Zzeus11:
The areas you have gone through are the most economically depressed in the country (but for Madrid). They don't have anything but the tourism bussiness.

It is like trying to see how the States are, going to Alaska. Ronda is a place that is typical, because bands of robbers had their headquarters there, because, as the result of the lack of resources, people was desperate there (bandoleros), and because it was in a montain area. You only had to go to Extremadure to see the poorer tour of the country.

However, I don't think you saw much poverty in the provinces' capitals, like Málaga, or Granada, nor would you see it in Badajoz or Cáceres.

Gypsies have, as a race, a nomad way of living. Some of them have assimilated, specially in the south. You can ask spaniards what they think about gypsies, and most will not say any good, but they are not speaking of all of them, everybody respect the honest ones, those who work for their living.

Unfortunately, those who live very well on begging, stelaing, robbing, or with drug traffic have become more notorious. They are a minority, but still they are quite a lot. It is sait that about 400.000 gypsies live in Spain.

What do you think about colombians? And I am pretty sure many of them are honest and work for their living.

I personally don't need anything extra from the states. I have my sports car (Hyundai-Korean), my TV sets - at my room and the living-room- (which is enough for me for I can not see 4 TVs at a time), and I do not envy anyone.

Euro is the answer for our future, a step forward in the process of becoming a country of several nations.

As for trade, I am for it, but I would not like such a relationship like the USA-UK, where the poor british haven't had a foreign policy of their own until Blair was elected, and still they follow the USA a lot, with very few independence. Besides, that has moved them away from their natural connections with Europe, making them have their economic cycle asociated to the North American one, which creates problems to unify economic policies in the EC.