are like Why did you just come to the beach? We need to know our rights But who are you?

That's Karen But the only time that my friends took me to the beach there It seemed like it was next to like a nature reserve Because there was some nice mountains around There was no houses And we just drove to this lovely beach Lovely sunsets Good memories, good memories I mean there's a lot of them along the California coast So it would be anywhere Beautiful

Big Sur maybe? I don't know If it was a famous one I don't know If you look at Thousand Oaks on a map And go west That's pretty much where we went To the west is the beach Is the beach You'll head to the beach That's more or less where I was Good memories, good memories Nice My turn for a story now Why don't we take a break and then more We're doing it We're doing it Okey dokey Okay Alright And we're back Yeah So the next story is downtown from this week I had not heard about this Me neither

When you pointed it out No it was Megan Yeah Thank you Megan And this was a 21 year old who was in Parque Dueña Casilda And he tried to steal something from a group of five guys In the park, same park And they caught him trying to steal And just beat him up really bad And reading this article we understand that there was another group of people And one of the people in this other group phoned the police Quite worried about how badly the 21 year old was getting beat up

And he's fine, he's in hospital now Oh that doesn't sound fine I mean you know in terms of he's not in He was hospitalized though Yeah he had to be kept there overnight and it looks like he might I don't know if he's going to stay there for more than one night But that was, that's what Aye aye aye So the municipal police was called, they came in Was it the Artenta or was it the It says municipal police The city police And Artenta Okay everybody Everybody turned up

I mean which sounds like Bilbao right Anytime anything happens there's like five cars, lights Yep start taping up the scene It's a commotion I mean you sort of feel safe But as another podcast I was listening to this week said you know They turn up afterwards, they're not really protecting us In this case it's kind of the same you know they didn't stop anything specifically But they turned up Well they didn't stop it I mean I guess it would have It was a, what was it? Two cuadrillas right?

They said cuadrillas you want to explain what that is Quadrillas very very best concept so A cuadrilla is your group of friends And usually you have one or two cuadrillas You might have one from work, one from school Or One from the whole life right Yeah That would be your school days Usually your school days will be your permanent cuadrilla Lifetime cuadrilla yeah And it's actually quite a fixed group of people like it doesn't really change once

Unless they get like girlfriends or boyfriends and bring those in They're all allowed in but then when they separate they're kicked out you know Oh yeah yeah you're out Yeah your group of friends is your group of friends And you're accepted as a boyfriend or girlfriend but If you split up And the boyfriend and girlfriend usually have their own so they don't really care Exactly It's a very strict thing in the sense that there's a few Quite a number of cases I've heard

It sounds so great when I say cases but There's a number of people that I've heard that were Right at that age you're supposed to make your cuadrilla Had a boyfriend So they were part of their boyfriend's cuadrilla But then it broke up a couple of years later No cuadrilla No friends Lifelong no cuadrilla It's a problem Yeah And actually I mean I remember when I moved here I couldn't make any friends because they all had quadrillas Yeah it's quite a closed group People will talk to you but

It's not they're not trying to be friends Yeah they're not You're not going to get invited to all their stuff Like oh but you're not in the group so we can't invite you Yeah A lot of times in bars you'll be chatting to somebody And then they'll go excuse me I'm with my quadrilla and just turn around And you're like okay I guess we tried And now you're like oh I understand Oh yeah now I understand entirely It was quite a weird one In the beginning it's like wow how rude

I still get irritated if I'm in a gay bar and the other guy is gay And I'm like well if you're just here with friends Why even bother coming to a gay bar right Just hang out at home I don't know don't give me false hopes Well I mean the quadrilla thing is pretty intense But it's also a lovely system Like they will accept you however you are It's kind of like a second family you know you can have terrible people in your quadrilla You may not even get along with everybody Exactly

Yeah like that's what I found too just by being a teacher And talking to students You hear the stories They're like well you know we don't really get along with this person or that But they're in the quadrilla so So they have a group of friends forever Membership for life Which is good you know I think a lot of societies A lot of those people would not have a close knit group of friends And that's a good sort of social structure to have Yeah And it's not

I mean I have like you I had a way in through a partner So I was immediately part of his group of friends But then again we're gay So gay people have to make new quadrillas usually I see Understandably Because either they don't want to come out of the closet so early Or simply you know for practical reasons we're going to different clubs So it naturally happens that we form new quadrillas They're not as fixed as the traditional quadrillas as you well understand

