Monalia's World

We sold our modest beach pad with the 88 stairs in order to buy another one, only a half block away, directly on the beach and with an elevator. The last two weeks before moving I did a photo essay on the mellow, quiet life of our neighborhood as seen from our street, Calle del Mar. Here are some photos I’d like to share, of the quiet neighborhood life as seen from the attic apartment where we’ve lived the last 6 years:

The above thumbnails are of the terraces across from us.

Almost all our neighbors use their balconies to dry their clothes. But they also use their balconies to read, to write, to smoke cigarettes, talk on the phone, get some fresh air, ponder, or chat with their housemates.

I notice most balconies have a basket of clothes pins and many have shoes or slippers out to dry.

And this guy uses his balcony as an office, multi-tasking with his smart phone and laptop:

We got to know our neighbors across the street from the waist up. We know the whole story of how the mother, Silvia supports her whole family, which includes twins, an ailing mother and an obese brother. Unfortunately I began this essay too late to get busy Silvia´s photo, but I did get a couple shots of her mom, with whom we’ve have friendly chats about the twins, the neighborhood, the recently divorced and unemployed brother, of Silvia’s really grueling two jobs, etc. The twins were 11 when we moved in and they’re 17 now. One gets good grades, the other has a flair for cooking. They both are soccer addicts.

I would have liked to get a family portrait at the window, but I didn’t think of it in time.

We put our place for sale in June, and made an offer on a new one right on the beach, and with an elevator. In many of the above shots you can actually see the back of our new building, which is on the famous Plaça del Mar. In the stressful period between then and now we actually sold this place quickly and as I write this we’ve been settling into our new pad for almost a month now. And I will write a bling blog next…

But now we say goodbye to our quiet little treehouse, in which we have been so happy, by taking a couple selfies. If it were not for the 88 steps (6 flights) to get to our home we never would have sold it. But considering the 88 stairs, we were very lucky to have sold it so quickly.

Yes, I’ll miss the quiet of the back streets, but to be honest, this is how I feel:

P.S. I did a much better, more complete photo album called ¨balcony life¨ on facebook. Check it out if you like these.