An Insight to a new life in Spain
What is it about Spain that attracts so many foreigners to want to holiday or live here. Is it just the warm weather?
Take a look to the horizon, not a
gas works or cooling tower in sight only Craggy mountains, where eagles
soar or vast plains packed with blossoming produce. The countryside
is speckled with white villages and farms set against a backdrop of
crystal blue sky. Terraces cut into the sides of the Sierras by the
Moors over a thousand years ago sprout olives, grapes and almonds. The
builders must have worn crampons or been related to goats when you see
how high and steep some of them are. The almond blossom in the January
sun set against the snow covered peaks must be the doorway to heaven.
In spring gently undulating plains of corn, jumbled up with hundreds
of square kilometres of grapes, vegetables and even cotton spread for
as far as the eye can see, surely the worlds biggest garden. We haven't
even had the beach scene yet.
This must be it then. Not just warm sunshine but also dramatic landscapes,
passionate music, friendly non aggressive people who know how to enjoy
their short lives to the full. Mañana means tomorrow in the dictionary
but in reality it means at some undetermined time in the future when
I feel like it. Try it while you are here. Throw away your watch, lose
your sense of time. Enjoy every precious second you only have fourteen
days of this before returning to hell.
Starting in the province of Huelva, on the Portuguese border, the soft golden sand just goes on and on until the windy corners of Tarifa. Turning the corner past Algeciras it turns to a greyer, stonier hue with a slightly different texture. It stays like this all the way to Benidorm where it reverts back to not quite a gold but a pale ochre until Perpignan on the French border. (Forget about the north coast for a while). Beaches often miles long but occasionally broken into smaller coves with higher cliffs such as the Eastern Costa del Sol. Spattered nowadays with regimental rows of sun beds in front of many Merenderos serving paella and the fresh fish, prawns and salads washed down with a cool crisp bottle of white Albariño wine.
The islands, varied lumps of limestone or lava jutting up from the blue blue Med. in a huge range of shapes and sizes. Some infinitely more accessible than others but all leaving you breathless from the dramatic beauty of their shores and inner parts.
Now we begin to increase our awareness
as to why their natives are so relaxed about everything. They know it
will all be the same again tomorrow, so why hurry, enjoy it to the full.
Eat, sleep, be merry. Time for lunch, then time to enjoy Spain's finest
invention, the siesta. Once accustomed, never to be let go.
The Spaniards have only been free to democratically determine their
own future since the death of Franco in the mid 1970's. The new generation
are still discovering and learning what to do with all this so called
freedom. Experimenting with new ways and principals. Attacking new projects
with unsurpassed enthusiasm. Retaining the strengths of family unity
the backbone of Spain. Respect for older people and their experience,
but still retaining a healthy degree of anarchy.
One way streets are a good example of what we mean by mild disrespect of law and order. They are of course to be driven up one way, any way but only one way at a time. Driving is a passion to be enjoyed as fast and as noisily as possible. How can you enjoy the thrill of speeding on your moped when you have to wear a crash hat, simple don't wear one. Of course there are pooper scoopers everywhere for your pets business and every Spaniard uses them religiously. Not.
Despite that there are very few close circuit cameras in Spain, you can walk through the middle of Malaga or Madrid on a Saturday night right through the youngsters having a chat and a drink and be completely safe. The big cities of Spain are still populated by groups of families. There are not so many transients. Everyone is loved by someone no matter how handicapped. Everyone knows everybody else. The bad apples are known and coupled with the fact that everyone in Spain has an identity card, with photo and fingerprints. Plus every Spanish citizen is registered at the Town Hall means it is much easier to detect any trouble. The result being that there is substantially less crime. Read our tips about the Crime that does exist here. If ladies would not carry a handbag, it would practically end crime in Spain.
Spain is not driven by the need to make money just to exist miserably on the breadline. Families help each other with money and housing. Not just your immediate family but 3 or 4 generations including the 4th or 5th cousins. Weddings make enormous affairs, some say too expensive, but all the family chip in to help out. Personal debt other than recently acquired smallish mortgages is very low in Spain. Most folks do not use credit cards, the average wage is only €900 a month. People work for fun or just to earn enough to contribute to the family coffers. Major corporations are a bit thin on the ground in Spain. Badly managed Pension Funds do not control what happens on the street or in Government. Spain is a true democracy in that the people pretty much manage themselves, Government doesn't get in the way. This means that foreigners can live here as a couple very comfortably on €10.000 a year. With €15.000 you can live like a king.
