Karla Darocas
By Susanne Pacher, Fri Dec 9th

I had an opportunity to meet Karla last year on one of my tripsto Spain. My interview preview will give you a bit of backgroundon our meeting. Karla is a fascinating individual, a painter,writer and overall creative person, but also an entrepreneurwith a bit of an alternative flair. Here is what she has to sayabout her experience as a North American expatriate living inSpain.

1. Tell us a bit about your background. Where did you grow up,what is your educational background and what did you do beforeyou moved to Spain?

I was born in Toronto and raised in a small provincial towncalled Bowmanville - just east of Toronto. I moved back toToronto after high school and attended Humber College in Rexdalewhere I studied creative arts - like fashion design, photographyand writing. After college, I opened my first enterprise - aboutique in Toronto's trendy Queen St. area - that sold weirdand wonderful wearable art objects.

I sold that business in 1983 and went to the University ofWaterloo where I received an honours degree in Fine Arts. Igraduated in 1990 - and started my second enterprise - calledZona Communications. It was a communications company - and Ijumped into the internet with both feet. I went on to build myfirst Internet enterprise - which I sold to a California companyin 2000. I lived in sunny southern California after the sale ofmy enterprise - until the New York World Trade Centre tragedy -September 2001.

I packed up everything and went back to Bowmanville. Then 10days later - I packed some items and flew to Zurich, Switzerlandand married my long-time Spanish boyfriend - who had beenworking in Zurich for 8 years. We packed up his apartment - andby December 2001 - Christmas - we moved to Spain.

2. You now live on the Costa Blanca in Spain. How long have youlived there and what made you move there?

We have been here since December 2001. We didn't know where wewere going to live - so the first logical place to go was towhere Jose, my husband was born - Xativa. This is a castled cityin the interior of the province of Valencia. We lived there for6 months. We were unemployed and free to travel around Spain -as it was our honeymoon. We bought a 4x4 and traveled upmountains and down into valleys and places that no tourist wouldever think of going.

However, we really wanted to move out to the coast - to the sea.We had met in a fishing / holiday village called Javea - back in1988 - when I was a University student. I came to Spain twice -on student loans - to study art at the Prado in Madrid. Then, Iwould head out to the coast to party and hit the beaches.

My Spanish sweetie was a waiter in a fine little restaurantcalled - El Solomilllo - right on the beach. We fell into acrazy kind of love - and spent two wild summers together. Wekept in touch for the next years though a friend - until theInternet was developed.

When we came to visit Javea from Xativa we found an old friend,Carmelo. He gave my husband a job and we moved over to thecoast. We now make Benitachell our home - which is only fiveminutes from Javea.

3. What is it like to live in Spain? What are the main culturaldifferences between living in North America and living in Spain?What was the adjustment phase like initially when you movedthere?

Spain is an old culture, full of raw passion, tragedy, love anda fascination with the macabre. It takes some time to get usedto the intimate nature of the people. They are a nation ofhuggers and kissers. In North American culture where a handshakeis normal to greet people, here in Spain it is a hug and a kisson both cheeks. This is standard for men and women. No one everthinks that you are gay because you are kissing a member of thesame sex. This is a silly notion.

Spain is a noisy country. They have a great love of fireworks.Motorcycles do not have mufflers and they roar like big beaststhrough the streets. People don't talk to each other - theyyell. A North American would think that fight is taking place ina bar when the Spanish get going. But they are not fighting,this is normal communications.

Spain is a dangerous country. Every criminal who fleespersecution in their own country comes to Spain. Every type ofmob is here, Russians, Romanians, Italians, Yugoslavians... Plusevery killer soldier left over from some Central European war.Terrorism has been a common scenario in Spain thanks to theBasque separatist movement (which learned everything they knowfrom Canada's FLQ). Every week, an unknown body will show updead in a ditch due to some Columbian drug payment that didn'tget paid.

Drinking and Driving in Spain is normal. Death is cheap on themotorways. Every weekend families say goodbye to loved ones asthe jaws of death scrape the mangled bodies of young and oldfrom a twisted up piece of metal that used to be a car. Beer isnot considered a dangerous drink, yet it has a 5% alcoholcontent. If you do need to get one you can go through theDrive-Thru window at your nearest McDonalds. Both wine andspirits are very cheap in Spain - so it is an alcoholic's dreamcome true.

Smoking is not prohibited and cigarettes are very cheap.Everyone here starts smoking at a very young age. The women staynice and thin as they don't eat, they just smoke. Everyone hasblack circles under their eyes. The mix of the cheap brandy andcheap cigarettes creates for very smelly people.

