Ghosts of Spain

Chapter 4-How the Bikini Saved Spain

Benidorm with London and Paris is a symbol of European tourism. Before Benidorm was a village with unspoilt beaches. Now it is full of skyscrapers, hotels like “Bali”, outsiders and old people who want stay there for the rest of their lifes. Thanks to Pedro Zaragoza, the Mayor of Benidorm, you could wear bikini in 1950. The church was against of this and the Government too. On the opposite side is Marbella, a corrupt city. Marbella also is tourism place but here only the rich people come. Benidorm is a city for humble people more than Marbella. The most famous politicals of Marbella are Jesús Gil y Gil and Julián Muñoz who were mayors of Marbella y corrupt people. “La Costa del Sol” is a place where runaways hide. The bikini brounght to Spain the European tourism but black money and curruption have been the consequences.

Chapter 7-Club and Curas.

The prostitution is illegal in Spain but exist. The prostitutes have a ordinary life: they have passport, no blackmail and they have been advertised in the most famous newspapers. Really the most interesting in this chapter is “La Dictadura”. The Church had a lot of power during and after of this era. The media like books, movies, newspapers, etc. suffered the censure and bans which made living difficult. During “La Dictura” the women's and gays' life was a hell: jail sentences for adultery, abuse, poor employment situtation or social contempt. Nowdays the gays' situation has improved for example with the gay marriage but the women's situation haven't improved a lot.

Chapter 8-Men and Children First

Tremlett flatters the Spanish womens for their work when they are mothers: going working, caring for children, etc. Tremlett is surprised by the high rate of doctors who sometimes have to go to another country. However the worst is their speech when they comunicate you a disease because it is difficult to understand. Is a mystery to him the day care in Spain because they didn't accept his son with two years. He doesn't understand why before there was a lot of children in the families and now it's difficult. He also talk about the emancipation of sons, because he has a good relation with his parents he won't leave home until the marriage. Moreover if you don't pay the Cementery tax, they will take out from there. Finally he don't like neighboring comunity because they gossip endlessly.

Chapter 11-The Madness Of Verdaguer

Barcelona has changed. The Catalonians thinks that they are different to the Spaniards: language, architecture and culture. There was a lot of people who were standard of Catalans like Jacint Verdaguer, Jordi Pujol or Pasqual Maragall. They discriminate against inmigrants and Spaniards. This political and the most of Catalans want the independence. Furthermore they use “La Reinaixança” and its writers as a lead of Catalonians and their beliefs. Giles Tremlett talks about the detestation to people of Madrid and the rest of Spain. However not only there were these ideas in Catalonia but also in Andalucia: Anarchism and Independence. The Catalans feel an special rejection of all Spanish. Learning to write Catalan had been banned to Catalonians by General Franco. So they have been annoyed by not learning Catalan.

Chapter 13-Moderns and Ruins.

Pedro Almodóvar comes from a small village where people is demure and puritan so his movies are a bit pornographic and it has a moral false bottom. Spain hate the old so we refeuse it and we want to change all for something new. We escape from the village to the big cities. We believe if we forget all the old, we will advance like other European countries. As we want to be “modernos” we build skyscrapers but we sopil our wonderfull cities. Spain always has been seen like a uncivilized and raw country. They also said that we were different to the rest of Europe, they didn't see future in Spain but not us. However now we run away from de cities to the village. We escape baucause we hate the modern at least I.

Isabel's Recipes

ANDALUSIAN TOMATO SOUP

The Gazpacho was born in Al·Andalus times (Spain). When the peasants worked in the field and was hot they drunk Gazpacho. The peasants used their own vegetables for making it.

This is a recipe very healthy because everything is raw so there isn't cholesterol.

Ingredients for 64 fl. oz. Og Gazpacho:

16-20 tomatoes.

½ onion.

½ green pepper.

½ cucumber.

3 garlics.

A bit of bread.

Oil.

Vinegar.

Salt.

Preparation:

Inside of a jar add chopped tomatoes, onion, green pepper, cucumber and garlics. With a mixer triturate all. Add bread and triturate again. Add salt, oil and vinegar a piacere.

 WILD ASPARAGUS WITH CURED HAM

Ingredients: 

Wild asparagus.

Cured ham.

Pepper.

Pretzels.

Preparation:

Wash the wild asparagus and only use the tips. Boil the asparagus in a container with lightly salted water and then cool. In a pretzel lay a piece of pepper, now pack the asparagus with cured ham and put it besides the pepper. 

And presto!

STUFFED MUSHROOMS

Ingredients:

Mushrooms.

Onion.

Pepper and bell pepper.

Oil.

Fish.

Besamel.

Breadcrumbs.

Preparation:

Cut the feets of mushrooms. Chop the onion together with the peppers.  Cut the fish and do it with the feets of mushrooms and the choped vegetables. Now make a rich mass with it and then we will stuff the cap of mushrooms. Prepare the besamel. Once the mushrooms are stuffed, dip it with the besamel and then with the breadcrumbs. Frey it with a lot of oil and serve it quite hot.

EGGPLANTS WITH CHEESE

Ingredients:

One eggplant.

One tomato.

Bacon.

Cheese.

Oil.

Bread.

Preparation:

Wash the eggplant y cut it sliced. Frey it in a pan with hot oil  and drain it. Wash the tomato and cut it sliced. In a pan with hot oil  frey the bacon. Cut the bread and put it on a slice of tomato, other of eggplant and then of bacon. Cover the "pintxos" with cheese and grill it.

POTATO ALL I OLI

Ingredients:

Four potatoes.

One garlic clove.

"Salsa Mayonesa"

One egg.

3 dl oil

One lemon juice.

Salt.

Preparation:

Wash the potatoes for remove the mud. In a big casserole boil it with the skin potato. When it is cold delete the skin, cut and put it salt. Peel the garlic and reserve it for make the "mayonesa". 

"Salsa Mayonesa"

Put in a recipient a egg and a bit of salt, then add slowly oil while you are moving it. When you get a consistent mass, add the lemon juice. For get the "salsa all i oli" add the minced garlic.

In a bowl mix the potatoes with the "all i oli", and finally add chopped parsley.

Bodies of Evidence & Brenda Linson

B.E

The Germany's Heidelber University used corpses for researching test crashes. They strapped the bodies into a car and hurled them into walls. The society always was reluctant to tolerate this. A company denounced the experiments with children's bodies. Heidelberg pointed out that the expermients never wasn't kept secret. Although adult bodies were supplied by homeless people, children's bodies were used only with permission of families. Furthermore in France and U.S the expermients were made. However the number of cars on road have increased and the vehicle fatality rate in the U.S has decreased. This improvements is due to the introduction of seat belts, air bags,etc.

B.L 

Brenda Linson is an illiterate, for this she never goes anywhere without her empty glasses case ,because she can't read and write and so she hides. Anybody knew it until recently. She had more tactics to conceal her difficulties, for her it's easy do it. The Brenda's children don't know because their parents occult it. Her husband does everything related to bills, notes of school, etc. Although the father travels a lot of, Brenda copes with any situation. Brenda is very successful in her job because there she keeps the secret.