1. Meredith has selective Spanish skills. Generally these are when I am tired. But also, I tend to make Chris translate for me when I want further explanation of something on the menu or need directions. I've also been known to "volunteer" to watch our bags. & send him to buy lunch/snacks/water. We've also discovered that Chris has conversational Spanish while Meredith has the vocabulary. Twice I've know words Chris has not. Thank you to my high school Spanish teachers for having us learn uncommon words. (And for the record, Chris still speaks circles around me-not that it's a competition.)
2. Village houses have a cross & two bulls on the pitch of the roof. We asked our tour guide & when the Spainards arrived with bulls, they could do an incredible amount of work in the fields & are a sign of strength. The crosses are because the people were supposed to be Christian. We took these from the busses.
3. We noticed a new soccer team in the villages.
Nope. Turns out it's a political party. Pretty smart political marketing. And they paint the sides of houses, boulders, and shops. These paintings are noticibly absent from the city.
4. The Pope Mobile is alive & strong.
These are motorcycles converted into tricycles with a back seat & a flat bed. We saw them in the villages. They are a well accepted form of transportation as we even saw a few of the police variety.
5. Local tourism. We have seen a lot of Peruvian & other Latin Anerican travelers. In both of our experiences most tourists have been Americans, Europeans, Aussies or Canadians. We are both pleased to see natives taking advantage of all their land has to offer.
6. Dual translation. Since we understand both languages, we can pick up variations in translation. For example, yesterday the tour guide was giving instructions as to what time to meet at the bus. In Spanish, he said the ideal time, the maximum time & then made a statement how we were not on Latin American time. In English, he simply told us what time to be back at the bus.
Another time in English he talked about the Incan people being Catholic in the morning & going to mass. Incan in the afternoon & praying to the sun god. And atheist in the evening, drinking a beer. In Spanish, he only talked about being Catholic & Incan.
7. Peruvian Spanish is pretty clean. Chris just seconded a "yes. Oh yes." We've met up with other tourists who have also agreed. The accent is incredibly easy to understand and there are no strong Castillano influences or less common "vosotros" tenses used. I've already decided our children will be coming to Peru to study abroad.
8. Weather is sun dependent. It's chilly in the shade-as in even Chris needs his fleece and then out in the sunshine you're ready to be in a t-shirt. The key really is to layer.
No comments:
Post a Comment