A Spanish Taxi and Independence

Today’s blog entry is about a recent encounter I had with a taxi driver while on the way to a friend’s house.  I consider it to fall under the category of a leisure activity because it was a casual conversation that occurred on a weekend night before going out to the bars.  Before I begin, I will mention that I love studying the Spanish language and minor in the subject back at my home university.  I take every opportunity I can to speak in Spanish with the locals so I can further improve my proficiency.

            So as we were in the taxi on the fifteen minute drive down to the beach area of the city, I asked the driver what his thoughts were on Catalan independence.  His response was amazing, and we proceeded to talk about it for the entire trip and then once we arrived at our destination, he turned off the meter and continued to share his thoughts with me for maybe five minutes.  Taxi drivers are always in a hurry here in Barcelona, so it really meant something that he cared more about telling me his opinion about the situation, then attending to his own job.

            As to what he told me, it was very enlightening and something that classroom instruction can’t fully teach you.  To summarize, he is fully supportive of becoming an independent nation free from Spanish rule.  He feels that Catalunya has always been ahead of the rest of the country both economically and culturally.  He also strongly explained that Spain has always and still does rely upon this region for all of its economic wealth and business.  He said that if we become independent, they will easy be able to sustain themselves (become autonomous) and free themselves from the laws and taxes that Spain imposes upon them.  He mentioned their language as a big piece to the puzzle, and that they must go back to being independent like they once were.

            It was all so interesting to hear, and I realized that some of what he said we learned about in class, but it was very refreshing and intriguing to hear from a true local who has his whole life invested in the cause.  He will be personally affected by the outcome and his demeanor while talking to me showed that.  I left the taxi exited for the rest of my night, but also very aware of how lucky I was to be able to have this experience!