La Playa Research Articles

Clay mineral transformations in anthropic organic matter-rich sediments under saline water environment. Effect on the detrital mineral assemblages in the Upper Chicamocha River Basin, Colombia

The results of this study showed how clay mineral assemblages from alluvial sediments were used to deduce the environmental impact of anthropogenic modifications in the Upper Chicamocha River Basin (UCRB) in Colombia. Two dams were investigated: La Playa dam (with anthropogenic input from farm activities and wastewater) and Sochagota Lake dam (with input from natural hydrothermal waters) and found to contain organic-rich deposits modified under highly saline, eutrophic conditions. Results from X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and analytical high resolution electron microscope AEM-HRTEM analyses indicated that the mineral assemblage in the sediments trapped in La Playa dam in the upper part of the basin is characterized by the presence of Fe-bearing smectite (up to 0.4 atoms per formula unit (a.p.f.u.)), whereas sediments downstream the Sochagota Lake dam are characterized by the presence of illite and dispersed fragments of pyrite framboids. Intense eutrophication due to organic compounds and nutrient loads from urban wastewater and agricultural activities in the area above La Playa dam created a reducing environment in which sediments promoted Fe-uptake in authigenic smectite and efficiently trapped it in the sediments. Periodic release of water from Sochagota Lake into the Chicamocha River allowed the incorporation of detrital illite grains and fragments of pyrite framboids (formed by low temperature illitization and Fe-uptake in the lake sediments) into the alluvial sediments in the lower section of the UCRB.

Multitechnique dating of earthen irrigation canals at the La Playa site, Sonora, Mexico

AbstractLa Playa (SON:F:10:3) is an archaeological site in Sonora, Mexico that contains the remains of an extensive preceramic earthen irrigation canal system. Modern floodplain erosion has destroyed the majority of these canals, but geoarchaeological investigations on areas of the system that remain reveal much about this early agricultural technology. Comprehensive dating using accelerator mass spectrometry 14C on gastropods, charcoal, and soil humates and single‐grain optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating on canal sediments revealed that multiple irrigation systems were used at La Playa during at least two periods during the Early Agricultural period (~750–350 B.C. and ~ A.D. 50–250). 14C and OSL age estimates from canals are in agreement with the earliest direct dates on maize from La Playa (A.D. 20–240), indicating that the introduction of maize corresponds to a significant investment in the modification of the floodplain environment for canal irrigation. The late phase of canal use (~A.D. 50–250) occurs before destructive floodplain erosion at the site. This is contemporaneous with local cultural changes, including the development of a new ceramic tradition, changes in burial practices, and changing subsistence strategies. These results demonstrate the utility of the combined 14C and OSL approach for dating ancient earthen canals.

Evasión tributaria de comerciantes de mercados populares.

El estudio trata sobre el análisis de la evasión tributaria por parte de los comerciantes de los mercados de la ciudad de Ibarra. La investigación fue mixta, los métodos empleados fueron inductivo - deductivo, y analítico - sintético. El tipo de investigación fue de campo y bibliográfico. Se procedió a realizar un análisis de ventas y facturación de los mercados Amazonas, Mayorista, La Bahía, Santo Domingo y La Playa. Se determinó que en todos los mercados analizados aún existen comerciantes que no cuentan con un Registro Único de Contribuyentes, tampoco de un Régimen Impositivo Simplificado; el mayor porcentaje de ventas no son facturadas, no existe una cultura tributaria, tampoco un cumplimiento de ciudadano fiscal.

Staging Discomfort: Performance and Queerness in Contemporary Cuba by Bretton White

