Oaxaca is pronounced “uajaca”
1) SPEAK PROPERLY
Ibero-America, South America, Hispano-America is not the same as Latin America or Latin America. Here we enter an important linguistic and geopolitical garden . When in doubt, it is better to talk about the specific destination, José Ignacio, Bogotá, Búzios or the Hotel Escondido; if we feel pedantic, we can announce to friends that we are going to do a pan american trip . So everyone calm down.
**2) THE LANGUAGE. AH, THE LANGUAGE (I) **
One of the great wonders of any trip to that part of the world is sharing Castilian or Spanish; another little garden this one, by the way. Then we will notice that other trips are like walking in heels. Traveling there and being able to communicate is like traveling barefoot. This provides freedom, nuances, caught jokes and emotions. And we move on to the next point.
hidden hotel
3) **LANGUAGE. AH, THE LANGUAGE (II) **
It can be friend and foe. When we step on those lands we will realize the number of words that we do not know . We're going to laugh a lot at first when we hear Mexicans say Bueno as they pick up the phone. Also when Peruvians call the bathtub a tub, as if they were Extremadurans from the 17th century and when we listen to Argentines unleash their endless strings that almost always include the words asado or Borges. And, definitely, we will let out a condescending laugh when the Chileans say the verb_pololear_ and invite us to taxi. Of course, chela is understood in any country. All of them are probably laughing all the time at us and our Z's, C's and S's too. . We have to know that the same word means very different things in different countries. For example, “Qué arrecho” in Nicaragua is different from “estar arrecho” in Peru. And so everything. We will learn by blushing.
4) OAXACA.
Oaxaca is pronounced “uajaca”. Let's learn it before we get on the plane.
5) SPANIARDS ARE RUDE
We talk like we're angry. Most of the inhabitants there are soft and formal. Let's try to imitate them, to approach everyone who crosses our path as they do with us. Nor is it necessary for us to appropriate the Colombian "his mercy" on the first day. At first we will feel that we act, but We will see that everything is better this way. We can also explain to them that we are rough because the world (and living in messy Europe) has made us that way. But we are nice.
We miss out on a lot of food.
6) SENSE AND SENSITIVITY
There is always someone, who normally hasn't been there, who warns us of how dangerous "that" is. As if "that" were a homogeneous space and not many countries with their many differences . As if we were going to join a gang. We are not going to walk at dawn through some neighborhoods of Guatemala City, but we are going to go out to dinner, so calm in Antigua and we will return enjoying the stars to our, sure, beautiful hotel. We are not going to go into the heart of Tepito in DF, at night with the Cartier and the absent-minded face, but we will go out to drink mezcal and tuna tacos by Condesa , in the same city, with our friends as handsome as we can. In some places we will learn concepts such as "site taxis" and we will take common sense for a walk. We will be very happy.
7) WE LOSE A LOT OF FOOD
We will verify that we live ignoring wonders. We do not eat corn tortillas, we cook white rice fatally, we only use ten or twelve fruits , we barely buy red onions and we don't add chili to anything. We will discover that in the average Spanish house the meals are all in brown tones, there they are colored. All this is a catastrophe. We have already incorporated ceviche, lime, havana alfajores, tequila and tacos but we still have a long way to go. Let them gastrocolonize us. We owe it to them.
8) FRIDA IS FRIDA KAHLO
No one uses the last name. People talk about her like she's some exotic distant aunt.
Frida is Frida Kahlo
9) THE LOVE
In Buenos Aires you will find people who have been living in the shadow of the Obelisk for fifty years and who will tell you emphatically: “I am Spanish”. You will never travel to a place where you arrive with this advantage, even if you do not understand it. Nor where, by default, they will look at you with good eyes. You don't understand this either. You thought that warmth was a post-colonial topic. You thought about it until you returned to Spain after being invited to dinner and lunch in strangers' houses and many hugs that you didn't count on.
10) THE HURRY
We Spaniards are over-revolutionized. The most madrileños . We'll get unnerved if the waiters don't bring us the bill in a minute, too stuffy protocols make us sick. It is true that his “momentico” is different from ours: more lax, but also that we are impatient. In short, it's not you, it's me.
Wrestling masks, you will end up buying one
11) CRAFTSMANSHIP
We don't know everything we can like. What a world so infinite. That there are so many ways to weave, make baskets, and work with ceramics of so many colors and woods in such infinite ways. What would we like to buy? wrestler masks and decorated skulls in La Ciudadela market and vicuña scarves in Peru. You didn't know anything about that. Nor that crafts could be both past and future. But be careful: everything, being decontextualized in our houses in Malasañeras, changes its meaning. Worse. Control the emotion, which will be a lot.
12 ) SERRAT
We knew that Nano was great, but not that he was a god until we set foot in Argentina or Mexico. Serrat is not ours, it is yours . They respect us, among other things, because he is Spanish. The same goes for Sabina. All Spanish women should know before going that some Argentines like to sing us Sabina songs. This must be warned strongly before traveling. Others also like to hum "There is nothing more beautiful than what I have never experienced"; then we get soft. Also there we will (re)discover other Pan American idols, such as Fito Páez, Vicentico, Café Tacuba or Charlie García . That's what trips are for: to learn new songs and take them back home with us in our suitcase.
Sabina and Serrat, they are not ours
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