La Rambla was the pedestrian street that split the city down the middle. After stuffing ourselves with giant empanadas from a stall in the market, Manu and I started at the bottom of the street, down near the port where the cruise ships came in. The passengers surging from the boats looked anxious but determined: they had four hours of freedom to squeeze in as much sightseeing and shopping as possible. As we followed them around the statue of Columbus, they were all holding tightly to their purses or camera straps – they must have been given a warning on the ship – but by the second block they were already distracted. We watched a man buy a bottle of water, then absently stuff his change into his fanny pack without zipping it closed. A woman at a café set her purse on the ground beside her
