We've been having many laughs and challenges while studying Spanish in an intensive four hour-a day course. We are learning quickly, but still have a long way to go! When we learn a new verb, our teacher asks us both to use it in a sentence as an example. Unfortunately, with a limited vocab I have often panicked when answering, with some disastrous results:
(All these conversations take place in Spanish, which will hopefully explain any confusion)
Teacher: Chris, what are the main exports in New Zealand?
Me: We milk bulls. They give us many products.
Teacher: *laughs* "No no no, you don't want to drink bulls milk!"
After learning the words for 'difficult', 'easy', 'wet', 'dry', 'on' and 'off', I decided to pre-empt the teacher and blurted out
"My pants are wet!"
*Awkward pause follows*
Teacher: "Um... do you need to go to the toilet?"
My heart sank as I realised I had got wet and dry mixed up.
Teacher: Chris, what is an example of the verb 'to shave'?
Me: (Experiencing internal panic, as I don't know the words for face or legs). "I want to shave my dog"
Teacher: Ok.....
Teacher: Chris, what do you say when a young lady asks you out?
Me: Sorry but I have just been beaten up.
Teacher: Do you mean married?
Me: Yes.
You'll be pleased to know that Jess hasn't spared herself from embarrassment.
Teacher: "When are you returning to New Zealand?"
Jess: "We are returning in November, because my brother is gay"
Teacher: "Do you mean, he is engaged?"
Jess: "Oops.... yes!"
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
Friday, 21 September 2012
Baños is fuños
I'm happy to report that the most exciting thing we've done all week is unpack our bags! After visiting the Galapagos Islands we decided to spend some time lingering in the town of Baños, Ecuador, which means we are experiencing 2 weeks of pure, revitalising normalcy. There is something deeply satisfying about hanging clothes in a cupboard after 6 months of digging around in a backpack, and I'm ashamed to admit how thrilled I am to be able to leave the shampoo bottle in the shower. We've also found a lady in the local market who sells huge glasses of fresh juice for $1, so we visit her every morning for breakfast. Daily routines: another one of life's unappreciated pleasures.
Baños is Spanish for baths, and the town is well named as it has loads of hot pools that are naturally heated by the local active volcano. We visited some of the baths last night after going for a run, and did the hot/cold/hot/cold water dash (Chris said it would be 'beneficial'...definitely the kind of benefit I can do without). The hottest pool was a scorching 46 degrees, and the coolest one next to it was what Kiwis call "refreshing", but everyone else calls "flippin cold". We had a self-imposed limit of approximately 2 minutes in each pool. Unfortunately I didn't realise I'd hurt my knee during our run until it got aggravated in the hot water, so now my leg kind of resembles an overstuffed sausage. But that's beside the point! The point is: volcano water is fun!
At the moment we're studying Spanish for four hours each morning at a language school, then use our afternoons for homework, runs, hikes, naps, movies, hot pools or whatever the heck else we feel like doing. Life is sweet! The cafe down the road shows a different film each afternoon - arguably the greatest idea anyone ever had - so we get to hang out with an iced chocolate or a bowl of guacamole and nachos and watch whatever happens to be playing that day. The films are hilariously diverse, ranging from travel docos to Casablanca to The Full Monty. We were in the middle of eating dinner the other night when a loud and extended sex scene came on during a Korean period flick. Awwkward - it put me right off my soup.
Low point of the week: our hostel room backs onto the road, and some awesome, beautiful, thoughtful person (ooh sorry, I pressed my sarcasm button by mistake) has a car parked outside with an alarm that goes off every time a truck rolls past...which would be about 10 times a night. The worst thing is that it's not just one car; there seems to be a series of cars with the same problem. Any suggestions as to how to destroy Ecuadorian car alarms will be met with thanks and payment in fresh juices.
Baños is Spanish for baths, and the town is well named as it has loads of hot pools that are naturally heated by the local active volcano. We visited some of the baths last night after going for a run, and did the hot/cold/hot/cold water dash (Chris said it would be 'beneficial'...definitely the kind of benefit I can do without). The hottest pool was a scorching 46 degrees, and the coolest one next to it was what Kiwis call "refreshing", but everyone else calls "flippin cold". We had a self-imposed limit of approximately 2 minutes in each pool. Unfortunately I didn't realise I'd hurt my knee during our run until it got aggravated in the hot water, so now my leg kind of resembles an overstuffed sausage. But that's beside the point! The point is: volcano water is fun!
At the moment we're studying Spanish for four hours each morning at a language school, then use our afternoons for homework, runs, hikes, naps, movies, hot pools or whatever the heck else we feel like doing. Life is sweet! The cafe down the road shows a different film each afternoon - arguably the greatest idea anyone ever had - so we get to hang out with an iced chocolate or a bowl of guacamole and nachos and watch whatever happens to be playing that day. The films are hilariously diverse, ranging from travel docos to Casablanca to The Full Monty. We were in the middle of eating dinner the other night when a loud and extended sex scene came on during a Korean period flick. Awwkward - it put me right off my soup.
