The Invisible Malaga (Part 1)

Living in Malaga for the past six months, we were able to see some of the most beautiful things Spain has to offer as we have had the opportunity to travel to various parts across the country. I would like to talk not about these marvelous journeys however, but instead the far less attractive, but none the less interesting.

It is true that you never know much about the place in which you are living unless you venture out and experience it on your own. It is quite clear that there is so much more to Malaga than El Palo, La Malagueta, Avd Andalucia and El Centro. I wanted to see the places that are very much real to the people that live there, but to us it remains invisible; places like La Palmilla, Los Asperones, La Corta to see the difference in the quality of life and if for nothing else, experience a different sort of reality. In these places, there are every vile and condemned actions of society where there is no shortage of drugs, violence, robbery, prostitution etc. Curiously, there is a large population of ´gitanos´ ´rumanos,´ ´negroes´etc and for the most part, Malaguenos refer to these places as a ´verguenza,´ placing the blame on the quality of the people that live there. Like most places where people live in poverty, there is also an air of desperation and gloom.

Seeing these parts of Malaga made me think that every city/country has a side that it would like to remain hidden or invisible. However, I think that places like these tell us more about Malaga and opens up a sociological dialogue in terms of thinking about where we all from, the parts of society often ignored which in turn are very serious social problems that need to be addressed. The video below is from a program called Los Callejeros, which addresses different issues around Spain. La Palmilla was featured in a multiple part segment. Check it out!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbOzpSpJqj0