At 60, Begoña Iglesias lives in a caravan in Mallorca: “My views are spectacular”

Begoña Iglesias earns 1,200 euros a month, works from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and still cannot afford a home in Mallorca. For the past six months, she has rented a four-square-meter caravan with her son Héctor, turning a housing crisis into their daily reality.

The caravan sits in a parking area beside the Palma highway. There is little room for their belongings, no refrigerator and no usable bathroom. To meet that basic need, the family pays a monthly fee to use the toilets at a club one block away. Iglesias also spends three hours traveling to arrive at her job on time.

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That is my life. I also have a respectable job. I have been doing this same thing for three years. I am here all day, from 9 in the morning to 9 at night. Here at the port, there is nowhere with shade.

She works as a parking-security employee at the port, issuing mostly fines to the German and English tourists who visit Mallorca in summer. She has done the job for three years. “That is my life. I also have a respectable job. I have been doing this same thing for three years,” she says. With no shade at the port, she spends the day exposed to the conditions of the seaside workplace.

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My views of the sea are spectacular, and it is a privilege to be able to work right next to the sea.

The caravan becomes even harder to live in during summer. Iglesias says temperatures reached 52°C last year, making it almost impossible to sleep after the vehicle spent the day in the sun. Rental options are also difficult to secure, with some landlords demanding six months’ rent in advance.

Despite everything, Iglesias says she is grateful to remain in her city and hear the sea throughout the year. “My views of the sea are spectacular, and it is a privilege to be able to work right next to the sea,” she says. Héctor, 22, feels attached to Mallorca but says he sees no professional or economic future there and hopes to save enough money to try his luck abroad.

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It is hard for me because I grew up here. I like it, it is my home, and my people, friends and family are here, but economically and professionally I do not see a future here.