Donde están los baños?
Published:Saturday | October 15, 2011 | 12:00 AM
GUADALAJARA, Mexico:Hola amigos!
Don't be fooled by the initial salutation. I am bilingual but Spanish is not one of them. Last time I checked, it was English and Jamaican Patois.
I have not been in a Spanish- speaking country for donkey years, but I think I am getting along fairly well with the little I know and I have been offered some help along the way. Not many people here speak English (Jamaican patois, nil) and, at times, it is like groping in the dark.
On my first day here (Thurs-day), I was introduced to young Mexican Ricardo Tinoco, a volunteer in the Main Press Centre (MPC). He speaks very good English and has been giving me a few tips. He accompanied me on the street to get credit for my cellphone then, when we returned, I was going around in circles trying to find a bathroom. He advised me that next time, I should say to anyone I see: 'Donde están los baños?'
frequent calls of nature
I will not forget that, as in this very cool weather, nature is making very frequent calls.
And speaking of cool, we arrived here on Wednesday night to heavy rain and wind. I must say that as one who is not a lover of flying, I was a bit concerned when I saw the driving rain outside as the McDonnell Douglas 80 (MD-80 for short) made its final approach, and my anxiety became even more heightened when we landed and the aircraft appeared to be travelling for too long a distance on the flooded runway before it finally came to a halt.
To make matters worse, we had to disembark some distance away from the main building, go out into pouring rain and step into pools of water before boarding a bus.
All that is, however, behind me now. It is still very cool, the nights are 55F, but I prefer it to being hot and sticky and, of course, I had packed the clothing to match the weather. As a student of geography, I had fully acquainted myself with the average daily temperatures and knew before arriving here that the nights can be nippy.
Unlike the majority of journa-lists here, my hotel is not exactly close to the MPC (for those who do not know, this is the headquarters for journalists when you attend any Games or World Championships) so I have to get on a taxi and travel for 30 minutes in heavy morning traffic.
Taximen are always talkative and (you guessed it) their English is, at best, broken. I did pick up the names Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell from the one who dropped me home Thursday night. He wanted to know if they would be coming with the Jamaica team. I said 'no' and, of course, he was very disappointed.