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I can personally vouch that the prices of food have significantly increased in the last couple of years. According to the Spanish Coordination of Farmer Unions, consumers in Spain pay up to 600 percent more than what the food producers receive for their production. With these rapid increase in prices, no child benefit and without any regular income, Ian and his wife Alison admit that life has not been easy here and earning a living takes determination, hard-work, solidarity and "survivor instincts."

"We're not living a champagne lifestyle when we are on a lemonade income," says Alison. "You are working to live and you are living to work and it's getting harder."

Chris Whitehead, a 55-year-old from Manchester, who moved to the area in 2004, can often be seen meandering through the heavy crowd of rastro shoppers, bartering in Spanish with a deep Mancunian accent over the price of a guitar.

Chris Whitehead playing in his band in Spain [By Gabrielle Pickard/China.org.cn]

A lifetime guitarist and manager of pop groups in the 1990s, Chris was pleasantly surprised to find that Baza is a Mecca for musicians. The recession may have deeply affected Spain but an economic collapse has not thwarted the nation's insatiable thirst for entertainment and partying. Having found a seemingly recession-proof niche, Chris's financial survival in Spain relies primarily on playing gigs in a band and selling second-hand guitars. Being the only Englishman in a Spanish band, survival here, according to guitarist, runs much deeper than being able to make ends meet. It is all about integration.

"Once you make Spanish friends here it changes your life. You feel better protected, safer, more human and a prouder individual," Chris says.

Would he go back to the U.K.? "Only as a last resort," the musician assures me. Pointing to jagged peaks of the sierras in the distance surrounding the busy Spanish rastro, Chris Whitehead says: "Where in Britain could you shop for a guitar with views like that?"

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.shenbo75.com/opinion/gabriellepickard.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

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