The Hate by Gringos for Gringos

Back when I was living in Barranquilla, Colombia, I remember how I was sitting down in some office where I was working on some project of mine.

It was an office where there would be other gringos passing by and all.

About a small group of us of around maybe 10 or so more or less.

Anyway, there was plan to have a little house party later in the weekend a day or two away.

Some dude in the group – I think named David – was also invited obviously to go to the party but he declined.

Now, in my memory, David wasn’t the type to want to hang out with other gringos.

He said something about how “if he wanted to hang out with gringos, he’d be back home in South Carolina.”

So that was that.

What did he do in his free time?

Well, assumingly he spent time with other gringos.

That’s the theory right?

Would make sense…

As David’s hesitancy to spend time with other gringos wasn’t too unusual in my time in Latin America.

I’ve seen or heard of other gringos down here who seem to have a particular distaste for hanging out with other gringos.

And just a general distaste for other gringos in general.

Seems to be the cool thing to do for some gringos to do.

In thinking about the ones I have encountered who show this type of mindset…

There seem to be a few things that come to mind as to why maybe some of these gringos have a strong preference against hanging out with other gringos.

Now, keep in mind, I’m not talking about the gringos who just happen to not hang out much with other gringos.

To be fair, I kinda fall into that crowd as of right now.

It isn’t so much I dislike other gringos.

It’s mostly because most of my time in Mexico (where I am now) has been in non-touristy neighborhoods.

But I do have a few gringo friends nowadays and hang out with some every so often.

However, I don’t really care so much if someone is Latino or gringo.

Though, to be fair, most of the people I know personally are local Latinos.

Having said that, this article is, like I said, in regards to those specific gringos who quite clearly have a strong distaste for other gringos in general.

So let’s get into some of my theories as to why some of these gringos dislike other gringos.

Based on what I have seen personally and just my general theories on the matter.

Spanish Superiority?

Let’s start with a minor theory for just some of the gringos to begin this topic with.

Spanish Superiority.

It sometimes comes across to me that you have gringos who like to shit on each other for their Spanish.

Even more so than Latinos might shit on us for it.

It seems kinda funny to think about now.

But, outside of Argentines or Uruguayans, I find most Latinos to be quite generous with our Spanish.

Even quite happy that we spent time learning it and all.

But it’s funny to think about because sometimes it seems like gringos can be our harshest critics when it comes to this topic.

In a way by making fun of others for slight or acceptable mistakes in their pronunciation of the Spanish language or forgetting a word here or there….

When some gringo is just a tourist down here and perhaps struggling with the Spanish language but being respectful about it.

Instead of going full “do you speak English?!?” on the Latino…

They act humble but obviously still struggle with Spanish.

To which then some other gringo might laugh about it or at least observe critically hoping to catch some slight Spanish mistake to feel superior about.

A bit similar to the next group….

Superiority by Experience

Similarly, you have gringos who feel superior to other gringos by amount of time in Latin America.

Where they like to bring up their “seniority” in terms of how much time they have spent in Latin America.

Versus other gringos that they are talking to.

Again, it’s mostly just a superiority thing in my opinion by trying to feel better than other gringos they see down here.

Granted, to be fair, I do think that at times it is appropriate to bring up the amount of time down here as a gringo.

Sometimes I even do it.

And mostly it makes sense when you are talking about how well you know a specific part of Latin America I feel.

But you have some who take it beyond that to look down on other gringos.

But let’s get to more serious cases now beyond this petty stuff….

Financial Reasons

As we all know, a lot of gringos like living in Latin America because of the low cost of living.

Hell, even I wrote about liking that in this article here when I first started this blog.

Anyway, there is an argument among some gringos kinda ruin it for others by driving up prices.

Or by increasing the expectations that the locals have of us.

How it works is simple and predictable.

Either enough gringo expats or “digital nomads” flood into a particular place and drive up prices for everything from rent to restaurant food and so on…

In my experience in Mexico City, places like that would be like Roma Norte or Condesa.

Or you have gringo tourists who won’t be staying long enough to drive up rent that much like in El Centro…

But they still tip a pretty penny in restaurants, bars, etc.

Thereby driving up the expectations of the locals as to how much we (who live here) have to tip.