The result is a country full of friendly, loving, caring and fun to be with people. They are passionate about their country, their traditions, football of course and their heroes. They do not dwell too much on what has passed as it was too terrible to remember. Only in 1958 were there still running sewers in the streets. They look forward not in a five year business plan sense, more on a day to day direction of good things only getting better. They have much enthusiasm about matters that interest them and will have a go at almost anything. Day to day life is therefore not so stressful and can be enjoyed to the full in all departments. If it needs to take a little longer then so be it. Life is too short to bust a gut.
Spain doesn't have old colonies to fund, house or manage. Government can concentrate on making Spain the economic powerhouse and holiday and retirement centre of Europe. It is already, it won't stop as everyone wants to live or visit where it is warm. Income from tourism and agriculture is real income not invisible. It generates cash, lots of it. When you add this to the substantial grants from Brussels over the last ten years to build her infrastructure she is a wealthy country. A big change from the terrors of the civil war. A big country with a big future.
The population of Spain at the last census was approximately 40 million people inhabiting a country that is eight times bigger geographically than England. This figure includes Spanish citizens and registered foreigners. However, this figure does not represent a true picture of how many people are in the country at any one time or where they are. During the balmy winters, there are some 2 million visitors here. In the busiest weeks at Christmas , Easter and July/August there are up to 11 million all concentrated in the cooler coastal areas. When you then add the 30% of the Spanish population heading for the coast to escape the intense city heat, you have an enormous number of sweaty bodies competing for towel space, parking and a bed. There are never enough to go round and it never stops growing by at least 2.6% annually. It's been like that for over 45 years now and is bound to continue in the same vein as more and more people want more sunshine.
An enormous amount of investment has been and continues to be ploughed into infrastructure projects, transport, ring roads, new motorways, drains, parks, beach improvements, parking, hotels and properties. But it is always playing catch up. The local press is full of forthcoming projects for new this and new that as each town struggles to keep up. The investment cost is shared by National Government and by partially self governing regions (Mancommunidades) of which there are 18 throughout Spain, including all the islands. Each Mancommunidad is broken down into Provinces (Provincias) and each Province is broken down into Main Towns and villages. Every city, town and village throughout Spain has a local mayor (Alcalde), democratically elected by the local people. He is a very powerful person. It is the mayor who can make an enormous difference to the safety and quality of his domain. He could also be feathering his own nest by granting local contracts to the businessmen within his circle of family and friends. The quality of local services, attractions, beach or street cleaning, parking, etc depend on the administrative and management skills of the Mayor and his team.
For matters such as National Police, Hospitals and Planning Authorities etc. each town and village may fall under the wing of a nearby larger town. But for local planning permissions and facilities the local mayor has the most say. The mayor normally represents a National Political Party (Partido Popular or PP are the current party in government . They are right wing but probably more like the labour party in the UK. The PSOE are a bit like old labour and the IU are more communist). Mayors are not normally trained Economists or expert Politicians. They are normally local businessmen, lawyers or accountants. Some even double as a beer salesman or a hospital nurse.
You may be familiar with the antics of the now dead mayor of Marbella on the Costa del Sol, Jesus Gil. Who as a businessman decided with others to form his own political party with the only objective of exploiting the property opportunities in the area. Having done a great job in cleaning up the area and make it a much safer, cleaner, crime and drug free smallish town. He then developed it very rapidly into a very chic city. He ripped down green belt land to build huge housing schemes and built skyscraper blocks way over the maximum permitted height irrespective of the regional and national planning regulations. But his administrative and management skills were marvelous. An example how rife capitalism can be when politics are kept out of the equation. Regretfully he also didn't pay the town hall staff social security contribution to the national government for most of his 11 years in power leaving many town hall employees wondering about the security of their pensions. He also used town hall funds to sponsor his own football team in Madrid (Atletico Madrid). We quote the Gil scenario to inform Members that the mayor has great influence over local matters and if he is good and honest and efficient you can see it as soon as you arrive in town. Look for the number of moped riders wearing safety helmets, the overall cleanliness, street lighting and the number of well maintained green areas and clear directional signs. There will be a good balance between safety, the number of properties and facilities for people to enjoy.