Reviewed by: Staging Discomfort: Performance and Queerness in Contemporary Cuba by Bretton White Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes White, Bretton. Staging Discomfort: Performance and Queerness in Contemporary Cuba. Gainesville: U of Florida P, 2020. 258 pp. Queerness is a complex and treacherous topic in Cuba. In Staging Discomfort: Performance and Queerness in Contemporary Cuba, Bretton White focuses on how theater in the Caribbean socialist nation is marked by economic precarity and challenging conditions for audiences and performers. White compellingly analyzes dramatic works in the context of "the Cuban state's project of masculine heteronormativity" (3), focusing on five post-1959 examples that highlight the challenges and tensions related to queerness, cognizant that "queer Cubans have long been targets of state control" (3). As the author states, "The performances studied here concentrate on an aesthetics of fluidity, and thus upset traditional understandings of performer and [End Page 157] spectator, as well as what constitutes the ideal Cuban citizenry" (2), further asking: "How is Cuban theater agile in its critiques considering the state's limitations on expression? How do queer performances allow for new understandings about the effects of the state's failing socialist utopian contract with its citizens? And, can Cuban bodies that come together in queer ways reimagine Cuban citizenship?" (2). In the introduction, White contextualizes post-Soviet life in Cuba, drawing on the work of Jill Lane, Rine Leal, Camilla Stevens, and Norge Espinosa to illuminate Cuban theatre history. In each chapter, White pairs Cuban plays and productions with U.S.-centered queer theorists. Chapter 1 ("Instigating Intimacies: Las relaciones de Clara and Uncomfortable Closeness") focuses on the director Carlos Díaz's creative 2002 staging of a 1999 play by the German playwright Dea Loher, specifically "the blurring of distinctions between audience and actor" (23). White's reading of Díaz's production is informed by Leo Bersani and Adam Phillips's Intimacies. In chapter 2 ("Sharing Shame: Reimagining Entrepreneurship in Baños públicos, S.A."), White focuses on a play by Esther Suárez Durán that received the UNEAC Playwrighting award in Havana in 1998. Dialoguing with Michael Warner, White "shows how a more liquid connection between shame and dignity might allow for the introduction of queerness into dialogues about national identity" (23). Chapter 3 ("Frustrating Futurity: Beauty and Pain in Pájaros de la playa") focuses on a 2004 theatrical adaptation by El Ciervo Encantado of Severo Sarduy's homonymous novel, which focuses on AIDS. White reads the negotiation between suffering and beauty in relation to Lee Edelman's sinthomosexuality theory, which "postulates that reproductive futurity is not representative of possibility, but of restrictive linearity" (24). Chapter 4 ("Vexing Visibilities: Space and Queerness in Chamaco") analyzes a 2005 play by Abel González Melo that was directed by Carlos Celdrán in dialogue with works by José Esteban Muñoz and John Paul Ricco to see "how the play references the characters' cruising of the minor architectural spaces of Central Havana by staging visual nothingness" (24). Finally, in Chapter 5 ("Fronting Failure: Testing Continuity in Perros que jamás ladraron"), White analyzes a 2013 play by Rogelio Orizondo to show how "disabled, queer, black, and female bodies redefine words, images, and legacies of the revolution while courting audience participation" (25), engaging Jack Halberstam's The Queer Art of Failure. White's Staging Discomfort is an elegantly argued, intellectually-stimulating, and necessary read for any scholar interested in the Cuban scene and in theorizations of affect and performance. Its main limitation is its failure to engage the queer of color critique in a more substantive way. [End Page 158] Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes University of Michigan Copyright © 2020 The Center of Latin American Studies

Valor pedagógico, simbólico e histórico de los bustos de los próceres de la patria, avenida la playa - Medellín

Se evidencia la necesidad que existe en Medellín, y posiblemente en Colombia, de sumar a las expresiones culturales, específicamente para este caso los bustos de la Avenida La Playa, el contenido histórico que avala el sentido social, político y cultural de los mismos. Pero en sí el principal motivo es generar en la conciencia de los habitantes del territorio en que se encuentran dichas obras, un sentido de pertenencia sobre Patrimonio Cultural y la importancia de su conservación como legado de un país que vela por resaltar los valores culturales y la diversidad étnica. El eje de este texto, es el componente legal de la investigación, que pretende sentar las bases legislativas que den pie a una resolución de carácter municipal, por medio de la Secretaría de Educación de Medellín y de la Secretaría de Educación de Antioquia, para regular nuevamente la Ley General de Educación 115 y el Decreto 1860, no solo en la carga académica, sino en el pénsum mismo, para convertir en obligatorio el resurgimiento de la asignatura de historia nacional, construyendo memoria colectiva y sentido de pertenencia en las nuevas generaciones.

Late Holocene human activities and their impacts on the soils and sediments at La Playa, Sonora

espanolLas actividades realizadas por las sociedades agricolas prehispanicas poco complejas, no son usualmente consideradas como factores importantes de degradacion del suelo. Sin embargo, la repeticion de actividades cotidianas durante cientos de anos puede afectar sustancialmente sus caracteristicas. En el sitio de La Playa, las modificaciones del paisaje producidas por las actividades cotidianas, tales como la construccion de hornos de tierra para cocer alimentos, campos de maiz con un complejo sistema de canales de riego, y la practica de rituales mortuorios (crematorios, cremaciones e inhumaciones), juegan un papel importante en las transformaciones de los rasgos naturales del suelo. En este articulo se muestran las caracteristicas de los paleosuelos de La Playa, que constituyeron la superficie de ocupacion durante el Periodo de Agricultura Temprana (4500-1800 cal AP), y la influencia que las actividades de subsistencia diaria tuvieron en su configuracion. Para ello, se muestran los resultados obtenidos en campo y en laboratorio de tres perfiles de secuencias pedosedimentarias formadas durante el Holoceno tardio en La Playa, Sonora (NW de Mexico). Las caracteristicas evaluadas son: estructuracion, diferenciacion de horizontes, textura (a tacto y por separacion de fracciones), color, porosidad, pedregosidad, propiedades magneticas, contenido de carbono organico, carbonatacion, presencia de cutanes, nodulos y/o concreciones, entre otros rasgos pedologicos. Estudios previos muestran que los Fluvisoles de La Playa estan pobremente desarrollados y se formaron a partir de depositos aluviales (compuestos en gran medida por suelos redepositados). Las propiedades fisicas y quimicas indican periodos cortos de pedogenesis superpuestos, desarrollados bajo un clima arido durante los ultimos 4000 anos. Las caracteristicas de todos los perfiles son muy similares, indicando las mismas condiciones pedogeneticas; mientras que las propiedades micromorfologicas y magneticas muestran claramente que el suelo esta profundamente perturbado por las actividades humanas, principalmente quema en los hornos y cremaciones. EnglishThe activities carried out by preindustrial agricultural societies are not usually considered as important factors of soil degradation. Nonetheless, repetitive human daily activities for hundreds of years can substantially transform the natural properties of the soils. At the site of La Playa, Mexico, the activities of early farmers modified the landscape and had an important role in the physical transformations of the natural soil features. This paper depicts the characteristics of La Playa paleosols, which were the living surface of the Early Agriculture Period community (4000 - 1800 cal BP) and we discuss the influence of daily subsistence activities on the soil. The soil features (structuring, differentiation of horizons, texture-in field and laboratory, color, porosity, stoniness, magnetic properties, organic carbon content, carbonation, presence of cutans, nodules and/or concretions, among other pedological features) of three profiles with pedosediments (paleosols interbedded with sediments) formed during late Holocene are discussed. Our study suggests that La Playa Fluvisols are poorly developed and were formed with alluvial deposits (largely composed of reworked soils). The pedogenic properties indicate that overlapping developed during short time periods of stability, under arid conditions of the last 4000 years. The uniformity of the features in all the studied profiles indicate similar pedogenetic conditions across the site. The micromorphological and magnetic properties clearly show that the soil was deeply disturbed by human activities, mainly by roasting features to process food, crematories and grave digging to bury the dead, and removing soil for several agricultural activities.

The cultural transmission of food habits, identity, and social cohesion: A case study in the rural zone of Cali-Colombia

While the cooking-culture relationship is a biocultural phenomenon that gives meaning to gastronomic practices through signs and symbols shared within a community, in the 20th century, its transmission has been influenced by important processes of change, such as urban expansion and environmental pollution, which put the continuity of immaterial cultural patrimony at risk. These changes have altered the supply, conservation, and preparation of food and utensils, which are elements that demarcate the society-nature relationship and gender roles, among other things. The objective of this article is to demonstrate the role of the cultural transmission of food habits in identity formation and social cohesion, based upon an ethnographic case study in the Ancestral Community La Playa Renaciente, in Cali (Colombia). This study presents the cultural transmission of food habits, culinary practices, and their relationship with the inhabited environment. Likewise, this article presents a temporal-spatial contextualization of the locality and some oral testimonies that reveal how dietary practices constitute an important element in socialization, social cohesion, and the transmission of knowledge from generation to generation.

