The Bonanova Okupa Protests

These last 3 weeks my walks to school have been distracted by the large, bulky building occupied by the Catalonian squatters, or, the Okupas. The Okupas are a group of "hippies" who have taken over a building in the middle of the Barcelonan square, Bonanova, and have refused to pay rent. Locals are enraged and have gotten the government involved in the dilemma, leading to weeks of tension and police presence.

The problem:

Bonanova is home too many happy families, authentic businesses, and 3 different schools (including La Salle, my university). Children aged 5-24 constantly pass by the Okupas building, which, wouldn't be a problem if there weren't swear words, drugs and constant hardcore music coming from the complex. Not to mention barbed wire, stolen street signs, etc. The people surrounding the neighborhood despise the Okupas causing a final protest last Friday around the square. Many called for forceful action to take place, however, police never actually went into the building, causing a standstill and extending the tension in the area.Spanish laws protect the squatters from being forced out of their shelters and while there have already been skirmishes and violent run-in's between the Okupas and the police, hardly anything has changed and the squatters remain inside the building.

My view on the dilemma:

I've heard various debates supporting both sides. Some side with the Okupas, saying "What happens when their kicked out, where are they going to go". This reminded me of the similar squatting laws in San Francisco during the covid outbreak. Not long ago my family faced a life altering problem with a squatting renter in our residence. Without going into detail, my family and I have developed a deep hatred for these types of people. The Okupas are working class people, they have the money they need, or if they don't, they can easily find jobs around Barcelona to afford decent housing. At this point, the only reason they are continuing to defend their shelter is to prove a point to the government. Essentially stating, "I can do whatever I want, and you can't stop me" and so far, it's worked.

Schools have been closed on numerous occasions, protests are common and violence has ensued on multiple occasions. Spanish laws prevent Spanish officers from entering the complex forcefully, but I think this is the only way to solve the problem if the government wants to maintain safety and fairness in the city of Barcelona.

Thanks for listening

An American Onlooker

Morocco with the mates

Best Impressions: Everything's Cheap, Beautiful Orange Buildings to Match the Setting, Music and Performances Around the Clock, Mint Tea

Worst Impressions: Hot and Dry Weather, Constant Harassment from Store Owners, The Food Choices Similar in every Restaurants

Morocco has always been a mystery to me. Myriam, my childhood babysitter was born in Morocco and always spoke of her country and family, but that was as far as my knowledge of this NorthWest African country went. When my friend, Jacob, mentioned the idea of visiting I immediately jumped at the opportunity and we quickly found student programs to tour the country cheaply. Marrakesh, the Atlas Mountains and the Merzouga desert with everything in between, all in 4 days.

Tuesday was our first and only day in Marrakesh. A beautiful, but small city in the middle of Morocco. We were shocked to find that temperatures would reach over 40 commonly. The day was spent walking through narrow streets and across the city center where monkey and snake owners would look for any chance to scam you into holding their pets. It was difficult to enjoy yourself without getting scammed, especially as a white male, but our female friends were getting constantly physically and emotionally harassed which was obviously disheartening. I believe this is because they were not wearing the custom hijab that Arabic women are directed to wear by their religion. (An interesting fact - The long dark body suits women wear in the summer actually serve to cool them down. They sweat and the water turns the air funneling through their bodysuit into a cooling device)

The next morning we were picked up by our tour guide and started our tour of the Atlas mountains. Unreal viewpoints, filled with more green passages and creeks than I would've ever expected paved the roads and mountain sides. A constant breeze made the 6 hour van ride to Las Dades bearable, barely. Jacob (Polish), Even (Norweign/Eritrean) and I were looking for hotel pools along the ride to cool off until we finally came across the town of Ourzazate, the scene of the arena in Gladiator. During lunch we quickly ran across to a nice pool and jumped in. Only when we were leaving did hotel owners realize what was happening and started chasing us before we disappeared into the crowd of tourists buying trinkets and hijabs.