But then I've got another in with the Basque Since I speak Basque you know it's much easier to make friendships and get to know people I'm not invited into any quadrillas but you get invited to things quadrillas do So it's like me and my friends are having lunch you're welcome to come up So that happens more since I speak Basque Not that I take them up but it's sweet It's sweet I feel welcome And the way that a quadrilla enters into this story Well they were all protecting each other clearly

Right so it was the person that was coming in to rob them That quadrilla beat the shit out of him And then another quadrilla that was nearby called the police Exactly Yeah And clearly it was And they were identified as quadrillas right in the new story Yes of course Because everyone understands what that means I love that And it was as you were It's just part of the vernacular you know And everyone understands what that means It is the quadrilla

And as you were pointing out it was pretty bad beating up Because not only was the guy taken to hospital Two of the five were taken into custody So they are still looking for the other three Oh three of them took off Oh no they split up the quadrillas So two were just happened to be right They were the ones that the cops could grab And the other three took off They didn't describe the exact way they had two and not five But That's probably what happened

But we can tell it was pretty big overreaction let's say Yeah I mean initially I was happy you got beaten up But you don't need to get sent to hospital No Clearly And you don't need to get beaten up You just kind of need to be like You know get the hell out of here I mean The thing is Extreme violence No of course Violence I mean I wouldn't do that either I mean I'm not going to punch anybody you know It's not a thing I do So I wouldn't do that But it's also understandable

Because I think there's more And I think it's something happening in Europe more and more everywhere Which people are getting more and more irritated with minor crimes Not being dealt with because they're not dealt with It's just not really considered a crime Yeah And people are just hanging out and their mobiles are getting stolen So you know it's coming from a social frustration Of course it's too much right But we were talking about what is justifiable and what's not justifiable right?

Yeah Because you have to defend yourself And actually If you're attacked then yeah you should defend yourself Because there's a line in your insurance When you get insurance there's a line that says if you don't fight back to get your mobile You just let it be taken and you're not covered So there's a line and it says you have to try and get your mobile back With reasonable force Oh that's true like yeah it has to have been done with violence It had to have been taken from you with violence

If they just slip it out your pocket Without you knowing And you don't do anything that's not covered by your insurance So you know we're obliged to do something Yeah that is weird So there's a contradiction there right? I mean what is the country like the guy if the guy is nice to me Like the contradiction is like legally you shouldn't do any violence right?

I don't know if we're not supposed to do any I wouldn't think that they would say you know if your phone gets stolen attack No So I think legally you're kind of involved in a assault You know if you are a part of a physical altercation with somebody right? So let's say you're of two parties There's two parties having a physical altercation So that in itself is illegal right?

But then an insurance company will be like Only if you are involved in a physical altercation with somebody Will we cover the loss of your phone?

I mean they don't say physical altercation Well I'm sure I'm just using the words like that Yeah that's the thing you know and I'm not a lawyer And it would be an interesting conversation I am an alert not a lawyer I'd be curious to know what is expected And you know because clearly you know I was going to say Let's start with something easy like a push Right that's clearly I'm trying him not to get my phone That's a clear message I have push people Me too me too

I mean a drop push is not a great push I actually kicked somebody Look at you Well because I could tell he was going into my bag behind me That's a mini crime task And he was right behind me and I kicked him Okay and did it work? Yeah and I turned around and I kicked him and I turned around And I started yelling at him Yelling also works Yeah indeed Well you would have been covered by your insurance I think Yeah do you think so?

I would have said so I mean kicking is pretty clearly fighting back for your phone But he didn't kick me Like my partner Bobby he had his phone stolen once And they did actually like throw him to the ground Him and his friend to the ground Grabbed their phones Right And because they had been thrown to the ground and kind of you know It was taken with violence They were clearly covered Right right right Actually his friend who's when they picked up his friend's phone

Because it was like an old model like they were like this was on me out of the house They just gave it back Hilarious See that's the kind of thing that we're getting tired So then it was covered Exactly But like a pickpocket would never be covered So you're expected to do something to the pickpocket like kick him? I guess But I was starting I was starting He didn't get anything from me I caught him throwing into my purse You're saying like a kick shouldn't be legal right?

Right like I shouldn't be allowed to Yeah But he could probably press charges against me for the kick Let's say yes it sounds correct to me But then if he's not violent towards you what does the law say? Just let them take the mobile you know what I mean?

Exactly That's the consequence Yeah that's the thing Which I mean if The worst thing is not only that Because you think the law would be like don't do anything Yeah It's only a phone But then I just lose the mobile Don't escalate Every time right? Exactly Because the insurance never gonna cover me Yeah exactly So And the cops are never gonna get it back Not in mobile You can go file a report but I know What's gonna happen?

