Thanks for all the likes Shirley..and everyone else, it's really appreciated ! yes Shirley, most ''servers' speak, at least some English. In high tourist areas they speak better English, but it gets a little frustrating because I speak in my little Spanish, and they don't really want to practice their English, so I don't get the chance to speak too much to servers in the local Lingo. Then there are definitely Spanish waiters, who when we speak in Spanish to them will pretend they don't understand ...No entiendo.. and you know darn well they're just being awkward!! ..but mostly if you speak Spanish to the ordinary José or Maria on the street they're more than helpful Most English tourists don't speak Spanish. My husband is one of them, although he understands a lot . I do, and my daughter does speak Spanish ... but because most don't, the Spanish people have little time for the English speakers whose Spanish amounts to asking for a Cerveza ( a beer) or La Cuenta ( the bill) .. . unless they're in service and paid to wait on tourists!... I remember one time, I was looking for a plaza which was situated in the back streets of a town. Plaza Europa it was called and it had many English bars in it, and I'd heard of it but never visited. I stopped a an elderly Spanish lady in the street and asked her for directions.. and she clasped my arm gently and with a sad look on her face said in Spanish .. ''are you sure you want to go there, it's full of English people ! '' She clearly presumed I was European but not English, why else would I be speaking in Spanish to her otherwise !! I didn't burst her bubble!!.. I just told her it would be ok...