It took me 9,339km, 15 hours flight time and a good dose of Vietnamese culture and noodles to make some German friends. Now 2,961 km due West, and a good 15,281.2 km from the source, I can expand my Salvadoran posse. Seriously, the world is bizarrely small at times, yet at the same time this experience is about how massive the world really is despite the current facilitation of travel and communication and resulting globalisation. The world is huge, but the community of globetrotters is tiny in comparison.
Today I happily revived my Latin roots and two Salvadorans set out to explore the secrets of Kathmandu. Armed with two massive cameras, a map which came out every 200 metres, sweaters, scarves, converse, no money but lots of gusto, we set off from the suburb of Patan in true Salvadoran fashion and walked north. Walked and walked and walked, until the map was rendered useless and the meandering streets gave way to conning shamans and multilingual drunken hindus.
“You have camera, take picture?¨
“Is that ok?”
“Yes, yes, make a donation”
“But we don't have any money”
“Ok ok, no money is also ok”
“Que pensas, le tomamos foto?”
“Va, andate pues, te tomo la foto”
“Ok, you take picture? Sit down”
“Sit down? Really? But it's so...dirty”
“Sit, sit, have friends”
All of a sudden, shamans flock from all over the square to have this one picture taken, and there I am, sitting on the dusty sidewalk surrounded by swirling yellows, reds and oranges, painted faces, dreadlocked beards and clinking silver money-buckets. Beyond them, a group of curious Japanese tourists have gathered around Marco Antonio to observe this curious spectacle. Why is that girl sitting at the shaman's feet?
Click.
“Ok ok, now you make donation”
“But...we don't have...tienes dinero?”
“Si, si...ok here, thank you very much”
“Bah! 15 rupee?!”
“We don't have any money...”
“5 dollar...ok ok...1 dollar...”
“...and there are six of us...”
And on it went. Finally after rummaging around deep in our pockets, a dollar was produced and the shamans were satisfied leaving our backs curse free. Still, the target had been set and a few minutes later as we rested on the steps of an old stuppa, a whiff of alcohol and scarred nose approached us.
“Where you fraaam?” Now this question always poses some difficulties because a) nobody knows where El Salvador is, and b) I'm German. The quickest exit is a lie, but this time...
“El Salvador”
“Elsalbadore...that is Spain?”
“No it's actually...”
“But you speak spanish?”
“Yes, we speak spanish”
“You see, Spanish and Italian look very much like Nepalis”
“I suppose we all have dark features”
“Me pueden dar monedas para mi colleccion?” [double-take] “Miren ya tengo pesos. Un peso Argentino vale 60 rupees, y tengo unagrandecolleccion”
¨Sorry, we don't really have any colones”
“EsquehellegadodesdeIndiayestoyparamejorarmisidiomas. Hablosieteidiomas,itallianoalemanespañolinglesnepalinarawiyhindi, ymegustapracticarconlosturistasporqueellosmeentiendentodoslosidiomas...cough cough cough”
Omg, that was right in my face. I'm gonna catch TB and die in Nepal. He went on to demonstrate his language skills - all seven of them strung along in a jumble of words, spitting and swaying with the rhythm, enthusiastically showing off his beloved coin collection.
It was a good day.
Today I happily revived my Latin roots and two Salvadorans set out to explore the secrets of Kathmandu. Armed with two massive cameras, a map which came out every 200 metres, sweaters, scarves, converse, no money but lots of gusto, we set off from the suburb of Patan in true Salvadoran fashion and walked north. Walked and walked and walked, until the map was rendered useless and the meandering streets gave way to conning shamans and multilingual drunken hindus.
“You have camera, take picture?¨
“Is that ok?”
“Yes, yes, make a donation”
“But we don't have any money”
“Ok ok, no money is also ok”
“Que pensas, le tomamos foto?”
“Va, andate pues, te tomo la foto”
“Ok, you take picture? Sit down”
“Sit down? Really? But it's so...dirty”
“Sit, sit, have friends”
All of a sudden, shamans flock from all over the square to have this one picture taken, and there I am, sitting on the dusty sidewalk surrounded by swirling yellows, reds and oranges, painted faces, dreadlocked beards and clinking silver money-buckets. Beyond them, a group of curious Japanese tourists have gathered around Marco Antonio to observe this curious spectacle. Why is that girl sitting at the shaman's feet?
Click.
“Ok ok, now you make donation”
“But...we don't have...tienes dinero?”
“Si, si...ok here, thank you very much”
“Bah! 15 rupee?!”
“We don't have any money...”
“5 dollar...ok ok...1 dollar...”
“...and there are six of us...”
And on it went. Finally after rummaging around deep in our pockets, a dollar was produced and the shamans were satisfied leaving our backs curse free. Still, the target had been set and a few minutes later as we rested on the steps of an old stuppa, a whiff of alcohol and scarred nose approached us.
“Where you fraaam?” Now this question always poses some difficulties because a) nobody knows where El Salvador is, and b) I'm German. The quickest exit is a lie, but this time...
“El Salvador”
“Elsalbadore...that is Spain?”
“No it's actually...”
“But you speak spanish?”
“Yes, we speak spanish”
“You see, Spanish and Italian look very much like Nepalis”
“I suppose we all have dark features”
“Me pueden dar monedas para mi colleccion?” [double-take] “Miren ya tengo pesos. Un peso Argentino vale 60 rupees, y tengo unagrandecolleccion”
¨Sorry, we don't really have any colones”
“EsquehellegadodesdeIndiayestoyparamejorarmisidiomas. Hablosieteidiomas,itallianoalemanespañolinglesnepalinarawiyhindi, ymegustapracticarconlosturistasporqueellosmeentiendentodoslosidiomas...cough cough cough”
Omg, that was right in my face. I'm gonna catch TB and die in Nepal. He went on to demonstrate his language skills - all seven of them strung along in a jumble of words, spitting and swaying with the rhythm, enthusiastically showing off his beloved coin collection.
It was a good day.
WOW!, so the world is really small. We the Salvadorians are literally everywhere!!!...
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