Literatura por tareas y gamificación: novela policíaca y geografías culturales / Task-based approach and gamification applied to Literature: crime fiction and cultural mapping

This paper explores the possibilities of the literary text as an effective instrument to increase communicative and cultural competence through a proposal of a didactic unit which was built on two didactic perspectives: a task-based approach and gamification proceedings. The target group would be composed of Spanish as a Foreign Language (SFL) students, who belong to the B2 level according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2001).
 This didactic unit is based on the crime fiction entitled La playa de los ahogados (2009), which was written by Domingo Villar originally in Galician language (A praia dos afogados). Later on, in 2015 it was adapted to the cinema. This fact allows us to introduce the transmedia dimension (text and audiovisual) into the project narrative. Along this paper geographical aspects of literature will be unveiled, all of which would result in an effective instrument to deepen into the diversity of the Hispanic culture.
 The suspense elements (reached out through different resources such as the creation of real scenarios -Vigo and its surroundings-, a crime, a detective and some suspects), encourage reading through exploratory tasks, whose final aim is to stimulate student´s imagination and creative writing abilities.

Urban-rural relations around the agri-food supply between Ocaña and the municipalities of Catatumbo, as a prospective proposal to the City-Region of Ocaña

The objective of the study was to identify the urban-rural relations around the agri-food supply between Ocaña and the municipalities of Catatumbo, starting from the geographic identification, products and quantity of food that arrive at the municipal supply center to develop a cartographic representation as the prospective proposal of the City Region of Ocaña. The methodology focused first on the realization of a census in the market place and then to carry out a survey in the supply center of the city. Within the results obtained, it was possible to find that the agro-food relation of Ocaña with the municipalities of Catatumbo is composed of the following municipalities: Teorama, San Calixto, El Carmen, Rio de Oro, Otaré, La Playa, Hacarí, Gonzales, Convention, Abrego and El Tarra. This provide 88.9% of the food arriving in the central market of the city of Ocaña. With the above data, a cartography was generated in which Ocaña’s relationship with rural areas is represented, for a city-region proposal.

Environmental setting of the early irrigation in Oasisamerica: Paleopedological evidences from the alluvial palaeosols in la Playa/Sonoran Desert

Environmental conditions and human-landscape interaction during the onset of the irrigated agriculture in Oasisamerica are not clear yet. In la Playa site (Sonora, NW Mexico), the evidences of sedentary population, land cultivation, and water management developed after the end of Altithermal period (around 4500 yr BP) include more than 550 archaeological features including hundreds of human cremations and a net of buried artificial channels. These findings were closely associated with several palaeosol levels alternating with sediments within a large alluvial fan. We studied micromorphological features, physical characteristics (color, texture, rock magnetic properties), and composition of organic matter, from three profiles (Maravillas, Zanja, and Cuatro Suelos), to reconstruct pedogenesis and sedimentary environment of the palaeosol sequences. Additional paleoenvironmental information was extracted from pollen assemblages, extracted from the Cuatro Suelos profile. The results pointed to a long period of geomorphic and climatic stability in the early-middle Holocene marked by a well-developed red Cambisol. This period was followed by an unstable interval around 4.5 kyr BP marked by severe erosion of earlier soil profiles and sedimentation of different kind: channel, floodplain, and fluvio-eolian. Later synsedimentary Fluvisols were formed showing signs of predominantly arid pedogenesis, interrupted by occasional flooding; indicators of human impact were also encountered. We conclude that the shift to irrigated agriculture as the main subsistence activity occurred during the period of major climatic and geomorphic fluctuation and then irrigation developed further under dry environment with limited water resources during the Late Holocene.

Raiding and Warfare in Early Farming Villages of the Sonoran Desert

The archaeological record of the precolumbian Southwest US and Northwest Mexico contains a wide variety of evidence for violence and warfare. We examined osteological evidence for trauma from the site of La Playa in Sonora, Mexico to identify if violence was present during the Early Agricultural period in the Sonoran Desert (as it was in the northern Southwest) and, if present, identify the source of that violence (i.e., warfare vs. social control). Traumatic injuries were present in 58% of the skeletal sample (TotalN = 131) and demonstrated that both males and females were both equally susceptible to accidents as well as victims of violence. Numerous healed cranial depression fractures, embedded projectile points, and probable forearm defensive fractures suggest that violence was endemic at the site, and more broadly across the Sonoran Desert during the Early Agricultural period. These patterns of violent traumatic injury mirror those expected for groups where raiding is common and may partly reflect captive taking and perhaps revenge killing.

