Lima

In the few weeks leading up to my trip to Lima (the city in Peru, not the municipality in Ohio, 116 km north of Dayton, pop. 38339), I learned a little bit of Spanish.

I used Rosetta Stone, which is great when you actually want to learn a language but isn't ideal if you just want some basics for a short trip.

The people of Lima, or limeños, are nice but their patience wears thin when you say things like "the car is red." This is doubly true when the car isn't actually red but is some colour you can't say in Spanish. I've found the best solution is to only hail taxis in colours that I am familiar with, so that the driver and I can have a nice discussion in which I tell him (it's always a him) the colour of the car, he responds with many quickly spoken words I can't understand, and I say gracias.

This brings us to another problem: because I can't speak Spanish and because it's a safe choice, I say thanks way too often. I am given a restaurant bill. Gracias. It gets taken away. Gracias. I am given change. Gracias. I am on my way out the door. Gracias. I can only hope that I am not having exchanges such as:

- You smell like a dirty animal.
- Gracias.

or

- Say gracias one more time and I will kill you.
- Gracias.