What a Bear!

I didn’t have a picture to go along with my stories tonight but I figured this was the most bear-like picture that I could post. This was taken in a tiny little hotel the first couple of days that I was here in Veracruz. Now for the fun stories…

So we went to Luz’s house for lunch. She prepared for us a very delicious soup with some incredible bread from the bakery just down the street. I was enjoying myself and eating hearty when Luz came over and asked me a question. Well, my Spanish is still rather rusty and I’m adjusting to the way that the natives speak. (I’ve found that older woman are the hardest to understand. Just like in Russia.) I was positive that she was asking me if I wanted some cheese. I really didn’t need any cheese and I was feeling pretty good about what I had in front of me so I declared, “No”. MISTAKE! She looked at me with glaring eyes and said, “Que OSO!” or “What a bear!”

Everyone started laughing and I was just confused! The real story is that she had asked me, “Is the food good?” I had told her, “No”

We all got a good laugh out of that one for quite some time but at that very same dinner table just a few minutes later another comical thing happened. Luz offered both Camm and I some suckers. I was not feeling the sweets at that moment so I put mine aside. Camm opens his sucker right away and starts chomping on it. A few short moments later Camm gets this really funny look on his face and looks around apprehensively. He was checking to see if Luz was in the room. When he found the coast to be clear he looks at me in all seriousness and almost with haste says, “Dude, Don’t eat that sucker!”

The look on his face and the ways he said those words was hilarious! Again we looked around and finding Luz preoccupied in the other room we snuck my sucker back in the cupboard where it came from. I can just imagine the other suckers being so happy for my sucker’s safe return.

In writing I can’t relay the expression on Camm’s face but every time I think about that experience I start laughing out loud. A cherished moment in the first few days of my Mexican experience.