Lily
and I left Madrid in the morning. We drove south into the flat, parched
tablelands and ancient pine forests of the autonomous region of Castilla-La
Mancha; the southern 'meseta' of Central Spain - an uplifted plain that
rings Iberia as the Colorado Plateau encloses the center of the American
Desert Southwest.
There
is little here, except agriculture and empty plains: vineyards and rows
and rows of olive trees and the saffron crocuses, which have been harvested
here since the age of the Moors. We passed through Ocanà, Guardia, and
finally El Romeral across unparalleled flatness to the west and strange
steepled mesas to the east, fringed by scrublands where hunters shoot
red partridge.
There
are few people in the southern meseta and even fewer animals. Most of
the people have left the country for the city since the end of Franco's
dictatorship (35% of Spain used to live in the city. Now that has risen
to 65%). And the animals have gone the way of the Spanish gun. In Madridejo,
that absence of life became very real as we sped through the narrow and
empty whitewashed alleys.
"Where
is everyone?" I commented.
"Don't
forget its siesta," Lily said. She was right, of course, but outside
these smallest of small towns, the siesta culture is fading as well. When
the Dictator Franco died, King Juan Carlos decided the days of political
monarchy were no longer useful in Europe. "It was his dad, you know,"
Ralph said, "who was responsible for telling the King that a monarchy
just doesn't work anymore."
Spain
elected Gonzales, a socialist who built up the roads and infrastructure.
Since then, the new leader, Jose Maria Aznar, became Europe's last market-based
leader, and multiplied Gonzales' success by changing the focus onto private
business, banking efficiencies and nodding heads from the European community.
Earlier,
I had written to the Castillian Communist Party to ask a few questions.
Sr. Pedro Higuera wrote back with "revolutionary cheers" and told me that
"we are working on a thirty-five hours-in-a-week with no 'salarial' reduction...no
nuclear graveyards in Castilla...no presence of American forces or aircrafts
inside our territory...complete autonomy for our community..."
Most
of Sr. Higuera's comments could be expected from any number of Iberian
leftists, but mention of complete autonomy is common in Spain and a sense
of fierce independence has been a Spanish trait long before biblical times
when people immigrated here to 'the edge of the world' to escape the difficulties
of the organized world to the East. Historically, Spain fought off the
intrusions of the outside world on a local and individual level, preferring
to hit the mountains and defend by striking in surprise in small groups
--the word 'guerilla' was invented in Spain. Today, people still have
a strong distrust for lawyers, judges, institutions and associations.
Windmills of La Mancha
