The legacy of Catalan immigrants in Ecuador
An afternoon to rediscover our roots
More than 40 people gathered on a Friday at five in the afternoon at the Casal Català de Guayaquil to share a story that is also part of our own history.
Catalan history in Guayaquil did not begin yesterday. It was built with the arrival of people and families who made their lives, formed families and left their mark.
Montserrat Maspons i Bigas, together with Julio Schmid, had the initiative to bring together the first hundred descendants of Catalans who were able to locate Guayaquil. From that meeting our Casal was born.
Maspons, Llopart, Roca, Peré, Serra, Roldós, Roura, Rovira, Riera, Madinyà, Rabascall, Nebot, Torres, Compte, Tuset, Marcet, Vilaseca, Costa, Carbó, Rivas, Grau, Puig Mir, Simó... And so many others. They are surnames that are part of Guayaquil. Some are still easily recognizable; others have become so integrated into our society that perhaps we no longer think of them as Catalans.
We got mixed up. We have made our life. We are part of Guayaquil. And, precisely for this reason, our Catalan roots are often hidden by the naked eye.
Because a root does not need to be visible to continue feeding a tree.
And that afternoon, the story stopped being only in the pages of a book. She was also present in the voices of those who carry her in their own family.
Cristina Llopart, descendant of Lola Trull's, and Núria Niemes, great-granddaughter of Montserrat Maspons, brought us closer to the living memory of those families.
Juan Marcet and Rafael Compte shared their memories and their look at this Catalan identity that, generation after generation, has been transforming.
Núria lives in Barcelona today. And his words left us a beautiful image: perhaps the circle is closing.
They came from Catalonia. They were integrated. They took root. His children and grandchildren grew up here.
Therefore, some generations later, some of their descendants return to Catalonia to live, from another place, what their ancestors left behind.
It's not going back to the same place. It is to get there with another story, another identity and everything that has been lived along the way.
Perhaps this is our true legacy: not to have kept us intact, but to have been able to integrate us without disappearing.
The investigation, the witnesses, the families, the memories and the conversation made this presentation much more than a cultural act. It was a reunion.
And after the book came the tapas, the romesco, the allioli, the olives, a glass of wine and the Catalan cream.
All copies destined for Guayaquil were sold. And we are already thinking of a new run.
The circle closes. The legacy continues.