Low point of the week: our hostel room backs onto the road, and some awesome, beautiful, thoughtful person (ooh sorry, I pressed my sarcasm button by mistake) has a car parked outside with an alarm that goes off every time a truck rolls past...which would be about 10 times a night. The worst thing is that it's not just one car; there seems to be a series of cars with the same problem. Any suggestions as to how to destroy Ecuadorian car alarms will be met with thanks and payment in fresh juices.
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| Studying hard or hardly studying? |
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| Delish options at the juice stand |
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| Baños - nestled in the mountains |
Wednesday, 12 September 2012
Galapagos fantabulous!
We have just returned from eight days of incredible animal watching and relaxation in the Galapagos Islands. Galapagos is truly like no other place on earth. It was like journeying to an alternate universe to hang out creatures who are utterly unafraid of people.
We managed to pick up a last-minute deal on a cruise round the islands the day before it started. We were on a boat with nine others - two Americans, a Canadian, two Scots, two Germans and a very enthusiastic pair of Italian birdwatchers. We arrived comparatively under-prepared (in that our camera could fit in our pocket, we owned no tripod and we couldn’t tell the difference between a woodpecker finch or a common ground finch. Admittedly, we still don’t know the difference), but our faithful little camera took some great photos, and we’ve had an amazing adventure.
If you’ve read anything about the Galapagos Islands, you will have probably seen the phrase “the animals are fearless”. But it’s not until you reach the islands that you fully comprehend what this means. The animals really didn’t care less about us, occasionally to the point of being laughable. Sometimes sticking to the designated path required stepping over sunbathing iguanas, sidling around sea lions or creeping along the edges of a blue-footed booby nest (which is a bird in case you were wondering, and yes, boob jokes abounded).
The awesome thing about the islands is that you could just sit there and watch nature unfold in front of you. It was like being on Animal Planet - you expected Morgan Freeman to start commentating at any moment. Some of our highlights were:
We managed to pick up a last-minute deal on a cruise round the islands the day before it started. We were on a boat with nine others - two Americans, a Canadian, two Scots, two Germans and a very enthusiastic pair of Italian birdwatchers. We arrived comparatively under-prepared (in that our camera could fit in our pocket, we owned no tripod and we couldn’t tell the difference between a woodpecker finch or a common ground finch. Admittedly, we still don’t know the difference), but our faithful little camera took some great photos, and we’ve had an amazing adventure.
If you’ve read anything about the Galapagos Islands, you will have probably seen the phrase “the animals are fearless”. But it’s not until you reach the islands that you fully comprehend what this means. The animals really didn’t care less about us, occasionally to the point of being laughable. Sometimes sticking to the designated path required stepping over sunbathing iguanas, sidling around sea lions or creeping along the edges of a blue-footed booby nest (which is a bird in case you were wondering, and yes, boob jokes abounded).
The awesome thing about the islands is that you could just sit there and watch nature unfold in front of you. It was like being on Animal Planet - you expected Morgan Freeman to start commentating at any moment. Some of our highlights were:
- Snorkeling with giant tortoises, watching them casually swim and chew on algae from a metre away.
- Seeing the pre-mating rituals of frigate birds and blue footed boobies (think a slow version of the can-can)
- Watching iguanas methodically munch their way through fruit from huge cactus trees
- Watching families of pelicans go dive-bombing for fish
- Listening to our guide, Tanya. 20 years on the Islands and she pretty much knew everything. Any guide who can make passing remarks on the occipital condyles of sea lions has our maximum respect. Not to mention that she revealed that she guided Brad and Angie around the islands when they visited in April, which increased her street cred about a million points.
- Spending the second night vomiting in the toilet or trying not to fall off the bed while going through ridiculous swells on an eight hour sail. Jess was so sick that she ended up sleeping on the bathroom floor to minimise travel time between the bed and the bathroom. OK so maybe it wasn't a highlight, but definitely memorable!
As the islands are 1000km off the coast of Ecuador, getting to them is definitely not cheap. But after a week of snorkeling with giant tortoises and chilling out alongside sea lions, we know it was money well spent. An amazingly memorable week in a truly unique part of the world.
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| These dudes loved to play! |
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| Fun in the sun |
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| Chris presents: the rear end of a turtle |
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| The face says it all! |
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| Marine iguanas on their way to the sea |
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| Chris checks out some of the local talent |
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| Fighting the urge to ride a tortoise around the forest |
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| Blue footed boobies. The name is a total mystery to us... |
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| Some incredible design on the foot of a land inguana |
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| The lady frigate birds were digging this display big time. |
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