Michael Paterniti profiles Sodeto, a Spanish village of 250 which won “El Gordo,” Spain’s enormous Christmas lottery. Some of the consequences:
Paco buys Marisol, his hairdresser wife, a new wedding ring. Marisol goes to New York with her sisters and stands in Times Square, an unimaginable dream, which is when it occurs to her that she’s really won. At home, Paco and Marisol buy a bigger tank “for pig pee and excrement,” to make fertilizer. “When you have 2,500 pigs and you go from 600- to 800-liter tanks, it saves a lot of time,” says Paco. “And your quality of life gets a little better.”
Meanwhile, others buy new cars, Audis and BMWs. Carmen buys a couple of Harley-Davidsons. Someone vacations in Venice, another in Mexico. They return from their trips exhausted. After eating every day of their lives at 1 p.m. at the kitchen table in their house, they’re overwhelmed by the outside world, by all the choices, hundreds and thousands of possible restaurants serving food at all hours. “That was fourteen days of panic,” they say when they return. “It’s loco out there.”
Why would anyone want to leave this place called Luck?
Everyone seems to have their kitchen redone, replacing the old with the modern—appliances, cabinets, and counters—bordering on the garish. One farmer, Pedro Luis, guts his abode across the road and in its place builds—in village terms—a mansion. He installs a window in the kitchen, to look out into his garage. That way he can make dinner while keeping a close eye on his new tractor.
The Dish 