Soy guiri / no soy guiri
There are certain words in any language which hide enormous amounts of connotations in a cultural context. Words that do not have simple translations, words that can be only explained in half an hour long passionate speeches, words that describe and compact such dense meanings that could pull anyone who is vaguely familiar into heated arguments. Words that are keys to understand that culture; secret weapons. Guiri is one of these in spanish.
When I arrived to Barcelona the first time to spend a few months living there, I was lost, just like any of the other tourists. Guiri was this cryptic term I heard a lot - sometimes hostile and arrogant, sometimes kindly scornful, as a father to a clumsy child, last but not least with lots of self-mocking humour. It took me months to to pick all the layers of meanings of this little word (and I’m still learning).
Guiri is a stranger - like gaijin in japanese. Guiris usually tall, blonde, blue eyed foreigners, typically from the UK/US, who are loud, drunk, behave badly, think they are home, and in constant conflicts with their environment, don’t getting the “spanish way of life”. In general, any tourist who is seemingly/completely lost. Redheads sunburnt as a lobster. Batchelor parties vomiting early afternoon at Barceloneta. Tourists with maps in their hands not realising there are no spanish restaurants open at 6pm. Young travellers scammed by the simplest tricks in the middle of La Rambla. Stupid outsiders / poor little lost souls.
Cities as a melting pot
…like Barcelona, Venice or New York, one’s easily have this impression that none of the inhabitants are natives. Everybody is coming from somewhere, have a remote root, or a strong identity. Barcelona is the home of spanish and catalans - and latinos and a constant number of foreigners, travellers, Erasmus-students, soul seekers, digital nomads. Barcelona also has it’s own arab district (Raval) and gay area (Gaixample / Eixample). One thing is common: they all consider themselves local, and distinguish their communities from the outsiders: the GUIRIS.
Being guiri is not about xenophobia
Guiri is more of a globalisation age term of anti-colonialisation. We versus them. We are here (whoever is we - from immigrant shopkeepers to 100 generation catalans), we have been here long enough to know the rules — you are an outsider. You don’t know the rules, therefore you are lost and vulnerable.
Places living from tourism have mixed feelings
Tourists are loved and hated at the same time. They bring the profit, but also the trash, horrible behaviour, arrogance of the colonialist, vomit on the streets, decay of anything local. Tourists are like a swarm of locusts: they pick a new place, eat up, chew, split out, and leave the ruins. We all hate tourists. Irony is, tourists hate tourists too.
But who is a tourist in a city where everyone is a foreigner?
I didn’t need that much time to feel local. Two weeks I was living with latinos learning complex spanish terms like guiri from scratch (I didn’t have any prior language knowledge), spending time with them participating in the spanish way of living, and I already felt like all the tourists are stupid guiris, but I’m not anymore. Confidence of the Dunning-Kruger effect… For sure week by week I still ran into cases where I knew nothing of the habits, like wandering through Badalona’s every restaurant to be smiled kindly, “oh guiri, spanish don’t eat dinner at 6pm”.
Guiris thinks the world is their oyster
Imagine then how would you feel as a real local, serving hangover bachelor partiers the coffee every day who are loud complaining why nobody speaks english here. The common attribute of true guiris is they expect the world to be the same everywhere they go. This takes a tourist at it’s worst, this is the colonialists spirit. Expecting McDonalds everywhere, and people satisfying all your needs — otherwise guiris flood their facebook travel groups with complaints, why their holiday was such a disappointment.
Spanish are also a mix
Barcelona is a special place even for the spanish. It is the odd one out, not a “real” spanish place, a tourist destination, a party city. I remember meeting some spanish folks on a railway station in Berlin soon after I picked up my limited vocabulary in Barcelona - when I mentioned the city for them, they just waved with a pity (they were from Valencia).
Not to mention the whole time I spent there, Catalan minority held huge protests to claim their independence from Spain.
Not to mention the whole time I spent there, Catalan minority held huge protests to claim their independence from Spain.
There are some authentic spots in every city where locals and travellers mix
Bunkers del Carmel is one of these. Sunsets, evenings and nights are the same here, every day:
"Hola, i'm a street photographer, can i take a photo of you?"
"Sure man"
"Where are you from?"
"New York, had some time in the weekend, thought why not check Barcelona, such a good weather! I'm Eduardo by the way..."
"Sure man"
"Where are you from?"
"New York, had some time in the weekend, thought why not check Barcelona, such a good weather! I'm Eduardo by the way..."
I never became not guiri
It takes years and years. In the end, I never really become local, I always reserve bits of that guiri past. I’ll always be a stranger wherever I go. The only thing changing is I get rid of the awkwardness of this feeling. I don’t mind being new at another place, start everything all over again. Being constant guiri becomes your second nature.
