WITH PERMISSION FROM JAIR DOMÍNGUEZ
I’ve
been living in the Empordá for twenty years, so you could say that I
am, in fact, Empordanese. According to the youngest, I am Empordanese
by nature and, according to the oldest, I am a stranger from the city
whose aim is to disgrace their land. To the rest of Spain, I am a
Catalan spearatist. And they are right: I will defend to the
death the idea of an independent Empordá. I adore this region. I do
not want it to change. I am a reactionary. I know. No need to tell
me.
Empordá
is full of fools and bastards. It's true. There are not more nor less
than in other regions, this also must be said. The problem is that in
the
Empordá it is assumed that we are all crazy, and this is why we are
treated differently. We have been told ad nauseam that the North wind
called Tramontane distresses us. However, Empordá people suffer from
Stockholm syndrome regarding Tramontane: it has bothered us so much
that we have come to love it. We could not live without it. I think
it is due to a simple fact: we like to see how the outsiders suffer
through it.
It
does not come as a surprise that millionaires and celebrities of all
kinds seek shelter in this land: here we do not give importance to
anything. We let everything flow. It's a kind of Empordanese Zen that
is directly linked to orthodox Buddhism. You know that you have
arrived in the Empordá because the sunset stains the sky with
unbelievableco lours, and because nobody seems to give too much
importance to it.
I
am talking about colours and the sky, of course. I cannot help it.
The light in the Empordá is unique. It seems to have its own
director of photography. Some evenings - I guess it is due to my city
dweller roots - I sit while admiring the sky, simply speech-less,
like a pathetic Stendhal, bewildered, whilst the world marches on
inexorably. That glowing pink sky. Do not try to take a picture of
it. No lnstagram filter can beat the reality.
The
Empordá is a land of extraordinary people; in the same way that its
landscape and light are unique, the people grazing in it are too. The
leaders coming out of this country were only so
good as the height of the stage, they were born into,
and this is why we are flattered by the title of "Empordanese",
a designation of origin that goes beyond the idea of "Catalanness".
The Empordanese is a free spirit. I have come to the conclusion that
Empordaneses are not people: they are characters, standing in an epic
novel that is written daily in which absolutely nothing happens.
If
Empordanese people would not be so shy, this region would be packed
with geniuses. In fact, it is. But they all remain at home, avoiding
the stranger's eyes, enjoying the genuine calm of this land. Thank
God. Or thanks to whomever...