Pedosedimentary records of Holocene paleoenvironments in a dryland alluvial fan system in Sonora, NW-Mexico

In this work we present a detailed micromorphological analysis of a sequence of palaeosols and sedimentary units at La Playa archaeological site. This sequence is from the Late Pleistocene (Marine Isotopic Stage 2) to the Late Holocene. Complementing the micromorphological study, a geomorphological analysis is provided, in order to establish the origin of the landscape units. The results show that according to the geomorphology, La Playa constitutes an alluvial fan, formed by a complex, braided channel. The older unit, the San Rafael Palaeosol (SRP) is the most developed and has a set of features associated with the changing paleoenvironmental conditions such as weathering of the primary minerals, clay illuviation (evidencing humid conditions of the Terminal Pleistocene), pedogenic carbonate accumulation in the A horizon (related to dry environments of Altithermal). The SRP is buried by fluvial sediments, which include different facies interpreted as: floodplain, sandbars, and channels. These sedimentation events are associated with the end of the Altithermal period and evidence more active geomorphic processes, probably due to strong storms causing flooding and the migration of the main tributary. Above the sedimentary unit, the Boquillas Palaeosol (BOP), formed during the Late Holocene, is derived from fluvial-alluvial deposits causing a syn-sedimentary soil, with a more incipient development as indicated by micromorphological features.

First record of Echinothrix calamaris (Echinoidea: Diadematidae) in the Colombian Pacific

BackgroundThe occurrence of Echinothrix calamaris Pallas, 1774 is reported for the first time in Colombia.ResultsThree specimens of Echinothrix calamaris were collected in two fringing reefs (La Azufrada and Playa Blanca) at Gorgona Island. The specimens now lie in the Echinoderm Collection of the Marine Biology Section at Universidad del Valle (Cali, Colombia).ConclusionsThis finding constitutes a range extension towards the Tropical Eastern Pacific, with only one previous record from Cocos Island. The list of Echinoids from the Pacific coast of Colombia now comprises 30 species.

Focus on test, measurement, software, and instrumentation

Focus on test, measurement, software, and instrumentation

An integrated approach to surveying an Early Agricultural period landscape: Magnetic gradiometry and satellite imagery at La Playa, Sonora, Mexico

La Playa (SON F:10:3) in Sonora, Mexico is the single largest Early Agricultural period (2100BCE–50CE) site in the Greater Southwest. Modern erosion is rapidly destroying large portions of the archaeological site, highlighting the urgent need for documentation of threatened archaeological structures and features. An integrated approach to archaeological survey is presented here with particular emphasis on magnetic gradiometry as a tool to efficiently survey and document the complex palimpsest of irrigation canals, agricultural fields, and structures at La Playa. This is an under-utilized method in the identification of prehistoric earthen irrigation canals in the southwest U.S./northwest Mexico region. Magnetic gradiometry detected approximately 3km of intact irrigation canals, almost 8700m2 of agricultural fields, and twelve circular structures in areas that had not yet been eroded. Satellite imagery and GPS survey documented the remains of almost 12km of irrigation canals in eroded areas of the site. This multi-technique methodology successfully documented locations of irrigation canals and associated agricultural features both in eroded areas of the site and areas threatened by erosion. These datasets contribute to a comprehensive spatial reconstruction of the Early Agricultural period landscape and lend insight into landscape organization and a deeper understanding of early irrigation technology.

A Palaeoichnological Itinerary Through the Cenozoic of the Southern Margin of the Pyrenees and the Northern Ebro Basin (Aragón, Northeast Spain)

This work aims to bring to light the great wealth of mammal and avian tracksites of the Cenozoic of the southern margin of the Pyrenees and the northern Ebro Basin (Aragon, northeast Spain) by designing a palaeoichnological itinerary that includes the main tracksites. Scientific research in these fields is currently being carried out with very interesting preliminary results, given the poor ichnofossil record in the Palaeogene worldwide. In addition to its scientific importance, however, we want to emphasize the value of this palaeontological heritage as a tourist and educational resource and also the geoconservation work carried out on the tracksites. In some of these sites (Fondota, Sierra de Luna and La Playa Fosil), conservation and adaptation activities have been undertaken over the last few decades. These activities have allowed people to access and visit these tracksites, thus promoting them as socioeconomic assets of this region.

