Charles,
As a former IT professional, whether an iPad or laptop is best for you is more of a personal choice on what kind of tasks you need to carry out. The iPad is great for generally surfin the web, keeping in touch with email, Facetime, read books, and so on. But if you are going to be doing a lot of stuff with pictures or video, or need to sometimes write a lot or make more than simple spreadsheets, the laptop may be a better choice. Personally, my wife and I have one of each, and I have my 27″ iMAc, a token PC, and a linux box.
I can’t speak for the Cuenca area, maybe one of our Experts in that area can chime in, but you should be able to find places to repair MAC products. However, keep in mind it will be much more expensive than in the US, especially if replacement parts are needed.
-jim