A Coffee with…

After living in Catalunya for a few years I have got to know a few of the locals and they have proved to be some of the friendliest and most supportive people I have met in my many years of international travel.

Now I´m retired but getting to know these folk  has helped me understand what makes this country so attractive to us immigrants.  I hope that it may be of general interest to have a little insight into the thinking of our indigenous hosts.  Local politics is far too complex for me to get too deeply involved in so no political preference is implied in this short run of interviews with people who have offered me a friendly welcome to the area.

Andreu Marti I Garcia , Mayor of L’Ametlla de Mar.

(The man first and the politician second)

Andreu Marti was born into a fishing family in L’Ametlla de Mar and because of that he has a strong admiration for the people who worked on the sea to provide us with one of our basic foods.  When he was young however, it was clear for him that he wanted to devote his working life to something other than the fishing industry.  Thus, for his secondary education he attended school in Tortosa and to Tarragona and then went on to graduate as a primary school teacher at the Universidad Rovira I Virgili de Tarragona.
Andreu is 46 years old which means that he grew up during the 1970´s.  He had a happy childhood even though this was during the recovery years of the post Franco era which imposed severe financial restrictions on everyone in this area.  He told me that in his family home they always had food on the table although the range and selection of food was limited.  Sometimes it was what you could shoot which provided the meal!  He recalls living through a period of great political and economic change.

He lives in Ametlla with his wife Lola and their young daughter (who recently had her 2nd birthday).  His words and sentiments make it clear that he is a dedicated family man with great admiration and respect for his wife´s social and professional attributes.  Lola´s culinary skills come high on the list of attributes in Andreu´s opinion.  He now enjoys her ability to cook innovative and quite technical menus and meals.  Of course he does not have a lot of time to devote to meals during the week, having to settle often for a shared snack with Lola, sometimes just a dessert.

The week-ends however allow more time to indulge in more elaborate food and he enjoys a wide variety of foods of different types, cultures and countries although his heart still brings him back to Mediterranean cuisine as his favorite. He says that any of their friends who have played  host to them will attest to their enjoyment of “cleaning a plate” at the table.   Obviously fish (from the l´Ametlla sea of course!!)  is top of the list for choice.

Travel has always been an interest of his and he has seen much of Europe as well as going to the West Indies for his honeymoon.  Travel allows him to enjoy one of his pleasures which is the observation of other peoples and absorption of other cultures including their different foods.  He enjoys the countryside, the mountains and less populated areas but also remembers good times in the great cities of Europe like London, Paris and Berlin.  He looked me straight in the eye and said “I have to say that I love visiting England which is a country of great natural beauty”.

It was a personal decision for Andreu to enter into politics although this was done with the complete support of his family.  He admits to having a desire to see an improvement in the standards and quality of life for all in his compass.  This in turn demands an improvement in local facilities and conditions in la cala (the locals ´name for l´Ametlla).  His interest therefore is primarily as a “hands on” leader, a catalyst for change and improvement.  Only secondarily does he consider himself a politician.  He has a passionate personal belief that he has an obligation never to forget that his main function as the alcalde is to help improve the lives of all local residents.  He feels that it is a life philosophy rather than a political ambition.

Away from the job and the politics, the Mayor of l’Ametlla de Mar is a guy who enjoys watching football (Barça of course) and likes to play tennis and going for long walks around the many local footpaths in the hills and woodlands.  He loves reading and using the internet and he devotes the rest of his free time to his family (take a look at his entry in the new Ametlla web site http://andreumartien.blogspot.com).

I asked Andreu about what changes he has seen over the past 15 years or so and, as you would expect, he has seen a lot.  These have been mostly related to economic growth and stimulation in the country as a whole and particularly this area of Catalunya.  This has been mainly due to the huge advancement in tourism and in the directly related construction industry.  These changes influenced and determined huge adjustments which became necessary in the local administration which included health centres, hospitals, universities, colleges, schools, infrastructure of water, electricity etc, roads and communications, as well as social activities such as sports facilities and provision for the arts.  Unfortunately public funding has been insufficient to stave off the impact of the “crisis” on the people of the Terres de l´Ebre area.  He believes that there is much to do to support the less fortunate in the community.

I wanted to know Andreu´s thinking concerning us, the immigrants (the readers of this newspaper) to his region…. He told me that he truly believes that the people of l´Ametlla have accepted the newcomers to the village as much as is practically possible, with open arms.  They recognize that many of the new arrivals are mature, retired and not able to assimilate new language and new culture easily.  They tend to live in the countryside and do not need to work  but they do bring a benefit to the area.  He pointed out that there are 41 different nationalities registered in the area!

The Town Hall is well aware that those who come here and start to work or who have children of school age integrate far more quickly and become an active part of the community.   They meet other parents or workmates and soon establish friendships and immerse themselves into the local community.  Of course they take on board the language quicker and are able to participate in local activities etc.  The mayor  is content that the indigenous community is most welcoming to the immigrants and are aware of and forgiving of the inability of some of the  new arrivals to integrate  into the  language and cultural of the region.  This is all supported by the fact that there have been almost no significant incidents of clashes between the residents of different origin in the local jurisdiction.

As the Mayor, he is most aware of the need for greater interaction and he is determined to make every effort to disseminate information to all of the people in his area.  Ideally this would be in each of their languages but this is recognized as impractical so the plan is already in place for an active web site which will be updated on a daily basis in Catalan, Castellano  and English.  The two local languages are the official languages of the area and English is chosen as the most practical internationally used language.  The website will not only allow much more efficient distribution of information about local planning, building, development, sport, school activities, fiestas, social events etc but it will be interactive and allow input from any resident who cares to share their views or ask questions.

This article has been targeted to have the minimum political content possible and it is appreciated by the writer that Andreu has tried to reply to questions as an individual and not as a politician.

Michael E Clark.

Short URL: http://www.chroniccat.com/?p=192

Posted by editor on 2010-04-04 Filed under April 2010, Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry