Lunch

A perfectly cooked slice of merluza (hake) on a pool of creamy mashed potato with al dente vegetables. Delicious! We had lunch at top-notch restaurant Firmum on the recommendation of someone at the intercambio who runs a delicatessen business. Well worth the rather high price (menu del día 30 euros).

Speaking of food ... here's a recipe (of sorts) for ensalada tropical.

We went to another intercambio yesterday evening, after missing it for a couple of weeks. It was very enjoyable; I like it better than the Motril one because a) it's much better organised and b) it's a large and diverse group: not just British and a few Spaniards but including Polish, Germans, Norwegians, Swedes, a Canadian -- lots of opportunity for cultural exchange.

In other news, I am utterly disgusted by the turn the Catalan crisis has taken. The Madrid government talks of convivencia (living peaceably together) and then claps almost the entire democratically elected government of Catalonia in jail. The Generalitat is now headed by Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, deputy head of the ruling PP, which took less than 10% of the votes in the last Catalan elections and not surprisingly is even more unpopular now. I don't understand why the central government continues to do everything possible to increase support for independence. I read a couple of good articles today, by long-standing observers of Spanish politics:

Colm Toibin
Giles Tremlett