Strange things happening down here at the moment, with foreign-plated cars about and obvious tourists ( = holding little maps) appearing in the pueblo, despite there being a lockdown.
A friend and I were discussing it (distanced and electronically of course) , also the weird rule that would require people to wear masks on beaches. As I pointed out, I have never been on "our" beach, and have no intention of going there, so I couldn´t really give a toss. I do, however, hear that the government has now realised how crazy it sounds and is reconsidering / rephrasing that specific ruling. I think it was actually "unintended consequences", as what they actually legislated was that it was now required to wear a mask at all times in public spaces - whereas it had previously only required that "when social distancing could not be applied". Guess that now means you have to wear a mask on a packed beach, if only under the previous ruling.
The tourist thing, though, is even more stupid. Apparently, and according to the "El Pais" newspaper:
"Spain has followed the recommendations of the European Union, for instance keeping borders open for intra-EU trips.
Covid-negative proof is required and checks are being conducted at airports and seaports, but not at land borders.
... "in any case, very little traffic in tourism is expected in the coming weeks,” said sources in the Tourism Ministry...and most of the people who will enter Spain during the Easter break, representing around 56% of all trips, will be Spaniards returning home.
and it goes on to state that :
"While national borders are open, regional borders will remain closed, therefore travelers from Germany and France, two major sources of tourism to Spain, may go to popular destinations such as Mallorca or Benidorm, whereas a resident of Madrid or Cádiz may not.
“The Schengen space is open because it is controlled by the EU."
This basically sums up the layers of idiocy that prevail here in Europe. International borders must be open as part of the Schengen agreement, but internal borders are closed within Spain as they are the preserve of the regional authorities (as the government refuses to take national action) - and France is in full lockdown. But, it appears a french person can drive into and across any part of spain without having any covid tests undertaken.
... and we are still not sure whether half of Madrid will claim it has it´s origins and in Andalucia and appear here (as it is permitted to return "home").
Whatever, you can lay money that the infection rate will have spiked by whichever day they bother to start crunching the numbers sometime next week. All the Andalucian statisticians are obviously retuning to their "pueblo of origin" for the holiday too.
PS and for some reason, they have now decided to extend the use of the AZ vaccine to "essential workers" over the age of 65. Just another layer of the obfuscation to ensure no one has a clue about who is getting jabbed (and didn´t even think anyone over mid-50s worked here anyway, so "essential" and "over 65" is more than a bit confusing)
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