Spanish views from a small town

Tordesillas is well-known in history. It is where a treaty was signed between Spain and Portugal in 1494 dividing up the globe for colonization purposes. After that Portugal was essentially vetted from South America and could only keep Brazil. From there it went to Africa and the East Indies to establish colonies. Tordesillas is also known as the town where Juana la Loca (Joanna the Insane) was locked up for more than fifty years in the convent of Santa Clara. There, the daughter of the Catholic Monarchs, wife of Phillip Habsburg the Handsome, mother of Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire, and Queen of Castile upon her mother's death, was locked up because she became a political inconvenience, really, rather than for her insanity. Tordesillas is situated on the river Duero, and on the highway that leads to the northwest, as well as the railway. Its industry is mainly tourism and wheat farming. Aside from being a Castilian town of historical importance to Spain and to the world, it...

Some years ago whenever you visited some houses in the surrounding villages, as soon as you walked up to the gate you would be greeted by the intense, deep-toned, frenzied barking of a dog large enough to eat you. Alarmed, you would look around before entering and you would be relieved to see the dog was chained up. Inside the yard, you would see that the dog would be on a long chain, have a couple of old pots nearby with food and water and a place where it could sleep sheltered from the weather. And it would transcend, as the owner talked about what a great watch-dog it was, that the dog lived all its life in that corner of the yard, fed only left-overs or bones. And that was considered normal among villagers that had practicality on their minds. Something similar occurred with cats. They have long been considered working animals and even easier to take care of than dogs. Because cats were free-roaming, living in barns and fields, living off the mice and rats they would hunt. But th...