From mid-July to the end of September I returned several times to Lerida. The Capital of Fruit, as the village office of tourism proclaims: "39,000 hectares of apples, pears, peaches, cherries, apricots and plums that produce more the 900 million kilos of fruit under good conditions. One out of two apples and pears produced in Spain come from Lerida, which, with her 700,000 tonnes, is the main producer of almost all varieties."

I found there a lot of the same facts I had encountered earlier in Andalousia, and once again, unfortunately, I witnessed the same suffering. Finding work is difficult due to the CEN program (contrato en origen) which brings in 15,000 Columbians for the fruit harvest. In many of the little villages, I encountered the same "patera" sheds (from the name for the small fishing boats on which immigrants reach Spain) that I had seen in Andalusia. Enquiring about the situation of the Columbians is also very interesting.

(Excerpt from Read the Story)