LIVING IN A 'COLOURFUL' NEIGHBOURHOOD ....

---

Google-searching and the Internet are extremely useful - especially looking for accommodation when travelling. You can choose from the written reviews and from the pictures, but unless you've seen the neighbourhood before you get there, you don't quite know what to expect.

Hence the title 'colourful'neighbourhood' in the title. The Hostal I live in is really a family-run hotel and the owners and their family all live there as well. It's comfortable and secure. However, depending on the time of day, neighbourhoods can change their clothes. This discovery was made when I got completely lost (how else would I be?) coming home at 10pm from a wander through the throngs out shopping.

The plaza I needed to walk through to reach my hotel, is not the same at night! There are so many 'working girls' and prospective clients - it's a very different feeling to during the day. I decided to find another way home, and ended up spending 3/4 of an hour trying to find someone who had heard of the small street on which I live. Eventually, when a policeman in front of a hotel was telling me he'd never heard of the street, an old man who lives on this street gave me directions on how to get there. By this time, there were very few people abroad and I was very thankful to open the door to the hostal and go up to my room.Have since read a newspaper article, that this neighbourhood is in the throes of changing from a mix of normal locals and brothels, to a much more up-market area and the contrasts are becoming obvious.

In the local neighbourhoods, where the tourists don't normally go, the streets are very narrow and cobblestoned. More often than not, they are only a car-width wide which can cause problems. Often the driver of a car wants to buy something in a shop, but there's no parking. So the car is left in the street, with the engine running and the hazard lights on (sometimes), leaving the following cars to form a haphazard and very noisy queue until he returns and moves off. The small local buses are often quaint, narrow and well suited to these streets.

These same streets are washed and swept clean every morning - they accumulate grime quickly because the locals only have the streets outside their their apartments for their outdoor life and the numerous dogs lead the same lifestyle. I've seen as many as 4 dogs all on the same main lead, being exercised in the streets! Mostly they are groomed, exercised and well-cared for with only the occasional stray.

There are many more poor and homeless on the streets than 2 years ago. It's hard to maintain a positive outlook when you see so much poverty around and it's not possible to give to all those you see. In my neighbourhood, there is a very large local hall where, every evening, a long queue begins to form at least an hour before the doors open to provide an evening meal for all who come there.

The other day, the ATM inside one of the banks 'swallowed' my card when I was trying to withdraw money. You can't imagine the resulting angst I felt! The bank officer (with bad grace) retrieved my card from the machine, checked something on the computer and told me that this card couldn't be used anymore, as he proceeded to cut it up!! I don't know how anyone in this situation manages, if they aren't able to navigate at least some of the intricacies of the language. Thank goodness for a supportive family at home and enough Spanish to find a Locutorio (a place to make international calls) in order to call home and have it sorted for me.

During my wandering through the neighbourhoods, I've spotted the local postwomen delivering mail here. It's very different to how we do it at home. They do not deliver mail on a motorbike - rather they push a mailcart through the streets and into appartment buildings to deliver the assorted mail. And if it's raining, they wear wet-weather gear. Here it still applies - the mail is delivered in all types of weather.

Well, I need to find my evening meal and 'un vaso de vino' to end another lovely day here. I will soon be moving on down to Toledo and my language school, so I'll say goodnight to my family and friends.

Love you all,

Your 'oh so fortunate' wandering Ibu

---