If you say Castelldefels to someone from Spain and from my generation, they will probably think of ‘El Neng de Castefa’. El Neng was a character from comedian Edu Soto; a young man, friendly, high and happy on the drugs that people took to dance their way from club to club, some along the -shortly revived- ‘ruta del Bakalao‘, listening to ‘makina‘ music and not sleeping. He would drive a customized small car, blasting techno music, screaming ‘What’s up Neng ‘ and dancing in the seat.

When I got to Castelldefels for my work trip, there were no ‘Nengs’. Just a coastal town, with secondary homes from people living in Barcelona, small hotels, beach restaurants, the uniformed kids from British school of Barcelona and a long beach walk with lots of people running in the morning.

Maybe there are still the drugs and prostitution that were once related to the town. I didn’t see any of that on the beach side of the town. It was a very pleasant stay with the summer season just starting.

We had a few nice dinners: Argentinian, Thai and Spanish, went running in the morning, had some rain, took a train on the free day to Barcelona and Montserrat, and the airport was really convenient just 15 minutes away.

We worked on a Villa we rented for the week, big living room, the internet connection was good and a good space outdoors. It was quiet except for the planes (that didn’t bother me). Some of us slept in a small hotel nearby.

I arrived one day earlier and had the chance to see a friend from childhood that lives in Sitges, the town next to Castelldefels. Apparently, a road toll of 6.55€ makes it so that people from Castelldefels don’t go to Sitges much. Funny how a few euros can segregate.

It was a good meetup. Very well organized by our team lead, a good balance of work/leisure and I was happy to spend time with my colleagues.

In our free time, a colleague taught us how to solve the Rubik’s cube, with a beginners algorithm that was not that easy to remember. I got it after a few tries and some desperation of the Rubik’s master. Another colleague showed me how to pick locks (nothing illegal, it was a play set). It was fun. I am convinced these skills will prove handy one day.