Marc Garcia (Barcelona, 1981) is a particular person. Not because of his work, he's a taxi driver. Nor because of his way of being (quite the contrary, he is a very affable individual). It's because of one of his hobbies. And we are not referring to the urbex -which in his case, and in that of many others, focuses on visiting abandoned places-, but rather his attraction to gruesome events (accidents mostly) that have occurred on the road. He collects everything he can about them. And not only that: visit, camera in hand, the enclave where they have taken place in search of testimonies. He even bought a 4x4 to have better access to the ravines, where in the past (not so much now) it was feasible to find vehicles that had fallen off the cliff and plunged into oblivion. Everything he collects is later dumped on his website: lugares-abandonados.com.
The fans have not come to him since he was a taxi driver (he has been practicing this profession for 15 years). He comes from long before. He explains that, as a child, he used to travel by car with his family around Catalonia on weekends. They made short journeys. One fine day, driving along the road between Roses and Cadaqués, he was shocked to see different vehicles at the bottom of some ravines. "I wanted to go down there to see them, but he was small and couldn't," he tells La Vanguardia. That was when his interest in finding out what story they were hiding began to arouse.
That attraction for road events grew at the same time as his passion for the urbex. “When I was 4 or 5 years old, I went into an abandoned house for the first time. It was the one that my father's family had inhabited in Castellet, a town that is half lost between Pont de Montanyana (Aragon) and Pont de Suert (Lleida). He impressed me a lot. There were still plates and cutlery.”
Over the years, he ended up practicing both hobbies. About road stories, he finds it hard to explain what it is that catches him about them. “I am interested, don't ask me why, in knowing what has happened and what is behind all these tragedies. I know it sounds a bit geeky, but they really call my attention, ”she confesses.
It was to get a driver's license, back in 2000, and start touring Spain in search of damaged and abandoned cars. “A few years ago there were many, the insurers did not withdraw them. Today they do." At that time, he was very available to travel. He had neither a partner nor children (now he has one, Martí, who just turned one year old).
The last ravine through which he descended to photograph a wrecked vehicle was in the port of Pajares (Asturias) in 2012. "Subsequently, I have published many other stories, but not about ravines," he argues. It was a truck that hid, of course, a tragic story. It happened on July 25, 2005. The driver was going up the port in the direction of León when the vehicle had a mechanical problem. At that moment -Marc recounts on his website- the truck, a Volvo F12, lost strength, coming to a stop and then falling in reverse. The 50-year-old man lost his life.
He has yet to publish another story that occurred in that same enclave, he explains. It took place in 1990. Josué, an 11-year-old boy, was traveling with his parents in a Renault 12 when suddenly the vehicle skidded and he fell down a 200-meter embankment. His father (Manuel) died instantly. His mother (Ángeles, 46 years old), a few hours later. Josué witnessed how they both went out. The next morning he was able to get out of the car and onto the road.
Marc has managed to talk to him almost 33 years after that terrible event. He runs the same bar in Mieres (Asturias) that his parents ran. One might think that he has been carrying a trauma since then, but fortunately it is not. He assures that he practically does not remember anything. He says that what he does remember is that he was afraid that a wolf would come during the night that he passed by the body of his parents.
It also has documented and published on its website (which started in 2007) stories of smuggling that occurred between Andorra and Catalonia. There is one, which took place in the 60s, in which she recounts the adventures of a very slippery smuggler. The Civil Guard had been after him for years, but they could not hunt him down. He used a Seat 1400, "a vehicle far superior in performance [at that time] to the others," says Marc on his page. "This allowed him to get away with any persecution," he adds.
But there is more. The protagonist of the story lived in a very remote place with difficult access, in a town between Oliana (Lleida) and Andorra. That made catching him even more difficult. In the end, the Benemérita found his house, but the day several agents showed up there he was not there. This is how his mother explained it to the policemen. Days later, when the smuggler returned, his mother informed him of the uncomfortable visit. It was clear to her that the place was not safe and he decided to leave forever. But before, he hid the Seat 1400 in a shed and covered it up. The police never found the car. Marc, years later, yes, and immortalized the moment with his camera.
He acknowledges that when he goes, in situ, to places to gather information and asks the inhabitants of the area about what happened there 10, 20 or 30 years ago, they look at him with surprise and suspicion. So that they do not mistrust him, he introduces himself as a journalist, although he is not. When asked what medium he works for, he says that he is freelance. "People want to explain their experiences, but they have to trust you."
He affirms that the fact of collecting these stories and posting them on his website does not bring him “any economic benefit”. He does it, he says, because he has a "great good time." “It is my hobby, my therapy. Just as there are people who disconnect while dancing, I like to get in front of the computer and start writing. At that moment, I forget about the rest of the world. If I wanted to obtain an economic return, I would have looked for a sponsorship”.
He continues with the same passion from the first day, and sometimes shares his concerns with the customers he takes in the taxi. He recounts that one even went down an embankment with him to visit a car, a Seat Ibiza, which had crashed several years ago. He explains that he was located on the road that goes from Vall d'Hebron to Cerdanyola del Vallès and that when they passed that point he shared it with the client. The latter, intrigued, wanted to go down to see him. He “asked to go take a look at it even though he was wearing loafers. He ended up getting a little muddy ”.
It turns out that under the wrecked Ibiza there was a Mini. “Many cars crashed on that curve and there was no protective fence. Now there is one”, explains Marc.
He continues to combine his love for road stories with the urbex. Asked if he doesn't mind going into an abandoned place, he answers that "not now." "At first it did scare me, but I've been doing it for many years now, I'm used to it."
He has no intention, he assures, that his stories end up compiled in book form. "Not at all. If he did the same, he would be successful, but for a while, people would forget. On the web, stories last forever.
