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El Queso en el Avión — The Most Traumatic Flight of My Life (Spanish Story)

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The Paris Flight, the French Cheese, and Why “Esto Huele Mal” Is the Most Important Phrase in Spanish

Not every Spanish lesson begins with a textbook. Some begin on a plane, somewhere over France, when a mysterious package starts emitting a smell that can only be described as: biological event in progress.

This is one of Mónica’s real stories — the kind that teaches you more Spanish than 3 months of vocabulary lists, because you actually remember it. And it connects to one of the most useful phrases in the language: esto huele mal.

This is La Tribu / The Spanish Tribe: real stories, real Spanish, zero textbook trauma. Subscribe:

📧 El Queso en el Avión — Esto Huele Mal (Paris Flight)

Let me tell you about the most traumatic flight of my life. Not because of turbulence. Not because of crying babies. No. It was because of the smell. ¿el olor? Sí, el olor.

I was flying back from Paris, surrounded by tourists (como yo) when one of them entered the plane carrying a mysterious package. (No, no era cocaína.) A package that looked innocent. But smelled… Suspicious. Very suspicious. The kind of smell that makes you think: Esto huele mal.

At first I thought: Maybe he is carrying dead rats. Maybe he has a small family of dead raccoons in there. Maybe he is transporting evidence from a crime scene. But then I understood. It was cheese. Probably Gruyère. Or some French cheese with a name that sounds elegant but smells like a teenage boy who has declared war on the shower.

And this man put the package in the overhead locker. Next to my suitcase. My poor suitcase. My innocent suitcase. And then… The smell started to escape. Slowly. Like in cartoons, when you see a green cloud moving through the room. The cloud opened its way between the seats. Row 1. Row 2. Row 3. People started looking around. Someone coughed. Someone opened the air vent. It was like a long bus trip where 200 people decide to take off their shoes at the same time. Sudados socks. Feet. Airport stress. And cheese.

Honestly, I don’t remember much more about that trip. I remember Paris. I remember the plane. And I remember thinking: Some people hate Gruyère. Some people hate blue cheese. In Spain, we have Cabrales, which is basically cheese that looked at normal cheese and said: “No, gracias. I want to become a biological weapon.” A mohoso cheese. A cheese with personality. Too much personality.

Anyway. Last week we talked about smells, food, strange tastes and things that people love or hate. But this week… We are going to talk about something different. Something that people hate… sometimes. Something that may also oler un poco mal. Work. Jobs. Bosses. Clients. Emails. Meetings. And that beautiful moment when you look at your job and think: Esto huele mal.

And we’ll do it with a scene from Narcos, because apparently grammar is easier when Pablo Escobar is surrounded by smoke and lights.

You don’t have to speak, just listen if you like. At the beginning. But join. ¿no?

Un saludo, Mónica

Cheese, Smells & Spanish — The Vocabulary That Sticks

  • el olor — the smell
  • esto huele mal — this smells bad / something’s wrong
  • mohoso/a — moldy / mouldy
  • el queso — cheese
  • el compartimento superior — the overhead locker/bin
  • la maleta — suitcase
  • sudados — sweaty (sudado/a = past participle of sudar, to sweat)
  • No, no era cocaína. — No, it wasn’t cocaine. (Context: always clarify on a plane.)
  • oler un poco mal — to smell a little bad
  • No, gracias. — No, thank you. (Universal. Essential.)

The genius of this email is the pivot: from cheese smell → to work smell. Esto huele mal works for both. That’s how real language works — one phrase, infinite applications.

Spanish cheese vocabulary bonus: Cabrales is a real Spanish blue cheese from Asturias — intense, pungent, and deeply beloved. If you’re ever in Spain, try it. Bravely.

In La Tribu (The Spanish Tribe), stories like this are how we learn. Not drills. Stories. Because your brain remembers cheese on a plane long after it forgets verb conjugations.

👉 Download the free Spanish booklets | Join La Tribu

Besos, Mónica — your Pale Hispanic from MadriZ

— Monica Bernabe Perez