Day 2: Words

We take the long trek down the Panamerican highway under the spicy Honduran sun to arrive at the Restaurant-Formerly-Known-as-Chiken-Drive just in time for an early dinner, which Andrew would say is really a late lunch, since we ate breakfast at ten. As we enter the premises, I notice the place seems a bit livelier than the day before. Maybe it´s the crowd, or maybe it´s my renewed enthusiasm for this project.

I sit down at a table in the corner, and Andrew walks up to counter to start us off with some beers. As he moves his 6 foot 3 inch body across the patio, he nods his head at a man sitting at another table, who is wearing a green collared work shirt and a wide-rimmed hat.

¨Provecho¨, Andrew says, a typical thing to say to someone feasting on delicious Chiken Drive cuisine.

The man, Imperial in hand, chuckles and quietly whispers to the woman across from him, as she laughs along.

What a crazy looking guy! He must be 8 feet tall! Look at his legs- they go up to the sky! How absurd! And his accent! He said, ¨Provecho¨! How absurd!

(However incorrect, this is what I imagine the man is either thinking or whispering to the lady in his presence.)

I´ve experienced this same phenomenon when I´m out walking by myself. As an obvious gringa, I always have men staring at me, but they generally don´t seem too shocked until a word comes out of my mouth. If I say, ¨Buenas tardes¨, or something like that, they seem taken aback. If I actually blurt out a full sentence, I´d better watch out, because they´ll chat me up all the way down the street with that amused look in their eyes.

Words are powerful, especially across separate languages.

Here at the Restaurant-Formerly-Known-as-Chiken-Drive, although a man in a cowboy hat might be entertained by a giant gringo saying ¨Provecho¨, the reality is that our languages and cultures are so thoroughly infused by forces larger than ourselves. ============>

The woman at the table eats a Snickers. She wears ¨chorts¨ (shorts, if you couldn´t make that connection). Later, she might take a trip to the ¨mol¨ (mall) in a ¨picop¨ (pickup). Here, at the Restaurant-Formerly-Known-as-Chiken-Drive, the woman drinks Coca-Cola while she giggles at the mammoth gringo and his ¨Provecho!¨.