I had one incident like that in El Centro where I was at a bar with a girlfriend at the time…

Time to leave.

And the waiter got pissed and literally up in my face ready to fight when I only offered a 10% tip.

Which would be accepted and perfectly fine anywhere else in Mexico City for as long as I have been here so far.

But this guy, in this very touristy area, was thinking I’d drop a 30% tip or something.

Anyway, I took the tip back and he fucked off.

Fuck that faggot.

But that’s an example of how, or I suspect so anyway, of how tourists can drive up the expectations the locals can have.

I guarantee you that he isn’t expecting no Mexican customers to be dropping 30% tips at his average ass bar that wasn’t even that popular.

But going along with all of this…

You also have the fact that all the extra tourists also bring sin extra aggressive street hustlers trying to sell you 20 dollars balloons and other horse shit.

So, all in all, I actually get the reasoning behind the gringos who get annoyed at the gringo influence in some of these areas.

They do kinda fuck it up a little bit for us.

Politics

As I wrote in this article or this article here…

You do have gringos who “escape the US” or whatever country because they hate the politics of the place

Either they are liberals escaping Donald Trump or conservatives escaping Biden.

Anyway, they tend to exaggerate the extent to which they see the man in office as a dictator…

And sometimes call themselves “political refugees.”

It’s kinda retarded.

Anyway, I find most of these folks actually do stick around with other gringos.

But you do have some who will do their best to avoid other gringos in general.

For some reason, some of them really hate gringos and gringo influence in Latin America.

One of the reasons I suspect is the case is because it seems to me that some of them believe that other gringos are bringing in “Western influence” into Latin America.

Though I usually find only the conservative expats escaping politics from home bitching about this.

It doesn’t seem like the liberal ones bitch about it too much.

At least not in my experience.

Kinda reminds me of Texans bitching about Californians coming in to Texas to live there with their liberal values.

The same kinda bitching that I’ve heard online about it.

Reminder of Failure?

Next, it is no secret that some gringos did “escape” their home countries because of dating failures back home.

We all know that.

Gringos who have heard that they can get better pussy abroad.

Now, if we are being honest, some of these gringos really are not the “catch” they might think they are.

Some of them are ugly as fuck with social skills of a retard.

Maybe a bit jaded after being divorce raped or whatever.

And so while obviously not all or even most gringos I think who come down here for sex are like that…

You do have an issue with some of those mentioned that I have noticed…

Where this small group really seems to hate seeing other gringos.

My personal opinion on why that is the case for this smaller subgroup of a group is because of the following…

First, I suspect maybe they have a suspicion that adding extra gringos down here worsens their dating prospects?

Add more gringos and you are less exotic.

Less exotic and the women down here care about you less as there are other gringos that are better looking and with better social skills that can snatch whatever girl you aiming for.

Second, I always felt like the gringos in this crowd who get sensitive about seeing other gringos see it as a reminder of their failures back home.

Particularly when they see a “Western” women down here traveling around as a tourist or whatever.

Just the presence of such a woman reminds them that back home they didn’t get no pussy.

OK, I get it – this is all shit talking here.

But that’s what I’ve noticed from this small crowd of gringos who tend to be the most sensitive to other gringos being here.

Wanting to Engage the Local Culture

Finally, we have a group of gringos who hate gringos who I feel have less personal problems when compared to the last group.

The group who simply sees their distaste for hanging out with other gringos by the following logic…

They left America.

Or Europe or wherever.

Spent all this money and time to have some months abroad in whatever Latin country.

Subsequently, they don’t want to waste the opportunity.

The opportunity to learn Spanish or Portuguese and simply enjoy the moment with the locals in every way they can.

And see any second with another gringo as a second they could’ve spent with a local.

Similar to David from way above, they simply want to exploit the opportunity for every second they have.

And enjoy it to the fullest.

Not so much a hate then against other gringos…

But just a distaste for hanging out with other gringos as that doesn’t help their goal to really experience life abroad with the locals.

Anything Else?

If you have any other observations about gringos who hate other gringos or hate spending time with them…

Drop a comment below in the comment section.

Or a question.

Would be interesting to hear other thoughts on the topic.

And follow my Twitter here.

Thanks for reading.

Best regards,

Matt