EL PAÍS

Red nostalgia: Souvenirs from the ruins of communism

Alberto García Palomo — Sat, 06 Dec 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Looking for a glimpse into the past? Do you prefer megalomania, or domestic intrigue? Want to experience the everyday life of another era… some dark episodes, perhaps?

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Kizomba, the dance that unites Angola

Alberto García Palomo — Wed, 27 Nov 2024 12:22:08 +0000

Angola still bears the scars of war. Unexploded mines, buildings riddled with bullet holes, and half-buried, rusty shell casings lie on its roads. The country is struggling to put the aftermath of war behind it, but there is one element that runs through every chapter of recent history: since its independence from Portugal in 1975, the nation’s musical thread has been characterized by the rise of a new style. It consists of a mix of African and Caribbean rhythms that led to kizomba, a dance with a soft cadence, elegant leg movements and an extreme connection with one’s partner.

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Hero rats save lives in Angola: Trained rodents detect mines for people to farm again

Alberto García Palomo — Sun, 27 Oct 2024 04:05:00 +0000

“If you come across a snake, it’s best not to get nervous, but to stay calm and wait for it to pass.” The instructions given by paramedic João Eduardo are alarming, especially in latitudes where certain species of viper, cobra, or the feared and deadly black mamba live. However, they sound like an asterisk in a contract: on these sandy paths of sparse vegetation and dry strands, it is not the animals on the surface that are dangerous, but what is hidden underground. Every few meters, without any specific arithmetic, anti-personnel mines nest under the soil.

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An inside look at drug-fueled “personal growth” weekends in a Madrid villa

Alberto García Palomo — Tue, 21 Jan 2020 07:39:18 +0000

The session starts and the 12 participants gather to introduce themselves. One of them is Fernando, 55, who works in a shelter housing program in Ciudad Real and wants “to put his life in order” and improve his feelings about the state of humanity. Franka, 52, is finding it hard to get past her separation and cries as she admits to a tobacco and marijuana addiction. Then there is Taylor, a 22-year-old American who is wandering aimlessly around Europe and seeking direction.

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Barcelona man reclaims art of small talk through free street conversations

Alberto García Palomo — Thu, 16 Jan 2020 07:48:09 +0000

Raquel Frohlinger, a 26-year-old from New York, was passing through Barcelona on a recent day when she stopped to chat with a complete stranger under one of the Catalan capital’s landmarks, the Arc de Triomf.

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The UK vulture fund that’s brought security to a Madrid apartment block

Alberto García Palomo — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 12:02:31 +0000

Pilar Aranguren, better known as Piluka Terremoto, is singing a bolero in front of dozens of cellphones. She’s one of the partners at Bodegas Lo Máximo, a legendary venue in the vibrant Madrid neighborhood of Lavapiés, just south of the city center. She’s been running the bar for nearly two decades, but, like the lovers about which she is gently singing into the microphone, it is about to disappear. A British investment fund has purchased the building, located at number 6 San Carlos street. In February, when their rental agreement comes to an end, she’ll have to go and look for a new line of work.

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Leaked video reveals Magaluf-style excesses of Salamanca’s nightlife

Alberto García Palomo — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 13:56:49 +0000

For several weeks, police in Salamanca have been investigating a video recorded at a local nightclub showing three young women in bikinis inside a small swimming pool being groped by a group of spectators without their consent.

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Casa Pepe: a little piece of Franco’s Spain

Alberto García Palomo — Mon, 21 Apr 2014 11:54:15 +0000

A plinth honoring General Francisco Franco greets the visitor. Bottles of wine with the face of the Caudillo on their labels, cured hams bearing the pre-Constitutional Spanish flag, berets, key rings, and other paraphernalia related to Spain’s four decades of military rule are to be found in every corner of Casa Pepe. Painted in the yellow and red of the Spanish flag, the restaurant is easily spotted from the A-4 highway, on the edge of the Despeñaperros national park, in Almuradiel, roughly halfway between Madrid and Andalusia’s Mediterranean coastline, and has been a popular stopping off point for holidaymakers and travelers for the last 90 years.

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A Spanish Cinema Paradiso

Alberto García Palomo — Tue, 25 Feb 2014 10:30:16 +0000

The first session was held on September 1, 1951. It had been unanimously decided that the Cine Moderno would screen a big hit, Agustina de Aragón. Javier Escarceller still remembers the excitement of the moment. His creature was about to come to life.

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“I thought blacks came to Europe to make money, not to be prostitutes”

Alberto García Palomo — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 15:01:35 +0000

Nobody would guess that this young man who is able to light a cigarette while handling his iPad with dexterity was once a child stowaway. Few people would believe that at his young age he has already bypassed security at several international ports and seen the inside of police stations on several continents. Even fewer individuals would believe that he would one day manage to return in prosperity to Ethiopia.

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Valencia man facing eviction throws himself off balcony

EFE, Alberto García Palomo — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 18:47:32 +0000

An unemployed 53-year-old Valencia man was in a stable condition on Friday after he threw himself from his balcony just hours before he was due to be evicted from his home.

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Hundreds evacuated as Valencia wildfire rages on

Cristina Vázquez Navarro, Lorena Ortega, Alberto García Palomo — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 15:02:10 +0000

Hundreds of people were evacuated and over 45,000 hectares of land had burnt down by noon on Sunday in the two worst forest fires to hit Valencia province in decades.

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Two arrests after body of three-year old found in garbage dump

Alberto García Palomo, EL PAÍS — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 17:34:25 +0000

The body of a three-year-old boy, Johan David, reported missing last week in Valencia, was found by police on Monday at a garbage dump after a five-day search in the Dos Aguas area of the city.

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