stories from zaragoza: san pablo & el gancho

it was the last day of the year and we had big plans. i remember giulia was a bit discontent that we hadn't checked more sites off our list, even though we'd been in zaragoza a whole day and a half. so we started with a visit to the marketplace (cheese!!!), then we were going to pass by the big bookstores, and in the afternoon by aljaferia. but late in the morning, we swung by san pablo church, which was not far from our hotel. (i would like to stress again that nothing was far from our hotel.)
the difference was that san pablo was in the opposite direction we were used to walking, moving away from downtown and the touristic spots. just turning right on an alley, and very very quickly there it was: the dark side, the seediness. we know it's bound to exist in any city, but it was disconcerting just how close.
and how mixed in with beauty. in a very very narrow alley, there was amazing graffiti all over both wall sides, and while giulia was taking extra pictures of everything, i moved on.
i was feeling disturbed.
what i remembered was in vancouver, when i was much more sheltered (i think!), how i accidentally steped 5 meters off cordova, past the souvenir shops, and on E Hastings, and into Pigeon Park. how it shocked me. this wasn't by far as abrupt, but it was there, and i could recognize it.

at the end of the street, and to the next corner...the employment office wall. there was a kiosk, a couple of people buying cigarettes and hanging out, and i felt bad taking the pictures. this photo does the actual view little justice: it was spectacular, to see the tiger (a shere khan, surely?) creep behind the shadowy people - the bright muscly danger breathing at their back.

i felt bad, and still i kept taking pictures. here i was, affording to be slumming.

i imagined that the darker silhouettes were newer to need and misfortune, perhaps more aware, feeling that they stand out more in the line. then the lighter their shade, the more they were disappearing, becoming one with the background, less human and more just...the reality/inevitability of the wall. that's my story about it at least. i mean i'm unemployed myself, but how long til i get in a similar line?? it's clearly planets away.

the church is black, the blackest we've seen in zaragoza, much blacker than its other mudejar siblings (Seo, Magdalena, Gil Abad...) although there is the same particular type of bricks, the small beige-y ones, and the same intricate detailing.
carmen: "how can it be so black?"
giulia: "maybe there used to be factories and a lot of pollution in this area."
but i'm saying again: the area is right by downtown. the streets are narrower (which only means they're old, i guess) and the buildings are amazing. so many houses that are obviously centuries old, with fancy entrance doors and tiled balconies - inhabited by obviously less than rich people. what happened here?i sort of want to understand. should i be happy that it's not 'gentrified' yet?

giulia: "why are you pouting?"
carmen: "because there are poor people in the world who live hard, limited lives, and it saddens me."
giulia: "carmen! let's not go there! for all you know, these people live much better here in spain than they were back in their countries of origin, and consider themselves lucky."
carmen: "well, is this fair and is it supposed to make me feel better?"
i mean on the one hand, true: I HAVE NO IDEA; and it is patronizing of me to think of other people that way; to be impressed/titillated really, by what i perceive is their misfortune. but, but...there are still objective facts in this picture, right? there is objective poverty and dreariness. it only touches me rarely, but when it does it weighs me down. and it did that day.
i remembered an  interview someone on "my sites" (a hairpinner??) took of some recently-famous actor. so he's talking about how he manages the idea of his new fortune, and the inevitable thought of the dying children of africa came up.
reporter: "but you can't spend all your life feeling bad because there are children dying of famine in africa!"
recently-famous actor: "you know, why not?"
ugh. because lying around feeling bad is more insulting to everyone than just doing something with your life? i don't know. i don't know.

anyway, the day goes on...so it's december 31st and people do their...morning walk/last grocery shopping etc, and they pass by giulia pretzelled in front of this gate, clicking away...and they look...well, surprised! what the hell is this girl doing there? why would she want pictures of THIS?

(alternate variant: "why do these girls want photos without themselves in?" but this is just being mean.)
i was having fun re: the cornice of this gate, i said it's like a multi-layered cake.

the neighbourhood is called gancho, as this good-looking wall testifies. i liked how the caption to the drawing is in various languages- of the various inhabitants, i assume, among which there must be a sizable percentage of romanians.

i cringe to think that this was one of the 2 instances when we went out of downtown zaragoza and into 'the real city'. you know, at least we did go. what can i say. do not overthink this, okay? okay.