The Coast Of Corruption And Broken Dreams

The Coast Of Corruption And Broken Dreams

While in Spain, we visited Torremolinos, a city on the Sun Coast. One of the first things I saw were multiple construction cranes standing still over what would soon be high-rise condominiums or major beach resorts. Since the late 90’s the Sun Coast on the Mediterranean in the south of Spain has experienced a huge construction boom. Three million houses have been built in Spain over the last four years, and more than half of these homes were built on the coast. Forty percent of all European construction is taking place in Spain.
While walking the main strip along the beach, I took a look at ads on window fronts of retail sales offices for luxurious condominiums I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t one of these properties be a nice reward for a retiree after working hard his entire life?”

While in Torremolinos, I saw a CNN presentation called “Costa Del Con” about corruption involving local politicians and real estate companies.. The sad thing was that the corruption wasn’t exposed until after the construction was complete and the building had residents. Now that all this corruption is finally being exposed, many of these buildings are facing demolition, leaving the occupants very worried and not knowing what they did wrong or why they are being punished for other people’s bad business ethics.
During “Costa Del Con” a man named Francisco Bugallall, a retiree from Madrid, was interviewed. Bugallall bought an ocean front condominium for a pretty hefty price of just under 300,000 euros at a resort named Banana Beach in Marbella. The Banana Beach Resort is facing demolition because it was built on top of protected public land. When Francisco was asked what he would do if the court order goes through and his home is demolished, he said, “Well, I can’t really imagine it. They would have to take me out with the machines with the cranes, or a squad of police. I’ll lock myself inside the flat.”

I found the sales website for the Banana Beach Resort, and they are still trying to make money by renting and selling units. There was no mention about the building having a court order to be demolished. Right now during peak season, the least expensive condo starts at 700 euros a night. This translates to 980 American dollars. The most expensive condo is going for more than 1150 euros a night. You had to visit the sales office in person to get the prices to buy a condo. These rental prices surprised me considering all the heat this property is facing.

It turns out Bugallall is not the only person whose home is facing demolition. Thirty thousand apartments originally approved by the Marbella city council are now being condemned. Another reason these buildings are being condemned is they were built too close to public highways. Marbella’s problems of construction corruption arose 15 years ago when a mayor who is now dead wanted to bring more tourism and money to the city. Many real estate companies were interested in developing Marbella because of its potential to become a popular vacation destination for wealthy northern Europeans. Even though real estate companies invested in the city, the city treasury is now bankrupt and the city council has been dissolved. This hasn’t happened in modern times. Many public officials are facing charges including but not limited to granting permission to build on nature reserves and other land protected from development; manipulation of public tenders; accepting bribes; and illegal price fixing. Three of these suspected criminals are Mayor Marisol Yague, her Deputy Mayor Isabel Garcia Carlos, and City Planning Advisor Juan Antonio Roca. Police exposed these politicians when a March of 2005 investigation found drug-related money laundering by people with ties to the Russian mafia who had funneled more than 600 million euros into the booming property development sector of Marbella.

Soon, more detective work revealed that the scandal led to these members of the local government. Since the city council has been dissolved, a criminal lawyer named Diego Martin is the city’s administrator until new elections are held. When Martin was asked how much money was missing, he said, “It’s difficult to say how much money exactly, but we’re talking about properties that have grown to a value of 2.4 billion euros. Mind you, that’s only what we can see. We suspect several billion more should have gone to the council, but didn’t.” Police raided Garcia Carlos’s home and found about 350,000 euros inside. She claimed that only a very small portion was hers and that the rest was her daughters, given to her by her grandparents. When being interviewed, Garcia Carlos was asked if she ever took money or bribes that weren’t hers while she was a council member. She said, “Never, ever will anybody be able to say that I received any money illegally from any source or for any motive. They simply won’t be able to prove it.”

Although I think the outlook for bugallall’s home looks pretty grim, supposedly there is some buyer’s protection. In Spain, there is a thing called “public faith in the registry.” Some local lawyers consider that this principle establishes that a person who purchases a home believing the data in the local registry is valid and must be allowed to retain ownership. Also, there was a news article online that interviewed Manuel Martin, the Dean of the College of Registrars for Property in Western Andalucia, and he said, “The mortgage law in Spain protects the rights of property oweners who buy property in good faith, based on the information contained in the public registry at the time. It would also mean that a building could only be knocked down unless all the individual owners were denounced, and that it could be proved that they knew the license granted for the building was null.”

Since Bugallall and other tenants of the Banana Beach Resort have hired a lawyer named Jose Cocien, but it looks like all this mess could take the courts years to resolve. When asked what he thought the court’s decision would be, Cocien said, “It’s a political problem, and when you’re talking about politics, you never know.”

My bad experience in valencia 7/10/07

Well my excursion to find the holy grail was successful but I had a horrible experience fifteen minutes before it was time to get on the bus and head back to the hotel. I had gone into a book store while we had free time because I wanted to bring my dad a book for his birthday. I was happy that it took me less than five minutes to find a book I was pretty sure he would like. He told me he wanted to learn more about the Spanish civil war before I left and that he wanted me to learn as much as I could about it. So I bought him a book about a news reporter who became a spy and triple agent during the war. It looked interesting and he has read things like that before so I figured he would enjoy it. It was in Spanish but I know he has read books in Spanish before so I think he shouldn't have any problems with it.

