Rain, Long Walks, Immigrants, and Expatriates: Another Day in Sitges

Tuesday was a rainy day in Sitges. That put a damper on my plans to spend the afternoon walking along the beach. I like to take long walks along the beach, as these walks allow me to process all that is going through my mind. I find long strolls to be therapeutic. When I can put one foot in front of the other and not have to think about where I am going or what time I have to be there, my thoughts flow freely. If I am having trouble making a decision or figuring out a problem, a long walk usually does the trick.

On Tuesday, the rain came in stops and starts, which at least permitted me to take the 15-minute walk down the hill from Vallpineda, where we are staying, to the historic center of Sitges.

Just as I made it down the hill to the center of town, the rain began to come down again. Just three blocks from the beach, I had to seek refuge under an umbrella at L’Aixeta Café. When I sat down, I watched people hurry along under umbrellas. Others stood under awnings, waiting for the rain to pass. Still others braved the downpour, with or without rain jackets or ponchos.

Unable to walk without getting soaked, I decided to use another strategy to process the myriad thoughts running through my mind. I pulled out a pen and began to write down my thoughts. As the rain cleared and my thoughts flowed onto paper, I felt a sense of relief. Perhaps I would be able to walk along the beach. If not, I could write and reflect on life and write about it.

As I paused to take in the scene, I noticed how many foreigners, and how many languages, there are in Sitges. There were four Chinese men chatting and smoking in the entrance to the café. Two women walked by talking in Quechua. A variety of German, French, and British tourists strolled by. The couple at the table next to me conversed in Catalan, and two older women hurried by chatting in Spanish.

Sitges is in Catalunya, meaning that many people’s native language is Catalan. People from other parts of Spain also reside here, and speak Spain. Sitges, like the rest of Barcelona, is also home to many Latin American immigrants, who come here primarily to work in low-wage jobs. Some of these immigrants speak Spanish, and others are indigenous and have Quechua as their native tongue. Sitges is also home to a large number of expatriates – Europeans and Americans who have made their homes here.

Wait, why are Latin Americans in Sitges called immigrants, and Europeans expatriates? Technically, an immigrant is a person who intends to settle in a country other than his or her birth, whereas an expatriate is simply someone who lives in another country. However, many Latin American immigrants fully intend to return to their countries of birth, and many European expatriates marry locals and purchase retirement homes in their adopted countries. The connotations of the terms certainly are distinct. At any rate, this could be a topic worth exploring further!