So that's what's irritating that's why they end up I think going overboard And beating this guy up way too much No yeah for sure they went overboard But If they really pull for it he's in the hospital He's in the hospital yeah That's too much And you know it was enough to get all of them sent to jail for at least overnight until they're Yeah they'll probably be charged with like assault or whatever Pretty dodgy And now their records are tainted They have criminal records now They do I guess

And I don't know exactly what those consequences are Because they're not minors right?

No No they're not arrested Well they're 19 Yeah so they're not minors Which I guess is considered So they'll have a record now Poor decision making It's a hard one It's a hard one Well that was the story about Parque de la Casilda Which is Next to the museum Also The duck park I guess how they're known Parque de los Patos There's also some What is it Pato real Pavo real Peacock There's a couple of peacocks there too They're not loose though They're in the cage around the pond right?

They're not in a cage Are they not? No they're walking around But they're not Yeah I guess there's a fence around the area where they are But I'm like how do they not get out? I don't know They can't fly?

They can fly a little bit but they usually cut their wings so that they can't fly You just cut the feathers Poverty Every so often and they can't fly They just have to live at that park They usually just fly up into a tree to sleep That's the only reason they fly Oh To get into a tree to sleep But they can't go up to the tree to sleep But they will have a little thing to perch on in their little house I would assume

Because it's like a chicken they won't really be happy unless they've got a place to coop on To hold on to a little branch So if you're nice to your chickens they should have that Noted And if you have peacocks please also Give them a spot to sleep There's quite a lot of peacocks in Brazil Quite common things They're so noisy though Peacocks Yeah I don't know what they sound like They go In a different tone But they're very loud Very loud

I think that's kind of where the P comes from the peacock it goes Peacock Oh man I'm gonna go down to the park and see if I can hear them yelling And I'm gonna search I'm gonna see if they have a perching spot Now I have a Their wellbeing Yeah I have a plan now next time I go to that park Sounds fun Beautiful park we recommend everybody visits It's a gorgeous sort of 1909ish was when it was Oh I did not know that Look at you, facts Yeah you know the asylum I think I used to be

People said to me it was an asylum but I think it's basically empty that big house in front of the park Just over An asylum you think they would put that there?

I mean they call it a asilo and castilian whatever that is I mean it could be For anybody Okay like refuge Mm-hmm but that so that was the The owner of that house is who paid for the park And then they left the house to the city as well which is why it became some institution So they were very nice people Madame Casilda Well don't ya That was nice of her Yes very nice thank you ma'am thank you We all thank you Beautiful park Okay we ready for the next one We're ready hold on to your chapella

Hold on this one's a doozy no it's not This one's just silly So this one was a I believe we talked about this actually a few weeks ago the three of us Megan and I and it was The Archangel has identified and is investigating a 28 year old man who climbed onto the outside rear of a bus in Pasaya Yeah 28 year old So he was the way that it's where a 28 year old man was traveling perched on the bodywork of a bus I mean this is a translation A direct translation

So I don't I can't remember what the real word was that he is but it was circulating through town And of course it was causing a serious risk to his life in the life of other road users True More to his but still yeah Well yeah and if he well he could have fallen off and someone's swerving not to hit him It's definitely not Another accident so yeah so according to their chance of the agents learned from the media and social networks that a young man had

Climbed onto the back of the bus that was running along the old and I the national interstate Mm-hmm At the exit of Pasay Ancho in the direction of Cappuccinos neighborhood of a Herentiera Let's see Herentiera That's also a surname so the video went viral and because of the video of him riding on the back of the bus

That's how he got caught. Well. Yeah, just don't post your many crimes on social media people That's a lesson Well it could have been not that he posted it true it could have been like people saw him and Started filming and then posted on their own true, and then people saw it and said oh, I know that's so-and-so

Yeah, I mean we do have facial recognition software these days. I assume police have access to that Yeah, but for some well, maybe maybe you know just to try and yeah, so Paseo is near San Sebastian Okay, that side of town. Yeah

Mm-hmm. Well, it's not it's not our town. It's another town. I was using it as a loose expression Because yeah, that is the joke that San Sebastian is a neighborhood of Bilbao I Heard I wasn't going that far, but yeah Have we mentioned in this podcast that we've probably come up various times that Bilbao The joke about people in Bilbao think Bilbao is so important in the center of the world that You are asked do you have the world map of Bilbao?

