My Lucky Number is Juan

hahaaaa, I'm dumb.. I realize this.. but that was a knee slapper :)

But anywho.. I've been meeting many Juans lately.. and I love them to death!

Introduction to Juan #1: Juan is 8 years old, he is in school, he knows the tiniest bit of English, he is hilarious, and his mom sells coffee in the park at night.



I was sitting in the park with the two German guys last night drinking Pilsen and Aguardiente.. the Germans annoyingly spoke German A LOT.. although it wasn't that annoying, because I know if I was in a country where no one really spoke my language (including the other travelers) I'd be blabbing like crazy in English!! So during one of the lulls of English silence, Juan comes up and sits down next to me (we were sitting on the steps of the fountain). The boys kept talking, and I decided I was going to make a new friend.. even if he IS 8 years old :)

So, Juan and I are chatting it up all in Spanish... kids teach me way more than adults do when it comes to a new language! I'm pretty excited about my new Spanish friend. The boys are still talking away and looking a bit annoyed by new friend, Erik looking at me every now and then with a look like, are you safe?! I had read about how someone could come and distract you while someone else pickpockets you or something.. so Erik's looks made me a bit nervous. But this kid was absolutely great! And Erik ended up loosening up after a bit.



Then, Juan made a fist like he was going to smash my Pilsen can.. I said "Noo, I'm drinking" and moved it away. And I didn't realize that there were little shot glasses around with Aguardiente in them (the shot glasses are made of really thin plastic like what comes with cough syrup).. some were empty, some were full.. well.. the one closest to Juan was full, but it was night time so he couldn't tell there was anything in it... and the little bugger smashed the cup and Aguardiente went all over Juan, Peter and I. We just burst out laughing, he had the look on the face like 'Uhoh, I'm in trouble'.. ran.. and we continued laughing. He came back a hero, he had ran to his mom and grabbed one of the coffe cups she uses when she sells coffee in the park!! It was great.

Juan and I were teaching each other English/Spanish.. pointing out different things and saying them how we would say them. Then we got a bit bored with that and Juan went on a little rampage... tickling, running around, making us laugh.. he was so precious and asked around for a pencil so that he could write down all of our names. It was about 9PM and his mom was hardly keeping an eye on him.. I can only imagine how many nights he's forced to entertain himself in the park!!

It was sad to say goodbye to that little booger!




Introduction to Juan #2: While waiting in Barichara for the bus back to San Gil, a cute old man walked by selling pots. I watched one guy say no, and the next guy say no, and then he came over to me and we both started laughing out loud... because why is a gringo going to buy some pots to cook with while traveling?!

After we stop laughing, he asks me a couple of questions.. speaks no English.. and sits down on the curb next to me. It was soooo incredibly hard to understand the poor old man (about 60 years old?).. his voice was super deep and he mumbled the entire time.

I'm going to guess our conversation went something like this:
Hi how are you?
Great, and you?
Great. Where are you from?
Paula
What's your name?
United States
Isn't Barichara beautiful?
No, thanks
Are you going to San Gil?
One month
How old are you?
I don't know

It actually probably went a bit better than that.. he did continue to talk and talk AND TALK AND TALK, and get on the same bus, and tell me to sit next to him, and then talk and talk and talk!

It was great though, I LOVE COLOMBIANS!