Post by Wynette: Our first night in Barcelona (April 3) we walked down to La Rambla and then, on the way back, through the Plaza Catalonya which is near our hotel. Paz, who checked us into the hotel and gave us a long and delightful introduction to the sites in Barcelona including how to get to them, told us Plaza Cataloyna is considered to be the center of Barcelona. As we walked through the plaza we spotted a circle of young people who appeared to be meditating, sitting in the center of the circular plaza so, the very center of Barcelona. As Charlie mentioned in an earlier post, the first day we arrived in Spain we encountered what they called the “Huelga General”, a country-wide strike, I think having to do with the terrible economic situation here in Spain. It affected us because all the trains and 80% of buses and metro were shut down. We saw a large peaceful demonstration in Toledo. Paz told us that in Barcelona the protest turned violent and some of the violence was just outside our hotel — people were not able to leave the hotel for hours. I think, perhaps, these young people meditating is part of all this. But, emphasizing the peaceful part. It was nice to see them. We’ve heard that the unemployment among people younger than 24 in Spain is around 46%.
