So Many People with Crutches in Salamanca!!

A note before I forget: there are a lot of people with crutches in Salamanca. People of all ages too, so its not just the old people, or not just the young people. The whole month I've been here I've been wondering about it.

So I started asking people, why are there so many people with crutches here?!?

I asked my host dad, Miguel. He was the first one I asked. He told me that its because the people here are starting to get fat like the Americans. He said that hamburgers are getting so popular, as well as the Iberic pork products, that people are getting fat and their bones are getting bad. Interesting idea.. However, I would like to note that I have eaten more pizza and hamburgers in Maria and Miguel's house this month than I would eat in the States. Unfortunately, I think they chose to make food that would be more familiar to us. So they made food that they think all Americans eat. They made pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries, fried bologna, lots of soup, and lots of rice dishes. I tried to run every day to make sure I didn't gain a lot of weight, but I'm pretty sure it happened anyways haha. Anyway, Miguel's hypothesis was a bad diet.

I also asked my professor at the university, Charo. She said she had to idea why. She said she actually never really noticed it. I asked her if she thought it might be a problem of malnutrition, or if there was some type of sickness in this region. She said that the only person she knows that is wearing crutches is her aunt, and that's because she fell and broke a hip or femur or something. Other than that, she has no idea why a lot of people would be using crutches.

I asked Maria, my host mom, and she said that she never noticed people with crutches, so she has no idea.