Eurovision: Tragedy strikes home

The hard Levante gale blows through my town, kicking up sand, tossing debris, knocking down frail trees, rattling my windows. Walking is a near-impossibility because of the dust in the air, and the force of the wind threatens to knock me over. But there is one thing the wind can't move: the heavy grief that has settled over Barbate.

Wednesday afternoon, the fishing boat Nuevo Pepita Aurora capsized in the Strait of Gibraltar 14 miles from Barbate's port. The crew were returning home from a night-long excursion in Moroccan waters. Another fishing boat, Buenamahoma, rescued eight of Pepita Aurora's crew; three bodies have been recovered from the torrid sea, five remain missing, presumably still in the boat's hold. It is the town's worst fishing accident in nearly 50 years. In December 1960 the fishing boat Joven Alonso disappeared with 39 men from Barbate.

I was hoping to resume this column after a short vacation on a lighter note. I am afraid it is impossible. If Barbate is anything it is a very human town. The pain felt here by the families of the missing is contagious. It is the type of village where neighbors have lived next to each other for centuries. One of the missing is my neighbor. He leaves a wife and two small children the same ages as my own.

Barbate: a jovial village with a ironic sense of humor in everything it does; a village that prides itself on a rugged exterior and soft interior that comes with the dangerous work of the sea; a village that is more an extended family than mere neighbors; is mourning.