A Round of Applause for Spain, por favor

Put your hands together every night at 8:00pm to support health workers in Spain.

By Regina Winkle-Bryan

We lead tours to Italy and Spain. Those are on hold, but one day, we will take travelers to these diverse countries once more. Italy and Spain will need the business because currently, the situation is dire.

At the time of this writing, both countries have more reported deaths from Covid-19 than China does. Italy has tallied 8,000 deaths, and Spain has 4,000 deaths. By the time you read this, those numbers will be different. It’s shocking.

One reason Spaniards can leave their homes during the quarantine is to walk Fido. A lot of people wish they had a dog right now. Photo by Lum3n.com.

I am not in Spain, but my in-laws are, and I have friends across the country. I lived in Barcelona for ten years in a series of smallish apartments around the city. It is easy for me to imagine the claustrophobia many in Barcelona must be feeling spending day after day in 800-square-foot flats with nothing more than a balcony to stand on when in need of some fresh air. Add the dog, the husband, and a few stir-crazy kids to the equation and you have what sounds like an incredibly challenging situation.

Spaniards have been under total lockdown for over ten days. People may only go out for medical reasons, to care for dependents, to do some grocery shopping, or to walk the dog.

A lot of people wish they had a dog right now.

My mother-in-law lives in a larger condo in the center of Barcelona with an ample terrace. People like her, with access to sky and a few potted plants are doing better than those on the ground floor of some massive, ancient building on a narrow street where the sun never shines. Other than watching too much news, my mother-in-law is making the best of things. She even has a terrace vegetable garden.

Most apartments in Spain have small balconies. Photo by anna-m. w.

Of course, not everyone in Spain lives in an apartment. Those with country houses and gardens are better off and less confined than those in big cities like Madrid and Barcelona, which are the areas hardest hit by the virus. In Madrid, the government had to take over an ice skating rink to store the overflow of bodies, turning it into a makeshift morgue. What kind of dystopian hellscape is this?

There are 50 million people in Spain. At this point, I do not personally know anyone who is sick from the virus or who has passed away. I hope not to.

Spain is one of the hardest hit countries. Health workers need all the support they can get. Photo by Anna Shvets.

People in Spain, generally, have a great sense of humor. I appreciate this about them. They love jokes (better if they’re dirty). I receive daily messages from the in-laws sharing GIFs and memes poking fun at what is, let’s face it, a pretty grim problem.

It’s not that they aren’t worried, it’s that they know on a cellular level that laughter takes the edge off. Laughter and a glass of wine, both of which are thankfully abundant in Spain.

Health workers have been putting in long hours during this crisis. In order to support them, each night Spaniards open a window or stand on their balconies and clap or bang pots and pans. The health workers hear this thunderous support, and it helps give them the strength to keep going, even as case numbers increase. I’ve included several videos of this and there are others on the internet.

This is what I want to share. The good news in what is often media feeding us one frightening statistic after another (maybe I did that I little in this article, too). People in Spain are staying home, and for the most part, doing their best to support each other. Can you imagine the sound of an entire country applauding? 50 million fingers, hands, and pots and pans, give or take.

Maybe I’ll set my alarm here in Seattle, which is nine hours behind Spain. Maybe I’ll wait until the clock strikes 8:00pm, Spanish time, and then open my kitchen window, and make some noise to show my support, 5,000 miles away.