Wolf, with prices like that, the UPS guy had better show up at my door, naked, with a dozen roses and a flamenco band to serenade me as I open my box of olives (actually, though you all might disown me, I don't like olives!)!

I'm intrigued by the idea of a buying club--but have never heard about such a thing before this. It sounds like a lot of administration...is it?

Maybe the thing to do is to open a thread advertising when we are going to Spain, where, and how much we're willing to bring back. Last time I was there, I brought back some beer, olive oil, chocolate, and other things for a friend and they were pretty heavy! But I should have planned more carefully for myself by picking up lots of hot chocolate and saffron.

For those who have branches of the Whole Foods grocery chain nearby, you can find some good Spanish cheeses and membrillo for pretty reasonable prices there. I wonder about anchovy-olives...maybe they have them.

Anyway, I think the upshot of all this is that it's pretty expensive to get Spanish goods into the US, and it's not quite the highway robbery I thought it was to charge $5 for my chocolate a la taza. But it would still be nice to know who has the best deals on what.