Loli and her husband José live right across the narrow cobbled street from the church in an apartment building owned by the nuns. They ushered us through the wide vestibule, up a flight of broad stairs, through their door and into their living room. Loli apologized for its modesty, but the furniture in the room, leather sofa, chairs, coffee table, entertainment center, rug, potted plants, was much like a middle class living room in the U.S. Loli apologized that the rest of the apartment was not in a condition at the moment for guests, and apologized for the cold. We played musical chairs until we were distributed around the coffee table, the guests within range of the electric space heater.

The conversation resumed. "The windows need to be replaced with double glazed ones for warmth - and Avila is the highest, coldest, city in Spain - but the nuns don't want to make alterations to the historic building. They don't use heating anyway so it's a little hard for them to understand how cold it is for the people in the flats." José offered us drinks : cola, beer, cidra, and brought them back with a plate of olives. We finished one bottle of cidra (4% hard cider), which turned out the be the favorite, and José opened another.

The bottles had been given to them by the nuns, who receive all kinds of gifts from people. José went out again and brought back a plate of jamon, a regional specialty proudly served, savory cured ham taken in thin slices - but no bread. "We've been on diets and lost weight, so - no bread!" Loli might ask José if he wants vegetables and he'll say no - but no bread!

Another regional specialty: Cochinillo Asado (suckling pig)

Our talk carried on, in Spanish and English, with some Danish thrown in as Gerd started to experience the effects of the hard cider. Were we going to the fiesta? Evidently, there was to be more : fireworks in the Plaza de Santa Teresa tonight at nine.

Loli and José had not been to any part of the fiesta. They work very hard six days a week for the nuns and like to be at home when they're not working. In any case, they don't have family here in Avila. When their last day of work ends on Sunday they get in the car and drive to their home village of Madrigal de la Reina. They spend the next day with the family, visiting and helping out on the farm, then get in the car again early on the Tuesday to resume work that day in Avila. They are in their early thirties and have been married almost two years. They are strangers here. Their home town is historic, the birthplace of Isabella la Catolica, but there is no tourism there and the young people are all leaving home to find work.

Loli and José painted a different picture from the surface impressions I'd received, traveling among small cities and towns in the north of Castile. All the towns are full of ancient buildings, some in ruin, but others clearly in lively use. I saw everywhere a mixture of old and young people, often teenagers coming home from school, dressed a lot like their American counterparts, except that the Spaniards do not favor baggy clothes. The young especially, like to show themselves to advantage in form-fitting clothes, and viejas in the larger towns and cities show a shapely stockinged calf beneath the hems of their suit skirts, always fashionably turned out from early morning until late at night.

countryside west of Avila

There is no security of work in Spain, says Loli. They will work for the nuns for three years (a little more than two left to go) and will then either be offered a permanent contract or be let go. Gerd later said that the nuns are better pleased with them than the last couple, who weren't as attentive to them or as nice to the visitors, and whom the nuns did discharge. Last Christmas the nuns made for themselves a miniature village for their crèche (belen). José built a pump to run a small river through it. We suspect they'll be invited to stay. On our way out, he showed us his ground floor workshop, proudly demonstrating for us his lathe, and grinder, and the refrigerator motor he converted into an air compressor.