Escucha muy bien
COSTA RICA | Saturday, 18 September 2010 | Views [283] | Comments [1]
This morning Alan and I tagged along when Phil went to
run errands in Turrialba. Aside from our own wanderings about the city, Ginnee
gave us a grocery list to fulfill at the Feria – the local fresh food farmers
market. Near an old railroad track are venders to your right and left, calling
out items and prices with the hum of chatter and business all around. Awesome!
Alan doesn’t speak much Spanish yet, so for today I was in charge of purchases,
the hardest part being the money. They have all these darned coins: 5, 10, 25,
50, 100, and 500 colones. With 500 colones equal to about a dollar, most things
cost over 1000 colones. But then you have this CHUNK of change. So, the two
gringos looked like little school boys counting mom’s change as we endeavored
to pay for our verduras (vegetables) from a sack of moneda (coins). Well, we
might have slowed everyone else down but we got the things we needed and (to
the best of my knowledge) we didn’t get ripped off. We walked around for a bit,
got some delicious food at a Tico-Chino restaurant, an amazing dessert at a
panaderia, some ice cream (okay, we were a little gluttonous), and some drinks
for when we have dinner with Marcos and his family next week. A quick stop at
the Maxi-Bodega (Costa Rica’s version of Walmart), and we headed for the hills.
On the bumpy ride to Esperanza I thought about something Waynor said earlier
this week: escucha muy bien el Español.
This prompted a bit of self-praise. Holy crow, here I am in Costa Rica and,
though not perfect, I’m communicating! I’m talking to people, conversing,
joking, and maybe even earning a little respect for wanting to communicate in
Spanish. Good stuff.
