Author: Rae

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¿Mande?

I learned very proper European Spanish when I was studying it as a teenager. As an adult, I took private courses from a Chilean lady and she went to great lengths to keep me on track and not introduce Chile-isms into my vocabulary.

Well, the European Spanish has pretty much been out the door since I got to Mexico. I had to tone down my accent quickly because I was having a hard time being understood here. What I was taught is pronounced ther-bay-tha is pronounced ser-vay-za here. I’ve also had to learn new words for common things; durazno rather than melocotón for peach, jugo rather than zumo for juice. It’s rather like a Brit learning to say pry-vacy rather than pri-vacy, truck and eraser rather than lorry and rubber.

One of the first Mexican Spanish-isms that I encountered when I got here was ¿Mande?

I took this to mean “What?”, as in a rude “I didn’t hear you, repeat yourself” because I could recognize that it comes from the verb “to give an order.” I heard ¿Mande? quite a bit when I got to Isla until a kind neighbour informed me that the problem wasn’t my use of language, but my accent and I started to work on toning it down.

But as the months here in Mexico pushed on and I kept hearing ¿Mande?, not just directed at me, I figured that there is no way all Mexicans were rude. Tonight, after an encounter this morning, I finally researched the phrase.

Lo and behold, ¿Mande? is the absolute most polite way in Mexico to let someone know you didn’t understand them! It can mean “What did you ask?” or “Please repeat yourself” or “What can I get you?”, among many other nuances.

The opposite of ¿Mande? on the politeness scale is ¿Qué?, which is literally “What?”

What happened this morning was an encounter at the grocery store. They have a new gal attending to the deli counter and she is really putting me off from shopping there. First of all, she has no sense of hygiene, using her bare hands to handle the cheese and meats. EW. Even though the City Deli has the best price I’ve found for Chihuahua cheese, I no longer buy it there because of that.

But more on point to this post, whenever I order from her she asks me ¿Mande? at least three times before fetching my order. I thought she might be hard of hearing except that her tone really is harsh and bordering on rude and she has no trouble hearing the other customers the first time they speak.

Since no one else I encounter in my interactions is saying ¿Mande? to me regularly anymore, I really didn’t think the issue is the quality of my language. So I began to suspect that she was just not happy to be serving a Gringa and was being purposely rude.

This was pretty much confirmed to me this morning when I carefully enunciated ‘Veinte pesos de tocino’ and she replied ¿Mande? A man came out of the back of the store and addressed her sharply, saying that he had heard me clearly the first time on this visit and on all preceding visits!

Holy smokes, my assumption was correct, that she was being purposely rude to me! And by using a polite form of “What?” she was actually being doubly rude.

For more information on this Mexican phrase, check out Mande in Spanish is not Monday.

And finally, back to ther-bay-thas for a moment, European Spanish pronounces the soft C and Z as the English sound T-H.

One of my absolutely earliest memories is of being in grade one, still very much learning English, and flinging a pencil across the room because I could not pronounce the TH sound and would never be able to pronounce my last name!

So thank you, English, for paving the way to my apparently gorgeous, but almost impossible to understand in Mexico, Spanish accent!

 

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Lunch at Lety’s

I’m afraid that this winter is turning out to be all about the FOOD. 😀

I’m in a funny little eye of a hurricane right now, not much in the queue, but it’s most certainly going to explode, so I took a long lunch on the beach today.

I went to Lety’s for the first time and ordered one of the most expensive things on the menu, their shrimp brochette (kebab). I’m sorry I didn’t bring my camera because, OMG. 🙂

I read a bit while waiting for my meal and chatted with the blanket guy, who was shocked to see me reading a Spanish magazine. He tried to sell blankets to ladies at the table next to me, but refused to sell them blankets like mine for less than 300 pesos! I’m trying to figure that one out since I’ve been told that my 250 pesos wasn’t a great price and he turned down two sales at that price! So maybe I did get a good deal. He told me that if I want another one, he’ll honour his 250 peso price. I’m more than tempted!

Back to lunch, my only complaint food-wise since I’ve been in Mexico is that I’m pretty much eating the same flavours in various combinations. This was the first time since the mole that I felt that my taste buds were getting something truly different.

There were two brochettes made up of shrimp, onion, green peppers, squash, and onions, all grilled to perfection and brushed with a BBQ-type sauce that was sweet with a bit of kick. As sides, there was a good rice probably cooked in chicken broth with carrots in it and also a huge green salad with radishes.

In addition to this, I got a basket of tortilla chips so I could indulge in the four salsas that came with the meal.

One was your typical pico de gallo, with tomato, cilantro, jalapeño, and onion.

Next, there was a pineapple salsa with something really spicy in it. Thanks to the sweetness, I was able to eat quite a bit of it. It was my favourite of the four.

After that was another tomato-based one that was more smokey than spicy. If it had come as the only salsa, I would have gobbled it up, but it wound up being my least favourite.

Finally, there was a syrupy tamarind salsa that reminded me of thick prune juice. I would have found it a better match for plain yoghurt than chips, but will confess to stealing a final spoonful to quench the fire from the pineapple salsa when I was done. 🙂

With a beer and tip, lunch came to 175 pesos, and it was worth every centavo!