And the world we did talk about this we did yeah, so that's part of that attitude Yeah, is well like everything around us is just a neighborhood Paris neighborhood of Bilbao Berlin neighborhood Naughty neighborhoods Moscow So that's it they caught him That's that story like do we know what he got identified him through the social media and the media so it'll be so the images

Of him gone viral. Hmm. Hope I'm caught hopefully just uh, I don't know if he was like joyriding They haven't said anything like they're investigating it So they didn't say whether he was joyriding or he just couldn't afford the bus ticket I mean we know why that's a terrible excuse right now, right? Oh true. Yeah The prices yeah Only till December though. Is it? Oh, yeah, it's gonna be quite a shock when I have to start paying full price

Okay, I didn't know that I'm gonna be quite a shock. I feel like because I have to take the metro now every day. Mm-hmm Mm-hmm. Ouch. Yeah, I'm gonna be see how much that costs They usually if you get that monthly pass, so it's usually better I know I've been told of course that I should look into getting that pass with my photo on the body. I

Know it was time for that Douglas. Nobody has time. We got time for that. Nobody got time for that It's just another thing to do a lot to do who's got time to go into the bus just grab it go just get to work that way But the thing about the Metro is like both sides have the conductor Window they do right so you be looking at the conduct. Well, I love you're riding on the front you're riding on the back

There's usually nobody back there. That'll be my part, but I imagine there'd be a camera on you So we would be hanging on to the front of the metro with the camera right in your face This isn't doesn't line three have no drivers. Oh, I don't know Supposed to be automatic, but I don't know if they did it in the end I've gotten that Metro on a few times. I've been on it too and Yeah, but I've never like look into the drivers

But we'll ask we'll look into it everybody. We'll find out if it actually is automated That sounds like a plan. Okay homework. We have more homework. Jesus It's nice that we discovered what happened with the random. Yeah the guy on the back of the bus small infraction

Let's call it. I mean, I hope it's just some money there Oh, I mean, I imagine you could come up with all kinds of heavy charges for that Hmm that would get you into like a world of hell Yeah, go hell that was an interesting one about the park at Dona Casillo one they were the two guys that were in jail they were charged with Beating up the guy and also not providing help to him when he needed help. Oh See extra charges. So they definitely I mean, it's kind of obvious that would happen

I would say but you know two charges for one. Mm-hmm

You know, it would be in random big punch. Okay. Now you're hurt. Now. It's called the ambulance Oh, if legally we're supposed to can you see like 19 year olds going, you know legally We don't want to get in trouble by not assisting this poor man that needs help let's get charged for one thing not to guys Come on Yeah, no, they didn't even go that far But if there were a quadrilla to do that, it would be in a vast country that wouldn't it it would

It would somebody there would be one voice of reason It'd be the one that's always like the the killjoy in the group like you guys we shouldn't be doing this Come on man lighten up worked out and yes, I mean well he's in the hospital Let's let's be nice nice citizens people After we beat somebody out call an ambulance That's the lesson from today With some good crimes, I think I beat people up

Hmm used to be part of their assistance. Yeah big selection now all over the world. Yeah, I have one more You do. Maybe we should break true. I actually have one more. So oh, we both have one more. Okay, let's break boom boom boom See you in a minute

Okay, and we're back we're back. So now my story This is not recent right this is not as a historical one 1996 was the first story I found and then the backup was 1994 Quite an interesting story to to kind of come upon And then I found this story in the middle of the year And then the backup was 1994 quite an interesting story to to kind of come upon So at first we get The beginning the way we found this story was quite fun because I was looking for or off one I checked where I was

Which is one of our previous surnames. Mm-hmm. And then a town it's So I was checking where the town was because I know it's you know, I should be doing more from my best geography. Well, we went to sorry we went on a hike to Ibarra

Yeah last Saturday and went past a Roscoe and because I had been researching this story. I was like, oh, there's a Roscoe Oh, so we're near there and then I just looking at the map the next city north was Benguechea, which I know as a surname as well Okay, so I wrote crimes Benguechea Good research method. Good Um, I guess I can come out of the woodworks and also say it was a person I didn't like the mr

Benguechea that I last knew an ex flatmates. So oh, so you knew actually knew so I'm excited to talk about crimes of this family Joking I'm joking. So The first news that I came across was him being released from your old flatmate. Not him. This is somebody else No, no, he was just hired to get money for bills. That's that's the biggest crime he committed. Okay, that is a crime It's a mini crime. Pay your bills people pay your bills. It's a mini crime. Don't expect someone to pay your way

No, no, it just makes Douglas angry. That's the rule. So Javier Benguechea was Condemned to three years in Munich. Oh for with two of his associates Julio Oroz another Basque man and a Colombian Justiniano Torres. They were all Condemned to three years in jail in Germany for supposedly well not supposedly they were smuggling Convicted for convicted. Sorry. I don't know the difference. What did I say?