I vividly remember making sure I had my wallet coming out of the book store I would constantly pat my my pocket to make sure I felt the outline of my wallet in my pocket through out the trip while we were walking the streets. It was soon time to get on the bus and I wanted something to drink. I saw a drink stand serving something that looked like horchata I wanted to try it. I reached inside my pocket to get my wallet before approaching the stand all I could feel was empty space. I didnt want to panick but started to because I never put my wallet anywhere but in my right front pocket. I franticly started to check other pockets with no luck. I gave a small sigh of distress and came to the realization I wasn't going to see my wallet again.

At first I tried not to get mad that I got pick pocketed. I was actually a little impressed that somebody made my wallet disapear with out me having the slightest idea it was gone. It was pretty slick. I knew I had to find Gary as soon as possible if I were that somebody who stole my wallet I would rack up the credit cards as fast as I could. I know all my credit card acounts by memory but I left the phone numbers to the credit cards in my suitcase. Luckily Gary had some phone numbers for credit cards with him and they were able to find the bank I have my cards with.

Gary really came through for me that afternoon. I didnt want to have to deal with being on hold and having to speak with representatives that probably didn't speak much English. Gary got all of my information and took care of everything for me.He made me laugh even though I was in a sour mood telling me what a hassel it was having to deal with the representatives.

I always have to learn things the hard way, its just the way I am. It's very seldom I listen to wise people when they have something to tell me that will benefit me. Next time I travel abroad I will definitly use that uncomfortable under clothing wallet I bought so this unwanted experience doesn't happen again.

While we were in Barcelona, Barcelona's soccer team was playing Madrids soccer team in Madrid for the championship. You could tell most of the city was watching the game because the streets were pretty quiet there wasant much traffic at all. I could feel the excitement in the air as I stepped outside to see if I could see any of the fireworks going off I was hearing from my room. Gary our tour guide was glued to the tv watching the game he was going for Madrid because thats where he was from. A couple minutes after I was outside Gary ran outside jumping up and down with excitement he told me "Real Madrid Won were champions". As soon as he finished that sentence he was on the phone with friends in Madrid singing what I think were victory chants that the team sings after wining games.

The next day you could tell most of Barcelona was very disapointed. While walking the crowded Gary "whispered to me look how disapointed everyone looks I wish I had my Real Madrid team flag so I could go running through the streets with it but I wouldn't dare because I would probably get my butt kicked" When I was standing still for a moment I could hear peoples conversations in spanish talking about the game. The things I understood most was how frustrated the people were because Barcelona was leading through out most of the game. Also people were talking about which players are going to be playing again next year and how they thought the team needed to adapt to have another chance at a championship next year.

Another conversation I had and this one was all in Spanish because he didn't speak any english was with the tour guide Gary was training in Madrid our first night in Spain. Im sorry I dont remember his name because he was a nice guy. I sat next to him and Gary at the Museo de Vino and it came up that Gary was cuban like me. Gary told me that his friend had just come back from a trip to Cuba not to long ago. I asked him what his impressions were and if he thought I should go to Cuba.Im glad I understood all of his response in Spanish He told me that Havana where he was staying was very beautiful but that it was a little annoying that there are all these people hanging around the hotels trying to get you to go places they wanted you to visit he said they were very persistant. Also he said that he didn't feel all that safe he was often approached by pimps trying to keep their employees busy and when he wasn't intereted he said they got a little hostel. Im glad he told me this because I would like to visit my distant family in Havana one day and now I have an idea of what to expect if I visit any of the touristy areas which I probably would.

How this travel abroad experience has changed me

The most obvious way this experience has changed me personally is I now have a much greater appreciation for my home the great state of Texas. Within the first week of being gone I was already missing soaking up the burning Texas sun and barbequing poolside at my friend Ken's house. I never want to leave Texas for more than 2 and a half weeks again. Another way I can see that this has changed me is I kind of have an envy for the way Spanish people live. I hate having to be on a schedule and I felt like nobody there was on a schedul. Stores were open when they wanted to be open and closed when they wanted to be closed. Denise told me having to be on schedule was part of growing up but I still dont like it and am going to avoid it. I would see a guys with two or three beautiful girls sitting at cafes sipping coffe and bottled water. Hours later I would pass by again and they were still there relaxing. How Nice! Those people know how to relax maybe a little bit to much,but still I think they have a much better quality of life than we do. I have noticed that after coming home from school I eat lunch and take a 3 or 4 hour siesta like the Spanish do. It's to hot to do anything else anyway.

One thing that I did enjoy even though it meant being on a schedule was all the hands on learning experience. It was much more interesting and rewarding to go see an actual painting displayed in a museum than to just read about it in a book and see a picture that does the painting no justice. Instead of just reading about the spanish and thir culture I got to see what they looked like and I got to talk to some of them. Instead of reading a recepie in a cook book and giving a risky attempt to make it, I could walk across the street and have a professional prepare it for me.