From Las Dades we finally entered the sandy area of the desert, the Dunes of Merzouga. Hightop orange mountains littered the horizon, smooth like ice cream or silk. The breeze brought crystal-like bits of sand to bite at our legs or arms, but who were we to complain, if the camels could deal with it so could we. The camel ride was long and bumpy but we finally got to the our destination, a smooth slope with a lone sand board at the top. I was one of the only ones to try the sand board on my feet, and, while it wasn't exactly smooth, I made it to the bottom without falling. The difficult part was climbing back up through soft sand, it felt like you were sinking further at every step.

That night we got to our desert camp. We washed off and ate dinner before a Moroccon show and dance. There were drums, costumes and lots of singing. Of course the Moroccon's saw a long, lanky Oliver and decided to pick on me to dance in front of the 120 people in the camp. I did my best before everyone else followed and before I knew it the entire camp was dancing in unison to the Moroccon drums. Definitely a life moment.

The next morning Jacob and I decided to pay an extra 25 euros to take quad bikes back to the van. 1 hour of gliding through the dunes at sunrise? A literal dream. I almost destroyed my quad bike when I rode down a steep hill to the chagrin of the Moroccon quad guides accompanying us. The sunrise came up in seconds and was worth the entire trip alone. The orange sand created a white aura in the sun that was unlike anything I've ever seen before. It was hard not to become emotional.

The rest of the day was taken over by a 10 hour road trip back to Marrakesh for our 6 Am flight the next morning. In the bus, I got to talking with an Algerian woman named Akila. She shared the history of her country and the history of the Arabic languages compared to North African dialects, it was great to learn about an area of the world that I know so little about. Traveling so extensively through Morocco was was one of the best experiences of my life and I recommend it to anyone that wants to learn about North African culture.

Moroccon Oddities:

• moroccan women wear full body suits no matter the weather (explained in blog)

• roof tops have glass spikes, not sure why

• wild cats and kittens in every store and along every street corner

• motorcycles litter narrow walkways

• there are literal oasis's throughout areas of the desert with water, palm trees, etc.

• the sun is much more white than usual

• coca cola ads in random creeks and on camel shelters

Prague posted

Positive Impressions: Great authentic pastries and beer

Negative Impressions: So many tourists, Bouncers are overly aggressive

Visiting Prague was a great experience. To see my sisters home country hit deep and made me think about how similar she looks to the natives here. Eggshell colored skin, dark blue eyes and brown hair. The men are far different, blond and curly haired were the most common characteristics for Czech men.. I think the most surprising thing about Prague was the quality of the beer. Every beer on the street was authentic and homemade, this gave them a bitterness, but also a very nice aftertaste. Chimneys were the city's main delicacy, a circular donut with chocolate inside, but the Czech dumplings were probably my favorite dish so far in Europe. The dumplings came in any flavor from pistachio to strawberry. The insides gushed and spread across the plate when they were opened. While the presentation was good, the taste was even better. The mixture of sauce and pastry was perfected and stayed with me for the rest of the day.

I made sure to see unusual things in Prague. I didn't want to visit the normal tourist attractions, like the astronomical clock or the castle district. I went to odd museums and walked around random parts of the city to really get a feeling of Czech life. The club scene in Prague was really cool. The club had 6 floors each with a different genre of music. From rap to 80's music it was really cool to see what types of music people enjoyed and how they reacted to American music. It's so prevalent throughout Europe. Everywhere I go I'm followed by Miley Cyrus or Bruno Mars, WITH OUT FAIL.

Bunker hostel was organized and a great way to meet people, however, I think staying in a hotel would have been a better experience. As a student you make due with what you have, but Prague is such an elegant city that a hotel nice view over the river would have served nicely for most people 25+.

Recommendations

Illusions Museum (fun and different), Knedlin (dumpling cafe), Bunker Youth Hostel, Klub Manz (a 6 floor night club)