Well, you were saying supposedly sorry at this point it's been they've been convicted and sent to prison Well, you'll understand to supposedly soon There's a twist. Yeah, it's fun. It's interesting. Okay, so they were smuggling out 363 grams of plutonium out of Moscow, Russia

Oh dear. This is about 1994. We're talking. Okay And so we came across this guy being released from jail And it was weird just because after serving his three years you're apparently as it worked in Germany Two years for good behavior Well in the article itself, it actually specifies that Germany the law in Germany specifies that if you are not a German national After half of your term, they're allowed to kick you back to your country. Oh, okay Which I think is very fair. Very fair

Home, however, cause problems somewhere else. Mm-hmm. So we looked up into what plutonium did and How it's used and our at least my first Inkling was kind of like why would they want this right? Surely it's to make some kind of bomb And then we started looking into it and it's like used it just produces a bit of heat and it's usually used for satellites

Oh, that's the main use of plutonium these days, I guess. Okay, and so Apparently, this was a setup by the German spy agency What it yeah, they it turns out I mean just come out with the end of the story first and then we go to the end of the story I mean just come out with the end of the story first and then we can talk about some a couple more details But okay, so it turned out that the German state

Was trying to prove that there was a black market for plutonium when actually it was just them setting up They they found those people who did contraband the the two The two best guys and the Colombian guy. Uh-huh. And they were like, oh, you know with help of the Spanish spy agency who you know, I guess knew they were contraband people. Uh-huh Smuggler. Sorry. That's the word we're looking for They asked them, you know indirectly to move this plutonium from Moscow

So they were like the agents were asking them. Hey, can you guys do this little job for us? Yeah, it was all Also, you know, it was all By By so trap it's called entrapment. It was entirely entrapment. I think maybe not we believe it someone like that I mean, yeah goodness knows what Germany calls it Yeah, cuz if you're the one I think it is entrapment when you when you're the one setting up the crime if it's the law You know the the law agency or whatever

Mm-hmm, that's running the crime. Yeah, it can be considered entrapment yeah, it's like I understand that if you're a drug seller and a Like a policeman buys drug from you, right? That's you're the one selling the policeman the drugs, right? but if it's the Policeman that's going hey, I've got these drugs. I want to sell And the guy was just like, all right

Mm-hmm. Yeah, well, they clearly did this naughty thing Wow, you know why right why would you want to create the idea that there's a black market of plutonium Well, this case came out right before an election So there were Great policemen working for the safety of your people and it turns out there was no safety problem Like plutonium is used for satellites and not for dirty bombs And there's no demand for the my the police were working in favor of some political party

They wanted to show that the security services were taking care of doing the jobs They're supposed to do reelect your your people because we're taking care of you. Oh Okay, but there was no such market there was no market for plutonium Nobody was asking Nobody was asking for it Well when we were tough we were you always told me you were gonna tell me a story about plutonium The only reference I have is from back to the future It was a bit of a time-traveling story

1994 does that count 84? No, when did back to the future come out? I don't know 84 I think

Somebody's on it somebody's on it. Yeah worry but but so when they caught these guys and interviewed them they were like they had no clue what plutonium was they really didn't know what it was for and You know, they clearly had just been set up by these two agencies hmm 85 it was 85 85 so yeah, I guess it was so the height of the Cold War so plutonium at the time was like for Sounded scary right for like nuclear bombs and it was used in

But not really though. That's the thing a parent like Like certain ones it depends which one it was it was a plutonium 3 9 8 or something that was for satellites and then 92 was for for helping Bombs explode a bit better something like that and they don't specify here which kind of plutonium it was but apparently this one This one wasn't even and there were no Russians involved They just sold the merch merchandise. I guess to the Russians to The con to the smugglers

Oh, so the okay. Yeah, the agents sold it to the smugglers to then do what with that's the thing. There was no market for it Oh, but since they were caught obviously, so they just were caught with the merchandise that the agents had given them Basically, well, they I think they'd made them go to Russia. They kind of wrote right the security agencies had Here's the stuff bring it to this place in Russia. You're there. There's they were pretending to be a client who wanted plutonium Okay

But there was nobody who wanted plutonium. Oh, so they sent them to Russia Get the plutonium and bring it back and they landed in Germany. They caught them caught them with surprise surprise Surprise they didn't know what this was for We just here to bring it they probably thought it was for back in the back to the future because that's

What we all knew plutonium was for exactly. That's the only way I know anything about anything is filmed We never built that car No, so it was just the setup for an election Wow poor bass guys See, yeah, they're just some normal smugglers Well, he served a year and a half and that doesn't sound terrible sent him home So now he's like living his best life in uh, what was the name of the town?

