Around the barrio

I took a few pics yesterday just to illustrate a little of our vecindad.

This is my seat in front of the house on the terrace. Hold old am I rocking away here? You just have to understand that the pace of life here is different, it's not very often that you will be told, "Apúrate!" or "hurry up" but you will often hear, "Tranquilo" or "Fresco" or "Cálmate". Obviously, all telling you to chill. It is also not unusually to get the hi-fi out front, next to the seat, to enter the max volume competition in the street each day. Neighbours here don't complain about noise, not even during the night, it's just accepted as a way of life.
The kids have a play area in the middle of the neighbourhood, bear in mind here we are only talking about five streets. There is a play area at one end for the younger kids, la cancha (pitch) in the middle for the daily games of football and a small chapel (la capilla) at the far end. Mass is at nine o'clock on Sundays!

You can buy a house here for about £18,000 fully fitted. The picture here is of a house on a corner plot on our street. If you are prepared to do all of the work yourself then you can buy a 'casa negra' in this condition for £9,000 but you are basically just getting the concrete walls and plot. There is no first fix of plumbing or electrics yet.