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Lighting a Propane Stove

I Skyped with my good friend L last night and he brought up something that he has told me before, in relation to my exploding BBQ lighter last night. It’s something that I’ve known for years and which he has shown and demonstrated to me, but which has never stuck. And it bothers me because I could have saved myself a lot of money over the years and also prevented yesterday’s accident.

His words of wisdom?

You don’t need fire to light a fire.

He’s, of course, right. To light propane, all you need is a spark.

I have friends who light their RV stoves with flint spark torch igniters.

I haven’t had much luck with them for propane stoves. They are great for lighting a soldering torch because you can bring the tip of the torch right over the sparking surface, but with a round propane burner, you just can’t get in close enough. It takes me too long to light the stove with one of these and I have a mini explosion each time because the propane has time to build up.

So you need the opposite scenario, a flint that creates a concentrated spark. Guess where you can get one of those? A BBQ lighter.

Which brings me back to my friend L. He has been lighting his RV stove with a depleted BBQ lighter for years.

So guess how I lit my stove the four or five times I lit it today? Yup, with a spark from my now depleting BBQ lighter. It works great and I start the stove on the first snick of the lighter, rather than clicking it several times to get a flame going.

I feel like a complete moron, but I plan to cook with gas for the rest of my life, so I have plenty of time to make up for years of stupidity!

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My Isla Kitchen Is Trying to Kill Me

Well, I had a rather dramatic time making dinner tonight, even more so than the first (and last) time I tried to light my oven.

I had the cast iron pan on the stove and it was hot seeing as I was searing red peppers (since I don’t have an oven I trust).

Next thing I knew, there was a boom and the counter and my left forearm were on fire. The BBQ lighter I use to light the burner, resting a full foot away from the stove, had exploded!!!

I cook like this at home all the time — propane stove, BBQ lighter a foot (and even less) from the stove, extremely hot cast iron pan, etc., so I can’t figure out what went wrong tonight. The only thing I can imagine at this point is that the counters here are made of tile and get hotter than my laminate counter top at home.

I actually have no idea how I put the fire out. I think I might have used a dishcloth. There’s absolutely no evidence that anything got cooked, except for the lighter casing being melted.

I am absolutely fine. I lost all the hair on the left forearm and it feels like I got a mild sunburn on it, but that’s it. I’m not even anywhere near close to a first degree burn. I am just annoyed that I don’t have a way to light the stove tomorrow morning to heat water for coffee!

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El acuario de Mazatlán (Aquarium)

The acuario de Mazatlán (aquarium) is a great place for a family to spend a few hours. It is a combination aquarium, zoo, and botanical garden, with several live shows during the day.

I will admit that I had some concerns prior to my visit about what the aquarium would be like and how the animals would be treated, but my prejudice was unfounded. I have been to aquariums and zoos in Canada where the conditions were nowhere near this good. While I found some of the enclosures small, the animals were all well taken care of, with plenty of fresh food, water, shade, and stimulation.

Entry to the aquarium is 100 pesos for adults or 70 pesos for children, a fantastic deal, especially if you take in at least one show.

Entrance.

Street entrance.

You buy your ticket from a disembodied voice. Seriously. The ticket booth has a mirrored surface and you cannot see the attendant. You then take your ticket inside and trade it for a bracelet. I was greeted in Spanish and blasted with information that I didn’t entirely grasp. I asked the attendant to please repeat herself and she instead switched the flawless English, telling me about the schedule for the shows, where to grab a tour, the location of the bathrooms, etc.

The ticket booth.

The ticket booth.

The entrance.

The entrance.

My snazzy Acuario bracelet.

My snazzy Acuario bracelet.

All the other staff I interacted with during my visit had a good level of English. There is rudimentary English signage throughout the aquarium, but you really do need a basic level of Spanish to get the full experience and read all the informational placards. That said, I still think you can get a lot for your 100 pesos if you don’t speak Spanish.

You start in the building that houses the aquarium proper. It’s well done, but nothing spectacular, with tanks holding different varieties of fish and other critters, and a few small exhibits about boats, shellfish, fishing traps, coral, and a few other things.

Then, you go outside to visit the botanical garden, aviaries, zoo, another building with more fish, and a few other exhibits.

The tortoises were one of my favourite things.

The tortoises were one of my favourite things I saw today.

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Tortoise skeletons look rather sinister!

Tortoise skeletons look rather sinister!

I've got one of these on my desk!

I’ve got one of these on my desk!

And one of the sand dollars, too (bottom left).

And one of the sand dollars, too (bottom left).

Sea lion skeleton.

Sea lion skeleton.

I couldn't find any signage explaining what animal this is.

I couldn’t find any signage explaining what animal this is.

There was a little booth showcasing all the things to see and do in the state of Sinaloa.

There was a little booth showcasing all the things to see and do in the state of Sinaloa.

I'll like to go see this.

I’ll like to go see this.

It is called the Mirador del reloj and is in Choix.

It is called the Mirador del reloj and is in Choix.

