The tourist brochures say that Segovia belongs to la Espana profunda--deep Spain, where the days are saturated by the passage of time. But the Segovia in which the de Frutos family lives is not part of la Espana profunda. They are part of the first generation of Spanish to be Europeans, doing things the European way.
They don't want any more kids for now, a change from the days when families were "as big as God wants them to be." Of course, their lives are not totally different from those of their parents. As Spanish women have always done, Paloma passes the day at home, enjoying the times when her female friends come to visit. Jose Maria spends most of his free time with his male friends, and didn't want Material World around them.
We were happy to agree--it had been unbelievably hard to find a family in Spain that would consent to our visit on any terms. European or no, the cynical pride of the Castillians created a wide moat around their homes. Life indoors at home was sacred and not to be revealed.
Indeed, when it came time for the de Frutos family to put out their belongings in full view of the neighbors, that was just too much. We collaborated and took the Big Picture way outside of town so that nobody could see.
