Word: vila
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What is killing the octopus of Vila Nova de Gaia? That question has obsessed the Portuguese city - located just across the Douro River from Porto - since Jan. 2, when 1,100 lb. (500 kg) of dead octopus were found on a 1.8-mile (3 km) stretch of local beach. The following day, another 110 lb. (50 kg) appeared; later there was just one expired creature. "It's very strange that so many should be killed, and in such a confined area," says Nuno Oliveira, director of the Gaia Biological Park, a nature refuge on the outskirts of Vila Nova...
...After issuing multiple warnings that no townspeople should take the carcasses home for dinner (boiled octopus - perhaps sprinkled with a touch of paprika - is a Portuguese delicacy), Vila Nova de Gaia's municipal government had firefighters gather up the dead animals; many will be sent to Lisbon's veterinary lab for testing, a process that is expected to take up to two weeks...
...recent Wednesday afternoon, Montserrat Vila sat in her Barcelona apartment, waiting for the bullfighters to appear. They were not coming to show off some cape work in her living room. In fact, they were not real bullfighters at all. Rather, the three men, dressed like matadors in garish tight pants and embroidered jackets, were coming to collect a debt...
...this country, they treat people who owe money worse than criminals," says Vila, 49, an employee of a health-insurance company. Earlier this year, she fell behind on her mortgage payments. On March 31, she received a call from an unidentified collection agency that said it worked with the bank who had issued her mortgage and informed her that the next day it would be sending three bullfighters to "take up a collection" on her behalf from her neighbors. "I'm a serious person. I've paid my bills my whole life," says Vila. "This is a really painful situation...
...Barcelona, Montserrat Vila is similarly unafraid to meet her costumed fate. The threatened toreros didn't appear that afternoon, but she is ready for them whenever they do - with a garden hose set to spray from her apartment balcony. "I owe money, that's all. I'm not ashamed of that," she says. "They're the ones who should be ashamed...