«Es mejor permanecer en silencio y ser pensado un tonto que hablar hacia fuera y quitar todo dudan.» – Abraham Lincoln

Most every traveler has a story from their early days of traveling (tal vez el primer viaje), that they are ashamed of. It was either something you did, or a certain way that you acted, that showed everyone how immature and clueless about the world and respecting other cultures you were. The ironic part is that when I started to travel, that was the last thing that I wanted to do.

I’ve always been a respectful, open-minded & hungry-to-learn person, but looking back, I was extremely naive. How naive? Let’s just say my pre-Eurotrip train of thought went something along the lines of: «Sweet! Everyone will be interested in talking to me because I’m American. People are interested in America, because like, we’re the best, ya know? I’ll have instant friends everywhere I go, because we saved the world in World War 2, and we give clean water to Africa!»

I had grown my hair out long & blonde, & made sure to pack my Sublime shirt & sick American lingo. I remember on my Couchsurfing profile under the «What I Can Share» section, I listed something like «I can help people understand the concept of Californication & how it’s changing the world.» HAHAHA – What a joke, derecho? First off, like, what does that even mean? Secondly, I’m not even from California… I was in for a rude awakening, and like many other gringos before me, I had to learn the hard way.

I’d punch me in the face, would you?

Bros in Barcelona

Come back with me to Barcelona, Spain, summer of 2008. I was a knuckle-headed, long-haired, 21-year old jackass, with Marco & Brent, 2 of my best college friends (BROOOSSS!!!). We had spent the past 3 weeks in Madrid staying with Marco’s family, going out, staying up to the sunrise, playing soccer, sightseeing around the Spanish capital, having Spanish barbecues, botellón, and doing what 21 year old dudes do. But we had come to Barcelona, the infamous Mediterranean mecca of Catalonian chaos, and were ready to experience the nightlife to the fullest.

Brent, Marco, & Chad Kroeger the lead singer of Nickelback

After a day of running around the city, we showered and dappered up, put our best club shirts on, and hit the streets for the night. We quickly found ourselves in La Rambla. Now if you’ve ever been to Barcelona, you know La Rambla. It’s the busiest street in the city, but not from the traffic, but from the seemingly hundreds of street acts & thousands of people clogging the sidewalk in the middle of the road.

La Rambla from the air

La Rambla from the ground

You can see almost anything on La Rambla, from mimes, to soccer ball jugglers, to Edward Scissors hands. Not to mention you can buy any type of food, and perhaps most importantly (at the time) $1 Euro, ice-cold beers in the street. We were 21 & just barely used to being able to drink legally (thanks US laws), so being able to slurp down beers in an exciting & public place was definitely something that we took advantage of. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen so many street acts in my life, including New York, Bangkok, & Venice Beach, and combining the endless entertainment with the endless street beers is a simple recipe for lots of fun.

Can you please just do 2008 me a favor and cut it off, Ed?

That’s a fruit stand AND a human being

It was somewhere between the gang of drag queens and the woman dressed as a giant, budding flower that we apparently arrived at the corner where our destination bar was. My buddies Marco & Brent had finished their latest round of cold cerveza, and were ready to go in and start chopping it up, but I still had a solid half-can left. There was no rush for me, and I saw some sort of street game being played a few meters down the sidewalk, so I told my buddies that I would find them inside after a checking out the game & finishing my beer.

The Scam

Turns out it was the universal ball with 3 shells game (called Thimblerig) that they play in major cities around the world– a sure scam. Just as I was losing interest and ready to walk away, I saw an Asian fellow put down 50 Euros, win, and then 100 Euros, and lose. Immediately he pulled another 100 euro bill out of his wallet, wagered, and won. As the guy running the game was handing the Asian guy 100 euros as his prize, I saw the look on his face and knew what was coming next.

Now, anyone who might be unfamiliar with this game, I’ll sum it up for you – you always lose. Depending on how much money you’re betting or how money hungry you are, the scam artists running this game may let you win some money. They do this so you’ll cough up more money & increase the stakes in pig-headed confidence. Also, there are other people in the crowd that appear as curious bystanders who want to bet and play. These are the guys who “win,” and give real, innocent bystanders the impression that they can win too, but actually they are just working with the people running the whole scam.

So what do you think the Asian guy did next? That’s right – he put down 200 euros.

Now if you’re a backpacker like me, 200 Euros is a lot of money. 200 euros is a plane ticket from Bangkok to Bali – round trip. 200 euros is a solid 2-week shoestring travel budget in South America, or an Open Water scuba dive certification in Honduras. 200 euros is too much to be betting on a scam. So me, being the good Samaritan/poor backpacker (leer: Typical, loud-mouthed gringo) that I was, decided that I was going to say something.

“What are you doing dude?"

“Huh?"

“What are you doing dude? it’s a scam. You’re going to lose," dije, with authority, as if I was bestowing my knowledge upon the crowd.

At that point the guy running the show put his finger to his mouth and told me to “Shhhh."

Here’s where I really put my foot in my mouth….o por lo menos lo hice deseo de evitar decir, literalmente,, "Qué? Es una estafa!"

*gringo típico *

Inmediatamente, alguien en la multitud directamente en frente de mí, se dio la vuelta y comenzó a caminar en mi zapato.

«¿Por qué estás pisando mi zapato? Tipo, dejar de pisar el zapato!»

Mientras caminaba hacia atrás y continua para preguntarle lo que estaba haciendo, que mantenía pisar mi zapato, y, de repente,…

BAM!

