Sometimes you get swept into a tradition that isn’t yours, but you join in with a smile.
My neighbour and her two friends have a fixed date every year: one night in Calella pretending to be tourists. “Hoy hacemos de guiris”, they laughed – today we play the tourists.
This year they almost forgot. The season was nearly over, summer evenings already gone. We still sat outside on the terrace, though it was clearly cooler. “We should have done this earlier,” my neighbour said. We all ordered half a pollo asado con patatas (roast chicken with fries). Of course, a jug of sangría was part of it – sweet, fruity and festive. Around us a few foreigners, but the big tourist crowds had already left.
After dinner we moved on to a bar full of men. Right next to our table, a few were playing billiards. One Spaniard, covered in tattoos (who isn’t these days?), caught everyone’s eye. Not my type, but one of the friends almost melted. He was out with a group of mates – I think they were Germans – and the mood was lively.
He turned out to be very friendly and spontaneously treated us to chupitos – small glasses of strong liquor. No one asked what it was; we laughed, toasted and let ourselves be carried away by the cheerful chaos of the night.
Not the typical guiri, but for one night I was right in the middle of their game.
Word list:
- Guiri – Spanish slang for tourist/foreigner (teasingly).
- Pollo asado con patatas – roast chicken with fries.
- Sangría – wine with fruit, sweet and festive.
- Chupito – a shot of strong liquor.
- Hoy hacemos de guiris – “Today we play the tourists.”