Spanish views from a small town

If you were to find a tightly wrapped package ensconced in plastic, bobbing in the tranquil waters of the beach you chose to cool off, what would you do? First of all, would you recognize it for what it was? Would you take it home?  It seems most of the bathers at the beach of Pedregalejo, in the province of Málaga, knew exactly what they were dealing with. Literally. The life guard noticed an opened package bobbing in the water and tried to pull it in onto the sand. Someone near him saw what it was and the life guard was elbowed out. He was told to get out of the way to stay safe. Tens of people were reaching into the package, pulling out small, hard, squares that were tightly wrapped in plastic. Some filled their small coolers. One woman wrapped several in a t-shirt and left with it, only to come back in a little while wearing a different t-shirt. As many packets as possible were pulled out and spirited away. By the time the police appeared, alerted by the life guard, there was...

Pokedada : Pokemon and quedada (meeting) rolled into one. That's what happened yesterday in Madrid's Parque del Retiro. Hundreds of Pokemon players gathered there to catch Pokemons. Scared of the ultimate damage that might ensue upon lawns, flower beds, bushes, trees, and historical buildings, the mayor tried to get the gathering moved to Puerta del Sol, an area encased in stone, cement, and asphalt. Above all, there's a good amount of police patrolling the area all day and night , and it would avoid any accidental drowning in the small lake at the park. But the crowd decided to mostly remain in the Retiro . It was too hot for asphalt. Here, in my little town , young people have also been found st aring at their cell phones as they move in a trance-like state. They've always done so to a certain ext ent , but with this game that has be en upgraded to a more common state o f being. Fights and disagreements have popped up over a color ful image showing up on mo re...

This is an odd summer. Except for about three or four scattered days, we have had warm and sunny weather since the end of last month. These past few years we haven't had summery weather until a couple of weeks at the end of summer and scattered days in the middle. But, this year, the number of forest fires doesn't seem to be as high as other years, even with the sun and warm temperatures. And now, this is where I cross my fingers and knock on wood. Yesterday afternoon was an exception. Some time after seven, we heard a helicopter fly overhead. There are four types of helicopters in our local skies. One is the medicalized ambulance helicopter, another is the hated Tráfico machine with the radar gun, a third is the police helicopter, and the fourth is the yellow or red helicopter that is used by firefighters. The one we heard yesterday was the yellow one. We went out the back, and we could see dark puffs of smoke punctuating the blue sky above the hill. It was drifting up from...