Hey Emilio: I am glad you saw Richie's comments about Spanish girls with some sense of humor. When I saw his post I wasn't sure that was a proper thing to say. But honestly after reading all of his comments I feel he is just a free, honest, well intentioned person. Ok. Adios!

Emilio!

quote Madridman,

"Blacks/Africans came to Spain MUCH later than they did to Colombia..."

Not true. If the Romans had black slaves, Spain too had black people.

The following is taken from The article '(Lack of) Visual Regresentation of Black Slaves in Spanish Golden Age Painting' by C.Fracchia 'Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies', Vol. 10, No.1, June 2004.

'Slavery of black and white people was obviously not a new phenomenon in Spain. It was introduced by the Carthaginians and it was developed by the Romans.....It is interesting that from 1501 the Spanish Crown allowed only Christian black people to go to the New World as slaves, although there is documentary evidence that this restriction was not observed.'

The article also mentions that Sevilla from the 15th century was one of the most important markets for the slave trade in Western Europe and that it had 30,000 slaves, a quarter of sevilla's population, 'black and white, Muslim and Christian...also a high proportion in Madrid.'

In those times Sevilla was very cosmopolitan as a result. Slaves brought there were of all colours and creeds, and had a big part in the success of the Spanish empire.

___________________

Predjudiced?, depends on which way you look at it. Another way could be that black women are seen as precious. In Ecuador for example they are seen as beautiful, men go crazy for them and women get jelous. On the coastal regions such as Guayaquil, Salinas, wow, I as a female could not take my eyes of them. Smooth perfect skin and green/ blue/claro eyes and perfect bodies. Oh and they are by far the best dancers. I heard the same for Colombia and Cuba.

I think times are changing in the politics of Latin America. There are now indigenous people part of governments now and from my experience I didn't feel racial tension between blacks through to whites when i was in South America but equality, things are getting better. They do use the term 'negro/negra' to refer to a black person, but it's not seen as racist, the whites are blancos, and browns are morenos. In my case, a morena, because I looooveeee the sun. my nick name is 'negrita/black girl', and it is said and meant with love.

At the end of the day beauty is beauty no matter the colour, we can't help but look. And there are beautiful people everywhere.

don de la vega,
I cna``t exacltly say how all spaniards look at colombians, but my wife (colombian) and I (gringo, as you say) experiences here in barcelona have been less than pleasant witht he locals.
Most times when I speak to a Catalan I get a look of "what the hell do you want" or they just ignore me completely. Our daughter`s doctor refused to speak to me in Spanish and insisted on speaking Catalan, even though I told her I didn`t understand (you think the health of a sick two-year old would make her help out a little, huh?) I speak fluent Spanish, its not like Idon`t. In fact that`s all I speak outside of my apartment.
My wife`s experience, as well as the other foreign students in her master class is quite the same. While doing work-study, most people ignore her and give one word answers to her questions. She even compliments people, told one girl "I like what you did with your hair", the girl could`ve cared less. But when any other catalan shows up its smiles, kisses, blah, blah,blah.
They even make fun of hw we speak. The locals say "finance" in class, my wife says "financiacion". They tell her, get this, that that isn`t spanish, that the word is "finance"! She has this problemwith many of the terms that don`t seem to have been converted into spanish here. i thought that there were a lot of english terms used in south america, but I find it worst here.
We`re trying to keep positive, but so far Spain is a letdown.

Richie: I can't believe the attitude of the people is that bad in Barcelona. However, do you think this is something exclusive to Barcelona or that extends to most places in Spain? Isn’t Spanish also official in Barcelona? In countries like Canada they have laws that oblige people providing a service to give you the information you need in one of the official languages.

Now I remember about a couple from Barcelona that was studying English here in the U.S., they were always speaking in Catalan and never wanted to talk to anyone from Latin-America or not white. I thought they were just close-minded people, but this might be the general attitude/culture in Barcelona.

