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In theory, the people here on the island
during the height of our summer season should have the capacity
to be more adaptable, but in reality both the locals and the
holidaymakers suffer many a terrible faux pas throughout this
crazy month of August.
This asylum can transform lives through
last-minute "bog-standard" holiday bargains that
are not always what they seem with faint details and when
technical blemishes reveal themselves slowly, gracefully,
in a kind of wounded glory.
We want the tourists, we love the tourists,
we are an island with traditional hospitality. But we do not
want the problems of alcoholism and misconduct subsequently
caused through slamming too many tequila shots and then terrorizing
innocent folk.
Drugs can be another problem but we also
dislike the tyranny of rigid plans and the feeling of being
part of a heard as we witnessed the incidents with gangs of
holidaymakers being exported here to be herded around the
wild streets of the notorious West End in San Antonio.
Our mission is to stop this atmosphere conducive
to outlandish behavioural outburst from destroying the island's
close-knit society and attempt to educate folk who visit the
island that there is a paradise to be found here amongst the
sanctums of the elite and privileged.
Ibiza is also about the natural splendour
of the beautiful beaches, wide sandy shores between verdant,
gentle hills and terraced olive groves. The winding cobblestone
streets of the old Ibiza town and the sleepy, sunburnt hamlets
built throughout the countryside and around whitewashed churches.
There are a collection of the island's glamorous
pretenders who are a bit like the wind-up merchant type with
outer sight know-how and perfect timing for the big-time price-earrings
ratio that are suppose to give the island an ultra-professional
feel.
For outright bizarreness, few places can
hold a candle to Ibiza during this exhausting month of August.
Ibiza this month is all about immaculate confusion, being
blinded by the dazzling Mediterranean sun and choked by the
dry, suffocating heat.
It is a kind of intensity heat that you
would most probably also find in Africa and it never lets
up throughout the whole month. This must be the only place
in the world where the sun doesn't set. Instead, at around
9 o'clock every night, the sun explodes as it touches the
horizon and falls into the sea.
Boundary: There's the real world… and
there's Ibiza, but we are all glad that the curse of August
is rapidly coming to an end.
Gary Hardy
garyhardy@ibizahistoryculture.com
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