Alguien me dio un puñetazo con fuerza en el lado de la cara, y casi me tiró de mis pies.

Como me tranquilicé a mí mismo con una mano en la acera para evitar que se caiga, Se me cayó el triturado puede salir de la otra mano y se limpió la cerveza de mi cara que yo acababa de salpicaba por todo mí. Fue uno de los momentos en los que vio las estrellas - pero a pesar de ser semi-consciente, mi mente estaba corriendo, pensando en lo que iba a hacer a continuación.

Abrí los ojos a gritos de, "QUIÉN CREES QUE ERES? This is Barcelona, ESTO NO ES TU CIUDAD. This is Barcelona! VOY F–K USTED UP!»

Finalmente me he centrado mis ojos en la furiosa rumana (Después supe inmigrantes rumanos ejecutar estos juegos los alrededores de La Rambla) que estaba gritando, y fue acompañado por otros dos chicos, que también presume que es rumana.

«QUÉ – QUIERES ALGO MÁS?» El mismo chico gritó, y luego poner la mano en la boca y soltó un fuerte silbido. Seguí su mirada y vi detrás de mí justo cuando acerca 6 otros chicos que estaban caminando en la otra dirección se dieron la vuelta y comenzó a caminar hacia atrás hasta la calle, mirándome como una manada de lobos hambrientos.

Yo sabía que era hora de salir de allí. I needed to cross the street and run straight to the bar where my friends were.

As I ran to the curb, one of the guys pushed me out into the middle of traffic, and I just barely dodged a car barreling down the street. Luckily, I made it across the street in one piece, and escaped into the bar where the Romanians chose not to follow me.

«Woah man, what happened to you?» my buddy Brent asked me, when he saw me walk up to the bar with a rapidly swelling eye. «You alright dude?» said Marco in a concerned voice.

After getting a pack of ice for my eye & telling them what happened, Marco rolled his eyes, shook his head & said, «Tipo, why did you say something to them? Those Romanians are crazy, you should have just let them make their money. You’re not in Georgia anymore, those guys will kill you man.»

Pensé en responder con una explicación justifica a sí misma sobre las personas inocentes que pierden dinero, pero estaba demasiado cansado y abrumado. Acababa escapado con mi vida intacta. Como he aplicado hielo en la cabeza, Hice una nota mental para desempañar mi cerebro Gringo y recordar quién era el extranjero. Terminamos tener una diversión, sin problemas resto de la noche.

Las lecciones aprendidas de la situación

Now, gracias a Dios este incidente terminó sin consecuencias reales distintos de una bolsa de hielo en el ojo, pero ¿Qué lecciones me llevo de esta? Que Barcelona es una ciudad peligrosa? Que los rumanos son gente mala? Sin, Aprendí la sencilla, pero cada vez más importante lección que a veces sólo hay que mantener la boca cerrada, Especialmente en un entorno desconocido.

Aprendí que si alguien está haciendo algo que no estoy de acuerdo con, no soy obligado para decirles lo que siento. Me di cuenta de que iba a ver & experimentar cosas que no comprendía. El hecho de que yo soy de ciudad pequeña, EE.UU., donde la gente no estafa a otros por dinero con juegos de calle, no quiere decir que eso es lo que debería estar en todas partes, mucho menos dame el derecho de decirle a la gente cómo debe ser. Por supuesto, ciertas situaciones requieren la intervención de un espectador capaz, como cuando alguien está en peligro. Sin embargo, una situación en la que una persona es buena gana apostando su dinero en un juego difícilmente califica.

A pesar de que traje totalmente esto en mí mismo, y lo que dije era completamente innecesario, sirvió como una eyeopener enorme para mí como un joven mochilero en mi primer viaje con mochila. Fue literalmente una bofetada en la cara que me mostró, "Hey - no está en su país ya! Usted no sabe nada acerca de dónde se encuentra, usted no sabe el idioma, la cultura, the people, etc. Usted no sabe cómo la policía responde a las disputas públicas. Usted no sabe lo que las cárceles son como en España. Infierno, que ni siquiera sabe un número de teléfono español.

El punto más universal es que cuando vas viajando, vas a ver cosas que resultan extrañas & ajeno a ti. Cosas que son desconocidas, inexplicable, & tal vez incluso por su definición, incorrecto. Lo importante es cómo responde su. Observar & aprender. Haz la pregunta, «¿Por qué es que la forma en que es?» Edúcate tu mismo. Comparar & contraste. Y por favor, when you don’t know, don’t act like you know – be humble & cool enough to admit it.

Or you could take the approach that I did & see how that works out for you. At this point you’re probably thinking, «Come on don’t be extreme. Use common sense & don’t taunt hustlers on the street – duh.» Yes, I agree that was dumb, but those weren’t just ill-timed words. It was a direct result of who I was at the time – an immature, naive, first-time American traveler.

When I look back at this incident I laugh, but I also shake my head in disbelief because I’m a completely different person now. People grow up & mature a lot during their 20’s, and that process looks different for every person. But hopefully getting punched in the face by a Romanian scam artist isn’t part of yours.

So next time a situation arises, choose caution instead of confrontation, don’t necessarily view differences as wrong-doing, determine if it’s your problem to solve, y don’t be a typical gringo. And just in case you need any more inspiration to not be that guy…..I’ll give you one more lasting image….

This place is like, gnarly bro, but it’s not Cali gnarly…..word?