Álvaro Arbeloa recently enlisted the help of radio program “¡Anda Ya!” to play a joke on his 83-year-old grandmother Soledad. He got one of the presenters of the show, San Bernardino, to pretend to be someone from the telephone company calling Soledad to say she has to pay a bill of €4,000. The results are hilarious! Soledad is a real character!!! I’ll try and explain it, but to really get why it’s so funny, you have to know a bit of Spanish.
One of the funniest things was that Soledad kept calling San Bernardino (who is a man) “señora” because she said he sounded like a woman. She kept doing this even after he told her he was a man. She also referred to the amount as “4,000 pesetas” (many of the older generations continue to calculate things in pesetas, converting euros to pesetas) and called Liverpool “Liverpúlll.” San Bernardino tried to provoke her during the call, saying things such as Arbeloa is a horrible player, he’s not loyal to a team, I’m a fan of Barcelona, etc, prompting her to respond indignantly – and multiple times – that to her, Arbeloa is the best player and also “el más guapo” (the handsomest) or “guapísimo” (very handsome). She kept speaking along these lines, saying things like, how can you say he’s ugly, do you know Arbeloa? Soledad also flat out refused to pay the bill. This went on for five minutes.
Then Álvaro came on the line (he had been listening to the earlier part), trying to convince his grandmother to pay the bill, saying it was the result of all the calls she made to him after he played games abroad, such as in Lithuania or London. She started telling “Alvarito,” in order to spite San Bernardino, things such as “you’re a magnificent player, and you’re also very handsome as well!” She also accused San Bernardino of lying and said she was going to file a complaint against him.
In the end, when all was revealed, she scolded her grandson: “why do you play these jokes on me, Alvarito? I don’t like jokes.” Álvaro’s response? “So you can be famous and be heard on the radio, grandmother.” Mission accomplished, because Soledad now has her own fanpage on Facebook, and she’s now known as “la abuela de Arbeloa” (Arbeloa’s grandmother).
Have a listen to the joke here. It really is hilarious, and worth a listen, even if you don’t speak Spanish, just to hear Soledad yelling and being crotchety, the indignation in her voice, and the way she speaks to her grandson.