The interior part of the aquarium is quite small, but beautifully done.

The interior part of the aquarium is quite small, but beautifully done.

I arrived at 10:45 and there was a sea lion show at 11:00, so I went right there from a very quick inside tour (returning to the inside exhibits later). The sea lion show area was covered and had heaps of seating.

Interestingly enough, a sea lion in Spanish, like in French, is a sea wolf.

The show was really fun! The sea lions seemed to be enjoying themselves and it was obvious that the trainer has genuine affection for them. The only thing I disliked was that the commentary was done with a background of very loud music so I could barely hear anything, even when they said things in English.

At one point, the commentator asked the audience where they were visiting from and pointed to me. I said, “Canada,” and he switched to English to ask me where in Canada. I replied, “Saskatchewan,” and he wowed me by asking closer to Saskatoon or Regina!

Pictures really can’t do justice to this show, so I’ve included a video with highlights from it at the end of the post.

After the sea lion show, you can take a picture with a sea lion for 30 pesos with your own camera or 50 pesos with theirs and you get a framed print. Good deal! I would totally do this if I was visiting with a child.

After the sea lion show, you can take a picture with a sea lion for 30 pesos with your own camera or 50 pesos with theirs and you get a framed print. Good deal! I would totally do this if I was visiting with a child.

Show set up.

Show set up.

This sign made me laugh. Spanish: The sea lion jumps could wet the people in the front row. English: Siting (sic) in the fronts (sic) seat will get you wet! I like that the Spanish one explains the English one. :)

This sign made me laugh. Spanish: The sea lion jumps could wet the people in the front row.
English: Siting (sic) in the fronts (sic) seat will get you wet!
I like that the Spanish one explains the English one. 🙂

Some sort of bird of prey was sitting above us.

Some sort of bird of prey was sitting above us.

Stork.

Stork.

The stork few down to the show area and made itself comfy to watch it. I like that the trainer would periodically send it fish, too!

The stork few down to the show area and made itself comfy to watch it. I like that the trainer would periodically send it fish, too!

Here comes Bony!

Here comes Bony!

Notice that he's holding himself up by his flippers!

Notice that he’s holding himself up by his flippers!

After the sea lion show, I wandered the grounds.

Interesting placard talking about how far back in history botanical gardens have existed.

Interesting placard talking about how far back in history botanical gardens have existed.

It's a fair sized facility.

It’s a fair sized facility.

I’m pretty sure I saw the first ostrich of my life. Wow, their heads really are disproportionately small compared to their bodies!

Ostrich! I think this is my first time seeing one!!! His lunch looked really yummy, lettuce with all sorts of veggies mixed in, plus seeds.

Ostrich! I think this is my first time seeing one!!! His lunch looked really yummy, lettuce with all sorts of veggies mixed in, plus seeds.

There was another, small, building with fish tanks. I think they might sometimes have sharks there, but there were none today.

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Doesn't he look like Casper, the friendly ghost?!

Doesn’t he look like Casper, the friendly ghost?!

The crocodiles were amazing. They look like they are carved from rocks. I spent a lot of time just staring at them. The video at the end of the post shows one moving to a warmer spot.

Crocodile.

Crocodile.

I literally watched this guy for 10 minutes to see if he was alive. He was.

I literally watched this guy for 10 minutes to see if he was alive. He was. He breathes very shallowly so you have to really look to see his chest expand and contract. I also saw the tongue undulate a bit.

I did not expect to see a tiger today!

I did not expect to see a tiger today!

These silver foxes were very friendly. They ran up to me and made it very clearly they wanted to be petted. It was very hard to resist!

These silver foxes were very friendly. They ran up to me and made it very clearly they wanted to be petted. It was very hard to resist!

Koi pond.

Koi pond.

You can pay extra to snorkel with the stingrays!

You can pay extra to snorkel with the stingrays!

I love their translations. Do not introduce your hands.

I love their translations. Do not introduce your hands.

There were a couple of aviaries where you could walk among the birds.

There were a couple of aviaries where you could walk among the birds.

I think this might have been my first time seeing peacocks in North America, and very likely my first time seeing coloured ones (I saw albino ones at Scone Palace in Scotland). The plumage is stunning, but the birds are actually quite unattractive.

Peacocks are actually quite hideous, but their tails are impressive.

Peacocks are actually quite hideous, but their tails are impressive.

I could have taken in a bird show, with trained parrots, but it didn’t interest me at all, so I skipped it. They have a third type of show, but I didn’t catch of what and it wasn’t running today.

Toucan!

Toucan!

Barn owl.

Barn owl.

Fresh food for the birds.

Fresh food for the birds.

A goose who followed me around.

A goose who followed me around.

There was a small display with snakes and frogs that I enjoyed but for the fact that the glare made it difficult to see things. I’ve never seen so many boa constrictors in one place and there were babies, too!

I love that Spanish has a word for 'frog habitat.'

I love that Spanish has a word for ‘frog habitat’ (ranario).

All told, I spent a solid 90 minutes at the aquarium. I could have easily added an hour to that by taking in the other two shows (if the third had been running).

Poseidon.

Poseidon outside the aquarium.