Vamos a la Playa vs. Standing at the Gates: Beaches in Bulgaria

ABSTRACTBeaches at the Bulgarian Black Sea coast were public and club goods until the mid-1990s. By that time the Bulgarian government had granted private investors temporary property rights by providing concessions. Consequently, more beaches show characteristics of club goods nowadays. On a national level, the process can be considered as a reallocation of public resources, thus affecting the well-being of many. This paper focuses on three aspects of this process and contributes to the ongoing discussion of how to handle public resources by addressing the case of beaches in Bulgaria. We first describe the process as observed for beaches in order to provide an analytical basis for further research. Stakeholders and their interests are then identified. The paper proceeds by pointing at conflicts between the different types of shareholders.

Site Formation Processes and Depositional Environment of a Fine‐Grained Alluvial Floodplain at La Playa Archaeology Site, Sonora, Mexico

Located on a floodplain of the Rio Boquillas, the site of La Playa contains a principal occupation during the Early Agricultural period, 1200 B.C.–A.D. 50 (3150–1900 cal. yr B.P.). Local complexity in geomorphic features and extensive historic dissection of the floodplain have resulted in limited understanding of the site's alluvial history, which hampers understanding of archaeological features and an extensive canal system. This study reconstructs the site formation processes of the floodplain before, during, and after occupation by comparing soils and sediments from the Los Montículos area near the channel with those of more distant areas of the site. Sediments on the floodplain were deposited by low‐energy overbank deposition from ca. 4300 to 1600 cal. yr B.P., resulting in stratified deposits with weak soil development nearer to the channel, and more strongly developed soils farther from the channel. Low‐energy deposition of fine‐grained sediments was possible due to the stable location of the river channel during the Holocene, creating an attractive place for canal agriculture. Sometime after the Early Agricultural period, higher‐energy flows resulted in deposition of sandier sediments and multiple episodes of erosion and deposition in Los Montículos, where nearly all cultural material is now in a reworked context.

Estimación de la diversidad genética de Anadara tuberculosa en cinco manglares de Tumaco, utilizando la enzima citocromo oxidasa I

RESUMENObjetivo. Estimar la diversidad genética de Anadara tuberculosa en cinco manglares de Tumaco Nariño, Colombia utilizando como marcador molecular mitocondrial la subunidad I de la citocromo oxidasa (COI). Materiales y métodos. Se colectaron en total 50 individuos de los manglares San Jorge, La Tiburonera, El Pajal, La Playa y Bajito Vaquería, tomando 10 ejemplares al azar de cada extrajo y amplificó el ADN mitocondrial mediante la técnica de PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction). Los productos de PCR amplificados y cuantificados se secuenciaron por ambos lados (Macrogen). Una vez se obtuvo las secuencias, se editó y alineo cada secuencia. Posteriormente, se midió los parámetros de diversidad genética (haplotípica y nucleotídica) y se elaboró el análisis de distribución entre pares de frecuencias (Mistmach distribution). Finalmente se efectuó el análisis de variación nucleotídica y la estructura poblacional (AMOVA). Resultados. El gen amplificado tuvo una longitud de 710 pb. La diversidad haplotípica reportada para todas las poblaciones fue alta (0.683±0.060) y la diversidad nucleotídica reportada fue baja para todas las poblaciones (0.040±0.020). Los resultados del AMOVA indican que la varianza entre poblaciones es baja (4.20%) y la varianza dentro de las poblaciones es alta (95.80%). Conclusiones. Las poblaciones estudiadas no se encuentran estructuradas y a pesar de la disminución de los bancos naturales de las poblaciones de Anadara tuberculosa, se estima que la diversidad genética es alta.

The Yoke of the Hat: Consumption, Middle-Class Values, and Social Mobility in Carmen de Burgos’s La Flor de la Playa

Carmen de Burgos’s novella La Flor de la Playa explores themes of consumption and social mobility in early-twentieth-century Portugal and Spain. Elisa, the novella’s working-class protagonist, is a seamstress who travels with Enrique, her office-worker boyfriend, from Madrid to Portugal on a summer vacation. During their trip, the lovers pretend to be a middle-class married couple. Elisa and Enrique facilitate their social transformations within the foreign linguistic, spatial, and social contexts of Portugal through the consumption and production of fashion, language, and the touristic space of the beach. Despite their belief in the socially transformative power of consumption, the couple is unable and, in Elisa’s case, unwilling to adopt the conventional and stifling model of middleclass marriage. Ultimately, their relationship collapses under the strain of a foreign and incompatible “grammar” of bourgeois marriage, restrictive middle-class values, and illusory social mobility.