Nogales Misadventure
An hour south of Tucson, AZ
just over the border, lies Nogales, Mexico.
It’s saturday and the usual parade of
turistas are browsing vendor stalls.
hace mucho calor pero está muy agradable
I stop, y hablo con mi nuevo amigo.
el señor translates my name, which turns out
to be, a combo of Sun-god and bull. Raul !
in my best gringo lingo, I say
“buscando para comprar el último blanket, donde está?”
With a grin, wide as his straw sombrero, he smiles
and gives me dirección, I walk. Everyone is
selling something. Along the way,
as pollos dart across street,
I stop for a cold cerveza plus
a shot of tequila! All gringos comprende tequila
which is international for “let’s get drunk”!
after dos horas, ¡Zócalo! my wallet is gone !
no estoy preocupado, porque with my heavy NY accent,
I’m sure they’ll let me back into the good ol’ US of A !
© ~ Randy Bell ~ 2013
Today Fred aka hobgoblin2011 who’s tending bar @ dVerse Poet’s Pub
has asked us to incorporate foreign language into our writing !
cloudfactor5
Jan 19, 2013 @ 18:45:51
haha you can hope…been there…and while your wife looks at jewelry they get you loaded so you make a stupid decision…what a sales technique…smiles…did you find your blanket?
Jan 19, 2013 @ 19:51:10
30 + years later, I now have that blanket hanging on my wall !! It is a spectacularly thickly woven wall hanging depicting Corn People ? which I still no nothing about but love the piece !!
Jan 19, 2013 @ 20:22:48
very nice….
Jan 19, 2013 @ 19:47:05
Me gusta tu poema.
Jan 19, 2013 @ 19:52:59
Thanks JL, just recalling a walk down memory lane !!
Jan 19, 2013 @ 19:56:28
love the picture too!
Jan 19, 2013 @ 20:11:57
I like how you really wove the Spanish and English together here. The blend smoothly. Sounds like a fun time
Jan 19, 2013 @ 20:18:56
all gringos comprende tequilla that’s funny, and they understand cerveza, at least by concept.
Bichon Frise
Jan 19, 2013 @ 20:26:50
nicely done. Love the slipping in the NYC accent, that was a great touch. Yeah, shouldn’t have a problem getting back in. Fun piece, sorry to hear about the wallet. Sounds like a great time up until that part for you. Again, a very enjoyable read. Very nicely done. Thanks for sharing tonight.
Jan 19, 2013 @ 20:57:17
Yes! Agree with Fred – the NYC accent very charming at the close, and a lot of charm throughout. k.
Jan 19, 2013 @ 21:32:50
Really funny! I love how you used code-switching and made it really easy to understand! Good ending too.
Jan 19, 2013 @ 21:53:20
Enjoyed this share, specially the part of the tequila shot, let’s get drunk ~
Jan 19, 2013 @ 22:42:49
Really enjoyed this…great combination of languages. Yeah everyone understands the meaning of tequila…
Jan 20, 2013 @ 03:27:28
‘It’s saturday and the usual parade of / turistas are browsing vendor stalls.’ The world over, people identify with this … cool poem
Jan 20, 2013 @ 04:00:38
m know how that feels, it happened to me in barcelona which i loved apart from losing my bag =)
Jan 20, 2013 @ 04:24:25
…ha, i can read this with an accent…mexican language is quite similar to spanish and in a way some terms have been adapted by Philippines…like turistas…we do used this as part of our tagalog dialect to address a tourist…cerveza to us is ice cream or sorbetes…a delicacy sa tag araw…amigo / amiga to us is kumpadre / kumare…and a lot more…gracias for a very entertaining piece… smiles…
Jan 20, 2013 @ 13:42:53
Really enjoyed this weave of English and Spanish. Sorry about the wallet, but that happens a lot – just ask Tom Lehrer!
Jan 20, 2013 @ 17:18:00
I hope tequila was good
A fun poem.
Jan 21, 2013 @ 00:11:12
I loved reading your Tex-Mex aloud! Now this is the language I speak. I’m from San Antonio, so every sentence contains an even mixture of both languages. You mastered it, my friend.
Jan 23, 2013 @ 23:16:24
“buscando para comprar el último blanket, donde está?” Good heavens that made me laugh. Thanks for that. I enjoyed your stroll down el camino de recuerdos. Good one.
Pamela