4. You

have now spent several years living in Spain. What placeshave you seen? What festivals have you experienced? Whatgastronomic pleasures have you enjoyed?

Our favourite festival is the Fallas Festival in Valencia. Welook forward to the first two weeks of March with such passion.It is the most amazing festival both visually and emotionally.The combination of art and fire, noise and danger - it all comestogether in this festival.

We have so many favourite foods - like paella and sausagespacked with pork and mountain grown herb. We love flan and ricepuddings. We love all types of seafood and fresh veggies fromthe market.

5. You are always involved in a variety of endeavours. Tell usabout the various websites you are working on.

My husband and I try and keep all of our important informationon our own website - http://www.darocas.com/ - this is where Ikeep track of my paintings too. Then, I have another websitecalled http://www.spainlifestyle.com/ where I store my writingsand poems and photos of the renovations on our house. Then, wehave another site called http://www.spainphotos.net/ where westore our Spanish adventure photos.

6. In addition to web sites, you also participate in severalbusiness organizations. What are they and what is your role?

http://www.palomera.com/ is a website that seeks out and trackswhat the Spanish business community is doing and we can watchbusiness trends.

Last year, I started a business club for women - which has grownand we are actually hosting International Women's Day. It justgoes to show the power of women to make something out ofnothing. This is a club of international women who have come tolive on this coast. The website is http://www.wibc-spain.com/

7. Obviously both you and your husband have a strongentrepreneurial orientation. You are now also involved in aproject that involves a luxury Canadian cedar log homedevelopment in Spain. Tell us more about that project.

We both love wood homes. The homes in Spain are made from cement- so they tend to be cool in summer, which is good, but duringwinter and the stormy season cement homes are damp, cold andclammy. They are always full of cement dust and if they don'tget enough sun they get moldy.

The Spanish don't have a good understanding of wood homebuilding but the many of immigrants from England, France,Switzerland, Germany and so forth love their wood homes. So Ihooked up with some old university friends from Canada whodesign and build wood homes in order to be able to offer aCanadian cedar log home to the Spanish landscape andmarketplace. We are currently working on a project with aSpanish developer to build the first wooden home community inSpain. That website is called http://www.spainloghomes.com/

8. In addition to your entrepreneurial ventures, you are also anartist. Tell us a bit about your artistic background and thecreative endeavours you are involved in now.

I love to paint. I had not done it for many years due to beingso involved with the internet industry. When we moved here I wasso happy to get back to my passion and use my skills that Ideveloped at university. Now, I paint to please myself but thepaintings sell very easily to people buying new villas or totourists.

9. Talk to us about the expatriate experience in Spain. Where docommunity of foreigners live, how do they interact, what typesof business and activities are they involved in, and how hasthat changed the country?

The coastlines of Spain are turning into very internationalcommunities. It reminds me of what California and Florida musthave been like back in the 60's and 70's. Every retired personfrom northern Europe is moving to Spain for the sun and sea.

They are bringing their cultural mix and adding it to theSpanish culture. The rest of Spain is changing too - for thegood and for the bad. There are more social reforms happening inSpain now - for women and for labour and social welfare. The newgovernment is young and progressive.

The bad side is that the progress is too fast and the naturalbeauty and landscape is being filled up with cement houseslooking like low cost housing, but as holiday homes they arefetching a huge price. This inflation is eating away at the poorin this country and now young Spanish people are looking at anera where they will not be able to buy a home.

10. What advice would give to someone else who is consideringmoving to Spain?

Don't' move to Spain unless you are willing to be flexible.There is nothing stable about this country and perhaps therenever will be. If you are rich, and can live off a pension andgolf everyday you will be fine. If you think you can move toSpain and get a job forget it. However, if you are anentrepreneur and can see the holes in the marketplace and youhave the guts and know-how to fill the hole you will be fine.

Thanks, Karla, for sharing your viewpoints and experiences. Iappreciate your insider's insights into a culture that hasfascinated me for a long time. Good luck with your endeavours inSpain!

About the author:Susanne Pacher is the publisher ofhttp://www.travelandtransitions.com. It deals with travel toforeign countries and is chock full of advice, tips, real lifetravel experiences, interviews with travellers, insights,cross-cultural issues, and many other features. Participate inour travel story contesthttp://www.travelandtransitions.com/contests.htm and win greatprizes, a fabulous cruise to the Amazon. Life is a Journey -Explore New Horizons.