About being a local tourist

At some time you reach the point, when you do not know anymore if you are still travelling or if you are at home. suddenly you find yourself at a friend’s house helping to cook dinner for everybody who drops by. Street vendors and some restaurants start to give you the same discounts as they do for locals. People visit you at work to share their simple lunch with you, because they know that you do not have any.

You start to know almost everyone on the street. Even people you saw only once or twice already recognize you. But nobody wonders what you are still doing there after three weeks. At the market they already know your name. People drop by at the place you are staying at, just to see if you are fine. Your friend’s dogs at the beach are always happy when you get there and does not let you a tranquil moment on your own.

Room N°3 at the 3 Hermanos Hostel at Playa Maderas – Catching the tube

But even you and your perception of the place starts to change. The deteriorated sidewalks become pretty normal. You also get used to the 80ies style restaurant bathrooms with its brown, hollow doors. And suddenly you realize that you have seen all that before. Mallorca’s new towns constructed during the tourism booms in the 60ies and 80ies look pretty much the same right now. It seems like everything is falling apart, but somehow everything still functions pretty well.

You also do not get surprised by the water outage and power breakdowns anymore. You just get used to it, while all the other tourists keep complaining about this horrible situation. You are also not surprised about the construction workers, and that one is working and the rest is just watching. Because … where in the world is actually it not like this?

Room N°3 at the 3 Hermanos Hostel at Playa Maderas – Sunset at the beach

And then you reach the point where you think about what you actually appreciate about this place. Maybe it is the „easy doing“ way things are done here. You want to decorate the hostel doors with some drawings? Just do it. You are hungry and somebody offers you to eat from his plate? Just do it. You are eight people but there is only one taxi at this remote place? Just do it and squeeze in as the driver tells you to. The ice-cream boy gives you a free ice-cream every morning? Just eat it. Somebody gives you a bike and tells you to go for a ride? Just do it!

Room N°3 at the 3 Hermanos Hostel at Playa Maderas – The Rocks