We´re coming to the end of my fabulous six-week stay in the country of brotherly love, and as I prepare to leave Spain and return to the United States, I muse over the things I´ve seen while I have been here.

First of all, Spain is pathetic. Pathetic in the sense that a puppy with a broken leg limping after you with a sad look on its face is pathetic. The Spanish people are obsessed with the past, and they are obsessed with things that once made them great. That´s why figurines or statues of Don Quixote or Miguel de Cervantes are everywhere: it´s probably the most famous thing to come out of Spain that is still popular and relevant today, and they´re going to wring every last drop of utility out of it.

As you´d learn in any Spanish history class, Spain was a tired shell of what it once was by 1898. The Spanish-American War sealed its fate as the rest of Spain´s colonies -- the Phillipines, Cuba, and Puerto Rico -- became U.S. property and the chapter closed on an empire that once ruled the world with its wealth and its navy. The Civil War of 1936 didn´t help, either; it put Spain in the clutches of a dictator that took the place back to the 19th century in terms of sumptuary laws and effectively removed Spain from the rest of the world through economic protection and political alienation. Spain didn´t join the Common Market or even NATO until 1986. Like the Russia of old, Spain was out of the loop during the post-war boom era. It´s gotten a lot better since 1978, when the new constitution was written, but it remains one of the poorest member nations of the European Union.

Second, this country is dominated by tourism. I think the city of Toledo would shut down if there weren´t tourists. There are gift shops and museums everywhere, all designed to cater to tourists. The message that this tourist economy gives off is, "Come see the greatness of what we used to be -- for only €1.50. Then come see the gift shop of the greatness of what we used to be." The 1300-year history of the city of Toledo can be summed up in an El Greco calendar, a 12" Don Quixote figurine, or a replica of a sword once used by Carlos V. That last image is, I think, the most striking: the replica sword. Spain is a replica sword, a not-so-dangerous imitation of what it used to be, designed to appeal to tourists.

Don´t get me wrong: Spain is a great place . . . to vacation. As for living here, I don´t know if I´d want to do it. The cost of living is high (thank you, euro), the salaries are low, the jobs are scarce (the Spanish unemployment rate is much higher than the EU average), and life is dull. Life would be more exciting in Madrid -- that is, if it weren´t dangerous to be there. The coasts are great, but full of tourists. And it´s probably more expensive to live there.

What did I think of Spain? It´s a beautiful country with lots of history. But it´s a little too steeped in history. It´s as though the Spanish people realize what a long way they´ve fallen, and try to recoup some of their dignity by working extra-hard to remember the past. The origin of the Spanish-speaking peoples, it´s no longer the most important Spanish-speaking country. The up-and-coming economies in South America are more important to the world now. Like the fictional hero they all know so well, the Spaniards are tilting at windmills in their quest to make the past count toward the future.