Branded

It has to be the blond hair and blue eyes, and perhaps the t-shirt and jeans combination is the equivalent to a big American flag pasted to my forehead. When arriving at a café to eat lunch, the waiter paused, unsure of what to do, and quickly turned around. Two minutes later a different waiter came to take my order, and spoke in English. I guess it’s appropriate that they assume I can’t speak even a little Spanish, not even enough to order a meal. While I was be slightly insulted, they are probably doing so to play it safe and please their customers. However, I didn’t appreciate it when I spoke to this waiter in Spanish and he still responded in English. This happened in Barcelona too! Whenever you would speak Spanish, and not use a SINGLE word of English, just because they knew you were American, they felt it necessary to speak English, as if to say Americans are inadequate and can never speak the Spanish language properly. It’s frustrating.

I was also reminded of the obnoxious, annoying and sketchy flirting that I’ve heard is a reputation especially among men in South America. At a bar in Spain, I found the Spaniards much nicer, and the other nationalities (from my experience, Colombians) just plain creepy. While Salta won’t be an international as Buenos Aires or Madrid, and I will stick out even more so like a sore thumb, hopefully they’ll be a little more accepting and not make assumptions based on my casual dress code and the American flag I carry with me everywhere (just kidding).