Problems at Spanish beaches have boiled over this week: Dozens of couples, tired from late nights spent together at bars, line up by the hundreds to strip off and celebrate “sol cuentame” (roughly translated: sleep together).
However, the dancing and touching at the “fatima” beach in northern Spain may cause little to no regret – the beach’s patron, a municipality known as “Florez de Heredia” near Alicante, blames revelers’ pleas for all that drunken adulting for spoiled the water.
“Now that we found out that the public has broken our contractual obligations with the seaside, we will ask for an annulment of the ceremony,” Michele Bixler-Jimenez, a city spokeswoman, told the Canary Islands’ República.
Photographs from the “fatima” party and its aftermath hit the Internet on Thursday, provoking outrage among many who thought the unsanitary celebration was inhumane.
Spain-based blog The Citizen spoke to Bixler-Jimenez, and she responded that the beach’s new policy is very formal:
“In order for revellers to break the law, everyone has to request permission from the law … everyone knew this type of act was not permitted, and those in charge of the area communicated this order to all the revellers and closed the beach (the term sesha) to outsiders.”
Abed Curia, “a local drunkard,” agreed with Bixler-Jimenez that the beach held “sole responsibility” for the spoiled pleasures:
“There were security guards that came and could have stopped any number of young people from holding themselves up to a wall, while others groped and made aggressive gestures,” he said.
The colony also claimed “fatima” was the place to be seen, noting “there was a massive amount of drunk people that filled the beach during the day.”
Although the sandy lot at “fatima” is closed to the public, the party-goers – who often toted chairs and took selfies with police as they strolled – did not need to be shut down.
“Fatima” has regained its old glamour, though. Meanwhile, many are contemplating alternatives:
The new rules are already being challenged on the Web. Local business has said it will be unlikely to pay a fee for the right to sell alcohol on the beach again.
“These type of incidents will be more deterred by the current situation and will certainly stop,” Eugenio Garza, a spokesman for Josepún del Telco, said.