Snow to Sand

Hanging out with Girmo in Addis Ababa

Last week, I went to a wedding in the mother country (Poland), and figured that I needed to make the most of my flight to Europe, so I stopped in Barcelona for a few days.  I’d always avoided Western and Southern Europe in my travels – I figure Rome and Athens will always be there, and won’t change much, while Kathmandu will be a different world in 20 years, so there will always be time to check out Europe, while the developing world is exciting now.  However, I figured some sunshine in Barcelona wouldn’t hurt.  Although I had a good time in Barcelona, and met some great people, I noticed something different about how people treat visitors.

Salim and his kids in our tent in the desert

I was traveling solo, so I quickly made some new friends to hang out with, and while people were great for conversation, drinks, and a game of volleyball, it was clear that the connection would never go deeper, and conversation stayed fairly superficial.  To contrast this, I developed much deeper and more personal connections with people in more developing countries.  In Wadi Rum, my Bedouin guide, Salim, cooked me dinner with his wife and children, and invited me to his house after camping to have breakfast with his mother in law and falcon.  Despite Salim only knowing as much English as I know Arabic, we were able to get a deeper bond than I had with fluent English speakers in Western countries.  Another example of this is Girmo, a taxi driver in Addis Ababa who became a great friend, and I spent hours exploring the city with.  I met people like this everywhere – Hanni in Jordan, Fadi in Syria (who gave me too much of his uncle’s moonshine Arak), and countless Lebanese who became instant friends.  Interestingly enough, in most of these cases, I had very little in common with the people I befriended – most were older and had families, and had never been to the West.  Yet we developed great friendships, and I know that they’ll be the first people I call when I return to their countries.  (As a disclaimer, while I did conduct transactions with some of these people, none asked for tips or any favors for being friends.  In some cases, I actually ended up getting discounts).

On the other hand, a girl I met in Barcelona offered a different perspective.  She was Portuguese and had been living in Barcelona for the last 4 years, yet most of her friends were expats.  I asked her why she didn’t have more Spanish friends, and she responded that it’s not worth it – Spanish people, who live in Barcelona, don’t want to become close friends with someone who will move away in a few years.  I’d don’t know if it’s because Spain is flooded with tourists, but this struck me as a bit cold, especially since people who I’ve known for a few days in other countries opened up so much.

All in all, I think the differences between how friendly people are to foreigners can be attributed to two things – culture and exposure to tourism.  I was one of a few hundred Westerners in Addis Ababa, so a lot of friendliness from locals can be attributed to curiosity.  However, Jordan is also filled with tourists, yet people were still some of the warmest I’ve met anywhere.  My guess is that there really is truth to the famous “Bedouin hospitality” and people tend to open up more to tourists.  Developing countries are less jaded by years of tourism and preserve closer family bonds than many Western countries.  In the end, this reinforces my travel strategy: see places filled with people who are authentic about meeting visitors, and places where that authenticity is disappearing.  While I’m sure they’re filled with friendly people, Paris, Rome, and Athens can wait a few more years.  The warmer places will be first.

Disclaimer: These are all broad generalizations.  There are plenty of cool people in every country (even France), and terrible people everywhere, but in general, I’ve felt better received as a traveler in some places over others.

Posted in Travel
Tags: Ethiopia, Jordan, travel