¡Que guapo!

Well, yesterday was day 2 of our barefoot experience here in San Jose. We had a simple assignment to take a bus to a local mall and engage some of the locals (see Ticos) in a little practice session of our newly aquired skills. Ken and I were told that it is wise when you introduce yourselves to someone else that a little compliment will go a long way. Women were instructed to say another lady's name was pretty (bonita); men were to shake hands and show their machismo (masculinity). So, we went and looked for a jogging stroller here because our little umbrella stroller will not cut it on the rough San Jose streets. The streets and sidewalks here are full of pot holes, cracks, and assorted gringo traps (dog poop, man holes without the covers, etc...)

We decided to try our newly aquired skills at several stores that sold coches para bebes (baby carriages). Apparently nobody here jogs with their baby because when I asked for a jogging stroller in Spanish they looked at me like I was crazy. Like, why would a gringa want to run with her baby? Sure enough, when I do go running in the morning, I don't see ANY women jogging, just men. So, it was pretty much a fruitless endeavor on that part, but we did manage to speak a little to the locals, and I'm sure make several of them snicker.

When we went to the food court to get our lunch I decided to go to a Japanese place after Ken went and got some Italian. Ken came back and said, "The lady behind the counter said I spoke very good Spanish." Not to be outdone I went to the Japanese place where a man was making some sushi rolls. I asked him in Spanish what kind they were, how much, etc... I selected a few and decided to ask his name. "¿Como se llama?" I said. He said his name was Mark....and a few more words I could not really understand. Of course I felt the need to compliment him on his name, but not really knowing how to do that I just said, "¡Que guapo!" He had a huge smile and then proceeded to give me an extra sushi roll for my compliment. I realized my error a little too late, so I tried to make it clear to him I was here with mi esposo (husband) and was just learning Spanish. Yeah, I think that next time I may stick to something like, "what a nice name" instead of "How handsome".