Or no, he probably wasn't from that town. No, it says the surname just uh, mr Ben gocha javier doesn't say where he's from It didn't it didn't it just said they were too. Um Um to spanish maybe we can get him on the podcast an interview Maybe definitely cool down. I think if you're out there Give us a ring. Yeah, I assume he's sent us an email. He's retired. So if you're here to podcast you want to become famous Talk about the worst day of your life

Maybe it wasn't maybe he has some other crime times to tell us. Yeah, maybe you could write a book about it Mm how he was set up by the german government. Yeah Sounds like a crazy story. So that was that one. Well funny funny, you know I mean at least there was nobody wanting to explode a nuclear bomb, right? That's definitely good news for sure for sure Just some some russians wanting some extra money Yeah, and they had some extra plutonium on hand to send over to europe indeed

It's um, there you go. Yeah, that was that story Good good Okay, so I'll tell my last story which I think you'll get a kick out of I didn't tell you anything about this. So excited So in vitoria gastéis, which was what where our last story was based? A judge who has vetoed the name hycea hycea hycea Asea a seah to a girl denied another baby to be called Yardy

Yardy, which means moon in uskara. Yep. Okay So alleging that it was so uh, the judge prevented some parents from giving the name yardy Yardy moon in basque to their newborn son alleging that it was a girl's name Despite the fact that basque nouns do not usually have a gender. Yeah And uh that it accepts names as neutrals. Yeah, right So the judge imposed the name of john No way That's that's a that's Violation of many right crazy. What is this from? This is from oh no

Sorry, this is a bad question because I did not oh here it is. Boom. I found it. Uh, this is from November 3rd Am I no no, uh, uh, no. Yeah, november 3rd. Remember this year That's like yesterday. Yeah. Wow So the family of course appealed to the supreme court. Absolutely waiting for a resolution to that I hope they come on. So the same judge has refused to register a newborn with the name hycea

Uh, I say which means seed in basque. Oh, that's a sea. Okay, a sea. Sorry considering it pejorative And has imposed another phonetically and semantically very similar sea Which does not correspond to the one chosen by its parent Very odd. Isn't that weird that a judge would have the right to? well, I mean I I know that there are there's a history here of Imposing the names of children

Because mostly because of the dictatorship. Yeah and imposing anything basque was illegal. Yeah So, um Yeah, so there's a history of that but that's crazy that today that that would be happening, right? It is and especially especially because they're non-gendered right? Yeah, like there's no gender to To names and names and not only that I can't think of any names right now but I know there are a couple of names that both girls and boys use like

You know which one I can't that's the thing. I can't think of one right now, but um You know, I know there are a couple like I've heard of I just remember somebody saying oh this one's a boy. That one's a girl. I'm like, okay same name. Cool Same name cool. Okay. I mean well I can keep reading about this I'm I have to burn another of my childhood stories though, you know, my name's from a list. Oh, is it?

Yeah, I was born in a dictatorship Oh, okay Tell my name was one of the few names that my mom recognized in English and she was like, okay It's gonna be douglas. Oh, she had a list that she had to choose your name from approved names. Yeah, she couldn't

You're during the dictatorship the dictator at the time. I don't actually know there's plenty in Brazil to choose from But one of them one of them Um, the thing is there was also a list here So there was just a list that you could choose from it wasn't like you could choose any name, right?

And I know that that's why everyone is joseph maria maria joseph Yeah Yeah And at some point it was obligatory to include maria and a girl's name as a second name So, I mean anyway, it's a it's a restrictive system but like definitely in Latin america i've in my own family tree. I have seen some very Intense names that they've chosen after you can choose anything Oh, and I know there's a lot of like, you know, there have been cases of parents wanting to call their child hitler

And that's that has been that has been stopped by judges and I think that's no I have heard that too. Yeah, like things like that Or just something. Yeah, and this tastes fun. So I I I think there is a place you can't do that yeah, I think there's a place for for a judge to to to comment on but But the fact that it's right like because it's considered a girl's name. Yeah, and it's a boy

Boy child, you know like yeah, I want to be called mariel being called maria. Yeah, like and even that there are guys called maria Yeah Exactly. You would have thought jose jose mar you know jose maria. Yeah, it's a very common name. Yeah weird Okay, so i'm gonna shall I read the rest of this?