There are three types of Police Force in Spain- The Guardia Civil are responsible for Highways, Coastlines, Immigration and Drug Traffic, recognisable by their green uniform. The National Police responsible for crime, they wear blue uniforms marked with Policia Nacional, but many are in plain clothes. The Local Police who are responsible for all local matters including serving parking tickets, sorting out neighbourly disputes about practically anything, they also wear blue uniforms marked with Policia Local. They all carry guns. Nowadays there are local protection groups for minor policing (Proteccion Civil) and in the summer months most beaches will have a lifeguard (Vigilante de la Playa). Phone Reporting- Telephone your report (denuncia) about a crime, a loss or theft to this number 902 102 112 in your own language. Then visit the the station the next day to sign your report.You will need a copy of this report for when claiming against your insurance company. Try and avoid becoming embroiled in any matters to do with the courts even as a witness, they are exceedingly inefficient and time consuming and often achieve nothing. If a neighbour is causing a consistent problem, which continues even after a polite request, simply threaten a denuncia. If this doesn't work go to the local police station and make a verbal denuncia. If that doesn't work then go to the juzgado de guardia to make formal charges. You and the denounced person will both have to appear in front of the judge. Your consulate is only there as a source of local information and occasionally they will help distressed persons But they are not there to solve personal matters. British Passports can be renewed by the main consul in Madrid.
Investment from the National and Regional Governments for police, schools, hospitals, street lighting, adult education, job creating projects, water treatment and supplies and electricity is dependent on the number of citizens and residents who are registered (Empadronado) at the Local Town Hall. Whilst it is the law for all Spanish citizens, foreign residents and property owners to be registered many do not bother.
Approximately fifty percent of coastal properties are holiday homes used the whole year round by a constant stream of visitors changing every couple of weeks but with no resident registered for the Property. This means that there will only ever be half of the required services and infrastructure. A sore point with many foreigners who are continually complaining about the lack of police for example. Yet it is the foreigners causing this lack by not registering in the first place. It is of no risk for tax purposes. You don't have to have a residents permit or live here for more than 6 months of the year. It would so help improve matters if property owners would register. It is a simple procedure. Take your Passport and NIE (Foreigners number-Número de Identidad de Estranjeros) and a copy of your electricity bill to the local Town Hall and ask to be Empadronado. Within 48 hours the local police will visit to confirm you live there, even if it is only for a couple of weeks. Show them your passport and that's that. For every person registered the Town Hall receives 60 Euros plus an increase in infrastructure allocations. When the population reaches 25.000 the town qualifies for its own hospital.
Dealing with the foreign community can vary in attitude and efficiency from Town to Town. The more interest the local mayor takes in creating a harmonious neighbourhood for all of his population and the more experience he has at doing so can influence the quality of life here. Foreign Property Owners from the EU who are registered at the Town Hall (Empadronado) who also have a Residents Permit (Tarjeta de Residencia) are entitled to vote for local mayors and the Euro MP. As many towns now have a larger percentage of foreigners they are slowly forming a more important share of the vote. Mayors in these areas are having to be more aware of their quality of services and their communications to foreigners. Visit the Foreigners Department (If they have one that's a good start) at the Town Hall and enquire about their action plans for the area. Visit the local Health Clinic and see if there are any translators around to help you. If experiences are good then it's probably a good place to live.
Making a complaint
If you are not satisfied with a product or a service, or feel that you have been overcharged, you can ask to see the Hoja de Reclamación (Complaint Sheet). All businesses are obliged to have one. There are 3 copies on which you should fairly describe the facts about your dissatisfaction. Take 2 of the copies (The business keeps the 3rd) to the OMIC, the local Consumers Office (Oficina Municipal de Información al Consumidor). The business has 10 days to respond to the complaint and if not can be liable to a fine (multa) of up to €5.000. There are further actions to be taken but frankly if you are very serious about taking matters further go and see your lawyer.