Basque Fact of the Week: The First Tourist Guides of the Basque Country

Tourism accounts for about 10% of the world’s gross domestic product. We all want to experience new things, see new sites, get to know new people. We want to see something new. And, for many of us, the Basque Country is something new. As of 2014, tourism contributed just about 6% of the Basque Country’s […]

Buber’s Basque Story: Part 16

It was a beautiful Saturday morning. Their trip to the United States was only a week away and Maite and Kepa had decided to spend their last weekend in the Basque Country before leaving in the mountains. Kepa had suggested a hike along a well-worn path that snaked from behind Goikoetxebarri, through the trees, along […]

Basque Fact of the Week: Gazta! Cheese!

There is a story that, millennia ago, a Basque shepherd was working under the hot southerly wind. The night before, he had finished a lamb for his dinner and, today, he used the lamb’s hide to hold milk. He then trekked home — this all took place near the modern town of Eibar — and […]

The Basque Country by the Numbers

Percent of land covered in forest. Source: http://atlasa.net/en/environment/provinces

Buber’s Basque Story: Part 15

Their trip was only weeks away. Maite had had a long sit down talk with her parents, describing the opportunity and that, right now, she was only going for an interview, that she wasn’t making any commitment to attend school in the United States. She could tell her parents were struggling with the news, but […]

Basque Fact of the Week: Basque Surnames

Magunagoikoetxea. Gorostiaga. Arroitajauregi. Bastarretxea. Basque last names are as distinct as they are complex, at least to an English tongue. It is only relatively recently that children took the names of their parents. Rather, Basques were often, though not universally, known by the names of their houses, which were in turn based upon the location […]

Goian Bego, Dave Lachiondo

On Friday, August 7, the Basque community lost a great one, Dave Lachiondo. Dave was a pillar, not only of the Boise Basque community, but also of Boise more broadly. He had served as both principal and president of Bishop Kelly High School, impacting an untold number of lives. His long career in education touched […]

Buber’s Basque Story: Part 14

Over the next month, Maite confirmed with the group at Berkeley the logistics for her interview. The interview was scheduled for the beginning of the trip so that Maite didn’t have that hanging over her the rest of their vacation.  “What do you think?” Kepa asked after taking a sip of his coffee. They sat […]

Basque Fact of the Week: Concept of Emptiness in Basque

The idea of something being ’empty’ is typically a negative one. When the glass is half full, we are taking an optimistic view of the situation, but a glass that is half empty is certainly negative. The Basque language has similar connotations around the word huts. Possibly stemming from Neolithic times when an empty stomach […]

The Basque Country by the Numbers

Useful agricultural land by province. Source: https://es.slideshare.net/maixu61/euskal-herria-geografa-economia (originally Gaindegia)