Go on. Okay. I mean i'm already shocked. I think there's no more you can do but It must be remembered that nouns and adjectives do not usually have grammatical gender in basque as they do in spanish or french for this reason it's common for names such as Ice i say, yeah wind. Yeah, ibar plain Suzy root or yeah, sedu or sedu

Sky for example can be used interchangeably in men and women. There we go Yeah, gender distinction is made in some isolated words Although they are different words and not gender variants of the word for example in pairs such as cousin cousin god goddess prince princess So then they gave all the best do you want to read those out for? For cousin cousin. I need bigger bigger letters

I'm a 42 baby. Okay So cousin cousin We have lengusu lengusinha And then we have god goddess yanko and yank Yankosa And prince princess princess princessa, okay So then in 2019 the academy of the basque language introduced a neutral names in its Gatsitier for the first time valid for boys and girls the list presents 500 Episynni

Given names. I don't know what that word means episynni. Episynni. I'm not sure what that means either Must be a first name maybe Perhaps yeah Episynni I'm gonna have you read all these basque names though because i'm not even gonna try people are gonna be yelling at their oh Episynni is a lack of gender distinction often reducing the emphasis on the masculine to allow the feminine Okay, it includes androgyny Having both male and female names. Okay So the list presents 500 episynni given names

Mm-hmm. That's quite a lot. That's cool. Here they are. You want to read them? Yeah, some of them are alai Alonja mayur Amets that's a nice one. It just means I have a student named amets, but it's with the set z instead of a s All right

S. All right. I have a student name. All right That's a that's a funny one because it means close so a close person that's cute Okay Yeah, and also diminutive names such as agustin agustin aritsu asun vichori engraci franchoa inacio itzazo isabel jesús Yos yospe yuancho kachalin manu nacho checho and shabi

That was a good one. Good list of cute names. Very very very cute names Okay, so then the uskal what's the name of this in this this Which is the the it's the equivalent like we don't have it in english, but what they have in french is the Academia francesa de la langue, which is the academy responsible for the rules of french language. Okay, so the there's the spanish one, too

Exactly. Yeah The real academia de la lengua española. Yeah So that's the equivalent it was called sandia is the best equivalent the Equivalent it was called sandia is the best equivalent that that defines how The rules should be in basque. Okay So this they have offered advice to acai's family so that they can register her to her daughter under that name In this sense, he is assured that he sees no impediment to using the name asia

Asia like cn like seed. Yeah from the linguistic point of view as occurs with other names derived from a common noun Yeah, and they named these but also Come from a common noun Ameth ameth, yeah ameth which is dream isiah which is wind lissar. I'm not sure naya naya sedu or su Which is just tree I love that one Hi tree, how you doing tree? So cute

Sorry, I'm I'm clearly biased I love it's cute best names tree. They're so cute. Okay. So thus through a note uskala Cn, yeah, it's called sandia those kind of sandia Sandia you got it has assured that it is offering to write a report and make it available to the family in the next few Days so that if they so wish they can use it to channel the controversy raised around that name very good Sandia

Has affirmed that this type of controversy is frequent in civil registries, especially due to questions of the gender associated with the name in 2018 the academy of the basque language asked The spanish ministry of justice to act with flexibility in gender cases Since most of these issues derive from them Absolutely. There is some reasonable reasonable advice there Yeah, I mean it's it's just weird to me that that's happening today Yeah, it's really

Yeah, it's not nice because you would have hoped we've moved beyond that. I was gonna I was gonna mention though sort of to To build up a bit of the context is also because basque was prohibited for so many decades um A lot of these parents don't speak basque and maybe their grandparents do like the children's grandparents But the the parents of the children many times don't speak basque

So they don't necessarily have a close connection to the language, which i'm just justifying the fact that sometimes they might Make the wrong choice, but You know clearly here el escar sandia has backed up the parents

What do you mean like the wrong choice in terms of gender a gender specific name? No, no no, just i'm i'm maybe they just because Um just they could choose a word that that has different connotations they don't understand for example Yeah, or just you know the name of an object that is too Crass, you know that they might not know is an object, you know, they just might think it's a name of a place Yeah, it's a nice word

Yeah, but actually it might have a kind of kind of shocking or bad meaning and it's that kind of an interesting one though also because you have Oh gee, I can't think of the name though right now, but what I meant to say is that even though The name can mean something negative like hate. It's still I mean, i'm not sure if that's exact Meaning of the the name i'm thinking of but you know something negative like that and yet

