Nothing's perfect!

Today I made a sandwich and hiked up to the viewpoint on the way to the Castle.  It's a beautiful walk up supplemented with sweeping views of the city, harbor, and bull ring.  Half the postcards on stands feature the incredible vista at the apex of this walk.

Understandably, the ease of maintaining the hillside path usually leave it much to be desired.  The walkway is usually littered with broken glass, plastic bags, empty cans, and other post-party paraphernalia not to mention the dried spills and deposits of you-don't-want-to-know, and the consequential smells of the combination of everything.  Off the path scattered among the eucalyptus, oaks, and cacti, it looks like a time capsule of the many irresponsible individuals and their exploits.

Unfortunately, this is more of the rule rather than the exception around the city.  As much as I love Malaga, it's far from being a perfect city, and in many ways falls short where other Spanish cities seem to have an advantage.  The nearby Malagueta beach is notorious for its litter and cigarette refuse.  And going anywhere outside the tourist center means you'll encounter an inordinate amount of trash and animal excrement.  The general rule is: always look down when walking.  Near the stadium and site of the Sunday flea market the trash has formed massive heaps along the river banks where people have simply tossed their boxes, plastics, and whatnot over the side.  Most would have a difficult time discerning between it and a landfill.  It becomes more revolting to then think that when water does flow through the channel what it would then take with it to the sea.

As a result (it would seem), Malaga is infested with stray cats and flies.  I've heard a rumor that the Mayor is attempting to attack the cat problem, although not diligently, as they want to keep a small population to deal with the rodent problem as well (however, extra food from people and restaurants keeps either population to stabilize).  And the flies are so annoying that to stay in any one place for too long becomes unendurable.  Heck, it doesn't even take staying still for them to be complete pests.

It's sad to see and hard to understand a community that does not take more pride in how it presents itself.  Or maybe that's exactly the point: in most areas that are frequented by the massive amounts of tourists (most on pre-designated routes through the city) are well kept.  Everywhere else is treated more or less like a dump.  And there are no lack of trash cans either, which indicates not a lack of effort on the city's part, but rather places blame on the citizens and visitors.

I wont pretend to understand the psychology or demographics behind the phenomenon, and why it seems to be more prevalent here than any other Spanish city I've visited (and I still admit, my personal experiences are incomplete).  All I can confidently say is that as much as I love Malaga, it troubles me that the Malagueños don't necessarily feel the same sense of pride and joy for their inherently beautiful city to maintain it at the same high standard.