The main way this trip has changed my views on the world is I thought everyone was going to be very cold toward us because we were Americans. Some were but it was only when we deserved it. People would only tease me about being an American in a jokingly way. I loved it when the spanish females would call me Yankee because their accent made the word yankee sound so funny. Within a couple of days I relaized everyone didnt hate us and I felt very comfortable in Spain. I didnt think that there would be so much American Influence in Spain I knew I would see Mc Donalds but I was surprised to see a lot of other fast food chains there as well. I was shocked to hear more songs that they play in America and that Im very familiar with than songs that I wasn't while I was drinking beer in bars or writing and checking email in the cyber cafes.

Im very glad Palo Alto gave me the opportunity to travel to Spain. I am almost certain that if it wasn't for Palo Alto I may have never gotten the chance to visit Spain.This experience has made me want to travel outside of the United States more, just not for three weeks at a time. I hope A.C.C.D. continues to offer their students these great opportunities to enhance there education and lives.

Goya's Third of May 7/8/07

While visiting the Prado in Madrid, we got the chance to view many of Goya's paintings. I had never really heard of Goya before visiting the Prado. I now have a new appreciation for the artist.I even went to go pay my respect and visited his tomb on the last day of my trip. One of Goyas most famous pieces of work titled the"Third of May 1808"painted during the year of 1814. The painting is a piece of art displaying Goya's theme against war. In the painting, innocent civilians are being murdered by Napoleon's troops. Lots of interesting things went into Goya's painting for example one thing that brings your focus to the painting is a man in a white shirt with a look of horror on his face as he is about to be killed. His hands are spread out. Some say Goya did this on purpose to resemble the image of Jesus Christ being Crucified. Also, the image of the white shirt displays the innocence of the civilian. It was interesting that Goya never really showed the face of the soldiers. Perhaps this was done on purpose to illustrate that these soldiers were not human but instead killing machines. Although this painting is very popular, it is not my favorite. During Goya's later years in life, he went deaf.During this period Goya painted a different style and it was labled Goyas dark paintings. I favor these dark paintings because they are more imaginative and gruesome than Goya's early worksof painting royalty and bright colorful pictures. My favorite dark painting is labled "Saturn Devouring His Son",painted in 1819.I liked it because there was such detail in the crazed look on Saturns face and there was lots of gore in the painting. I found it interesting that Goya did not name this painting. It was named after his death by others. Im glad I visited the Prado because it introduced me to new painters that I had not heard of before and probably never would have heard of if I hadnt taken the time to visit the beautiful museum.

How Gaudi breaks from traditional spanish artistic traditions

Gaudi breaks traditional spanish architecture in many ways. First, Gaudi´s work isn´t as pretentious as most of the spanish architecture Ive seen so far. Most of the homes he designed don't take up a couple city blocks such as the Palacio Real I saw in Madrid. Although not as much detail went into the stone work, there is always lots of color and twists and turns in such things as the chimneys. I liked all the different colored tile that make up the homes. It gives Gaudi's work a psychadelic look. I was also very impressed by the Sagrada Familia church, even though I only saw it from the outside. To me, the huge church looks like a royal crown. I have a feeling Gaudi knew he wouldn't live to see it fully completed. The cranes are still there adding to the construction. I wonder when the church is scheduled for completion. I ever make the trip again I would want to see the church lit up at night. I've seen pictures of it in postcards,and the light adds more appeal to the already beautiful church.

Today I´m Indiana Jones

We have arrived in Valencia.What a gorgeous city! A lot of the cities here remind me of Miami. The only difference is that a lot more time,effort and thought went into the architecture. The time qualifications for the Americas Cup sail boat racing is going on along the coast here as I speak. I overheard that the Holy Grail is somewhere in town and one of my favorite movies is "Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade".I feel like I have to find where it´s location is to experience what Indiana Jones was going through looking for such a treasure. It´s not going to be easy, I now know why Indiana Jones never traveled on his excursions with females every store we see they have to go in. Sarah seems excited about the Holy Grail so maybe today I might actually see something besides what the local La Cantera looks like.

I also am having a great deal of anxiety trying to get anyone to want to give me a decent rate to exchange dollars to euros. Yesterday in Barcelona,a middle easterner who spoke perfect English was in line in front of me and he was telling me that the value of the dollar is really falling here. I think I´m ready to just break down and see what I can get.

Almost everyone in Barcelona was very disapointed yesterday. Thier soccer team lost the world championship to Madrid the night before. Fireworks were going off all throught the game because Barcelona was up most of the game and at the end the Madrid fans decided to put on a show too. Gary, our tour guide, is from Madrid and I could tell that he wanted to run the streets of Barcelona with his teams flag but he didnt for fear of not making it back safely to meet us for dinner.

My time is running out at the cafe and my stomach is starting to rumble. I saw a cuban restaraunt and wanted to try it but didn´t because I didn´t want to seperate from the group. Soon you will hear how my expedition for the holy grail turned out.