It's quite a popular name. Yeah, even though it's it's very random, but it might be a pretty name It might be a pretty word, right? Exactly. Yeah, you know Yeah They're they're definitely It's personal taste if you enjoy Basque names, but I do like them But that was a lovely story. Thank you and so relevant. Yeah, very lovely lovely. No, but you know Yeah, lovely because I know they're gonna win and that fucking judge should go back to his country Damn douglas

Closing his culture on the best people uh, when oh whatever culture that is. I mean it sounds like he's like, you know gender norms and you know That kind of crap is just seems strange oyandia today. I mean That's the thing, you know, when yeah when your language has gender It's sometimes hard to deal with different culture that doesn't have it You don't quite get get get like if you don't speak a language. It doesn't have gender. It's hard to understand Mm-hmm

Understandably. Yeah um, so um Do you have a mini crime time? Today because I kind of do okay Go for it. This happened actually today Mm-hmm. I was coming home on the metro and um when I was leaving Um to plaza uno, uno, there's usually like a busker

Right near the metro. Did you kick him? No, I did not commit any crimes But this is the mini crime that I saw I was walking and I was listening to another podcast um, and I I was listening to a podcast and I realized I'm Listening to him singing And I can tell that he's singing Patience by guns and roses Right. I recognize the song because I'm a big fan of guns and roses But then I realized like is he actually singing patients?

So I paused my podcast to find out and sure shit The guy was singing like I have my is there all we know by your demo. We don't want to Like making totally nonsense I like that even the word patience. He wasn't saying he was like So I was like that's a crime that's an english at least learn the words

Yeah, I mean he's earning his life with that. He should definitely Yeah, I felt like it was a crime earning his keep it's a definitely mini crime if he is earning his keep fine But uh, yeah to me it was a crime It's a audio crime right Like which crime like play the song If you're gonna play the song, I don't know. Am I wrong? What do you think?

Am I wrong? It was really funny to me, you know to hear somebody going Yeah, right and I was wondering how many other people around me knew that he was not Making any sense I looked around like does anybody else realize that this guy's not actually saying anything And just making sounds. I mean, I always find it odd when people are doing that. Have you seen it a lot? I have seen it A number of times. I feel like yeah, I've heard somebody doing that

A number of times. I feel like yeah, i've heard somebody doing it with like bob dylan or something. Hmm It's just like the street a lot of times. It'll be most of the time. I think that i've heard that happen It's like somebody that goes. Oh, you know that song going kind of goes raw And they don't know somebody performing it like that's what's weird to me It's like somebody that like likes the song

Has learned the chords to play the guitar and everything so they managed they were actually playing it. Yeah Yeah, he was playing it on the guitar But he just never learned the lyrics one skill out of two. That's not too bad So anyway, that's because you know some people some people put the background Thing and then sing and then they don't do the music. So you're allowed to do one out of two But so he should have like going to karaoke, right?

He just needs the the long voice and shut up and just play the guitar. You know, that's what you want him to do I felt like going and taking over Oh, I felt like you play the music and i'll sing the song and that would have been beautiful That would be good. He probably would find it a crime though At least at least a minute Trying to get my Yeah, that's a worthy story of many crying time I think I'd still have to look up the words on on like i'd have to look them up on my phone or something

That's normal to follow the song. Nobody knows lyrics. I know I mean I do know lyrics but like Not everyone not every single lyric to that song. What's that little though? I do love that song. It's a good one Like guns and roses. I'm pretty bad at lyrics. So i'm always gonna need the help in front of me. Mm-hmm Yep Hey, that's all i've got. It was fun. It was a nice story I'm glad you weren't hurt. No, no, no Nobody got hurt. It was funny. It was funny

It was actually a hilarious little moment in my day. So that's lovely, but I still found it to be a crime I agree. I agree

Well, thank you everybody for listening. Yes. Thank you. It was a it was a chill time learning about basque people and their crimes. Yeah And be sure to reach out to us for your mini crime today For your mini crime time and it can be anything and it can be from anywhere and it doesn't have to be with the Basque country We're gonna be excited if you want to audio record it Also, that was you can send us an audio recording of your story Um, we'll play it. That would be fine. Yeah

Yeah, so yeah, thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Have a good one. Yeah What's our cutoff? How do we we bid you? a goor Right Crimes of the Basque lands is written and produced by double stick are violent. Julie Garcia

I'm megan dooley the sound and editing for each episode by double suit carvalli. I'm megaduley theme song written by Julie garcia i'm megaduley sung by the choir with no name and produced by tom squires Podcast art by distinct signal follow us on instagram and facebook at crimes of the basque lands and contact us at crimesofthebastlands.gmail.com with story ideas worldwide which have a connection to the Basque Country or any rave reviews.

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