Don Dela Vega: One of my friends (Mexican) had to go live in Colombia for a couple of years. Her dad worked for a big company in Mexico and got transferred to Colombia. She said that she had a blast, she mentioned that the people is really friendly, love dancing, partying, and are more open minded than in other Latin-American countries.

For example, she mentioned that motels (place where young people still living with their parents have sex) get so crowded over the weekends that you can see a line of cars waiting for their chance to get a room. In the meanwhile these people waiting outside the motel keep drinking and talking to people in other cars in a very natural way. Can you believe this? Sounds like a good place for a single guy. BTW my friend's mom wanted to go back to Mexico ASAP because her husband was drooling all the time while seeing the pretty women down there.

Richie,

As a Madrileño, I am not fond of Barcelona or the catalans...but your article expresses profound ignorance...

the Spanish your wife speaks is probably Colombian Spanish (and of course, it is teeming with "non-existent" words.)

financiación.

1. f. Acción y efecto de financiar.

source: Diccionario de la Real Academia Española.

What she probably wants to say is "finanzas"...look it up and tell me if that is what you meant. Since you are North American, your command of Spanish is probably not 100%...just as my command of ALL English is not 100% accurate even though I am very good with languages, among other noticeable talents.

Barcelona, like Madrid, suffers from illegal immigration and illegal immigrants who do nothing but steal and terrorise tourists and locals.

Aside from that, why is it such a problem for you that nobody speaks to your wife or to you? Your wife may be a very "nice" person...but I certainly do not like it when complete STRANGERS come up to me and try starting a conversation. Have you not realised by now that Barcelona is a CITY? Because let me tell you, I lived in London and New York...try walking up to a person and "complimenting" their child...you will be ignored.

Stop hating the Spaniards...and I will now use an American phrase, but adapted: Spain, love it or leave it.

Oh and a short question:

are you and your wife in Spain legally? If so, do you pay taxes?

EDIT:

I meant to say: does your wife have papers of residency or is she here on an illegal scam?

As for you, unless you own a corporation, I am assuming that you are illegal because I only one North American with permanent residency status. And that is because his mother is from here.

Well actually Capitalino, it is quite normal in London and the UK to go up to a parent and compliment their baby. I do it, others do it, and the same happened when my younger brother was a baby. People even offer help to a mother or father with their child, handing out Kleenex or sweets/crisps/drinks, offering to help up the stairs or escalators.
I don't think any city is any different.

btw, nothing can come of slagging other cities or countries. It offends, people get hurt become defensive and lash out.
But then what good can come out of a theme such as Spain v Colombia, or to be more precise:advice on meat markets and easy women please. Honestly.

i got a totally different vibe when i spoke to spainish people here in london. they were friendly to me. May be it is because i am european. where are u and your wife from. one thing you have to remember is here in european people are laid back and silence is golden. if you try to hard to be friend people see right through this and they isolate you. It may be also that because you speak castilan that they hate that. The franco era has made people form barcellona hateful of people from madrid. even the football teams real madrid and barcelona have a big history of hatred. but i heard colombians werent friendly to black people especially the ones from in medellin.

Yes sir, you are correct and I should have explained it better: I meant to say that in most big cities, talking to strangers is not normal in most cases.

One of the "complaints" I get from clients who are foreign here in Madrid is that nobody offers to help a mother or father with their child, etc...or with anything. Ex: I have a client who tells me that nobody will hold doors for you (my client is North American)...so every city has its personality.

As to meat markets...you don't have to travel to Colombia for one...we have one right in the centre of Madrid with Colombian women.

And yes, discussing "country x versus y" is unproductive...but certainly entertaining...as the superiority of one over the other is self'evident.

Probably Richie meant "finance" like in "finances públiques," public finances in Catalan.

The issue is probably a little bit cultural too. Latinamerican people tend to be more friendly than Americans for example. When I finished my master's degree here in the U.S. I realized that I seated in a classroom for one year next to the same person and never got to know her. However, I did not feel offended because of that.

Nonetheless, I would also be very frustrated if a doctor doesn't talk to me in Spanish, when I know he/she speaks Spanish and I don't speak the other language.