I’ll never learn Spanish. The more I study, the worse I get. Every morning when I wake up, the tune of La Bamba starts blasting in my head. My first conscious thought is Yo no soy marinero. From then on my brain is like a snow globe filled with randomly floating Spanish words: abrogado, estuve, para tomar, con frecuencia, soy capitan, soy capitan. Some I know, others I must’ve heard somewhere, and some I’ve almost […]
Read moreMonth: January 2008
Asleep in the Jungle
Ginna’s Travel Tips Always take more snacks than you think you’ll possibly need, in case you visit a place that underfeeds you overpriced food of questionable purity. Don’t look up at monkeys. Even if you’re so exhausted you can’t stand, shower while the water is hot. Don’t take a canopy tour if you have any need for your dominant arm within the next several days. Don’t try to take a close-up of a spider before […]
Read moreA Fistful of Vouchers
Somehow my father’s old analog watch knows it’s in Central America. It says SAB 19, and it’s right: it is sí¡bado. Last night I packed my small backpack with a few clothes and a sheaf of papers from the travel agent, ready for my trip north. I woke myself up at 3:00 a.m. for the shuttle to the teeny regional airport in Guatemala City. There, the room filled mostly with Americans with whom, as it […]
Read moreThe Ugly Americans
Wow, I’m even thinking in Spanish now. Like when something annoyed me today, I heard myself say, Ay, crap-o. Today’s advice for travelers: don’t take a mug of tea with you in a tuc-tuc. During class this morning there must have been a cataclysmic event inside the bees’ next at the edge of the arch that is my classroom. For fifteen minutes hundreds of abejas swarmed, and then suddenly were gone. I ran home at […]
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