Coata Brava Journal: Buridan’s Ass

The medieval scholastics argued over how many angels could stand on the head of a pin and then there were conundrum’s like Buridan’s Ass, where indecision about whether to eat or drink results in both starvation and dehydration. But speaking of asses and breasts and ephuistic forms of calculation, we come to the subject of the Costa Brava, where the number of naked breasts sighted on the beach running along the Passiego del Mar in the town of Sant Antoni de Calonge was calculated to be 12 on a recent July morning. By comparison can we conservatively say that the number of bare breasts visible on the beach in St. Tropez in a comparable period might be closer to 1200? Palomas is actually a charming, sleepy seaside village where locals use a vessel called the porro in Catalan or porron in Spanish to engage in drinking contests. If they have subsequent problems with their intestinal tract they might go into the bathroom of a bar and use the “papel hygienico” (aka toilet paper) which also is derogatively as "papel del culo" (culo meaning ass). “Espaghettis," “esparrago maone" might be some of the specialties ordered on the black board of one of these simple establishments overlooking the Mediterranean. The asses and breasts and foods are all for the taking on the Costa Brava, but in a more laid back form than on its sister resorts like Portofino on the Italian Riviera or St Tropez or Nice where outlandish numbers of expensive yachts line the slips of the harbors and the buzz of celebrity sets cash registers ringing at hotels with names like Byblos and Negresco.