Cafetal, that's the name ! Weird place that was.

SalB, I actually speak Italian and Spanish and while it is true these languages have many similarities, I can assure you that a spanish speaker wouldn't understand much if he is spoken to in Italian at full speed (and vice versa). Now if it's written or if you pronounce every word slowly and clearly, it's another story, but in a normal conversation, it's more complicated.
The fact that i speak Italian with a French accent probably didn't help though.