Wednesday, June 24, 2015

¿De tela o chócolo?

In this post I'm going to continue sharing my Spanish languages adventures in Medellín, Colombia.  If you missed the first installment, no worries, you can read it here:  Holo bebé, ¿qué más pues?

One of the first things I tend to do when I get off the plane is exchange money and grab a bite to eat.  Exchanging money is usually a pretty straight-forward transaction.  I'll have to blog about it so that when you have to do it completely in Spanish for the first time you won't feel lost.  In the meantime, you can find plenty of helpful phrases for changing money and everything travel related in general in my favorite Spanish Phrasebook for android, called My Spanish Phrasebook.  Alright, I digress, let's get to it.

In México I've had to show a passport to exchange money on occasion, but this time I had to let them take a huella, or finger print of my dedo índice (index finger).  Not a big deal, it just took me by surprise.  By the way, if you want to know what the other fingers are called, then read my post Pulgar Arriba

So after getting some Colombian Pesos in my pocket (I'll show you what those look like in a later post) checking into the hotel was up next.  I won't go into detail about that, you can read my post ¿A qué hora es la hora de entrada? to learn how to check into a hotel.  After that it was time to get to one of my favorite past times, eating.

So I headed downtown and came across a food stand selling arepas de chócolo.  


I didn't know what chócolo was, and it didn't look like any arepa I had ever seen, but it did look tasty, so I ordered one.  And it turned tenía razón (I was right), it was delicious!   

What is chócolo you ask?  Nothing but good old-fashioned maíz.


Now that we know what chócolo is, we can figure what an arepa de chócolo is.  It's what we might call sweet corn cake.  


You may have noticed the above photo is missing that white triangular stuff that was on top of arepas in the first picture.  And if you're wondering what that was, it's queso cuajado.  I'm not a cheese guy, so if it isn't a slice of Kraft American cheese I can't help you, but the definition of queso cuajado is curd cheese. 



The combination of an arepa and queso cuajado is something you have to try.  I wasn't sure if I was going to like it, but I fell in love with it.

Here's a little chócolo humor for you if you want a good laugh and a have just a little over a minute to spare. Click here to watch it in Youtube if you can't see the link.


OK, now that you've had a chance to put those Spanish ears to work let's keep going.

There's actually more than one type of arepa served in Medellín.  The other one is called an arepa tela.  I have to admit, I didn't like these quite as much, but they weren't bad.


While Medellín has a variety of foods, the most famous dish you have to try is the Bandeja Paisa.


As you can see by the photo, that's quite a bit of food.  Arroz, frijoles, chicharron, huevo, aguacate, carne and plátanos maduros.  Bandeja Paisa is a hearty meal for sure. 

I think that's going to wrap this post up.  Stayed tune for the next one where I'll share a little more Colombian Spanish and tell you about a quaint little place called Pueblito Paisa and more.


Oops, I almost forgot.

If you're interested in learning more about Colombian Spanish, then I recommend you take a look at a book called Colombian Spanish.

It's actually a very enlightening book that will help you learn to speak more like a native Spanish speaker (in any country) as well as teaching you the most important Colombian words and expressions you'll need to know along with a bit of culture.   I was honestly surprised at just how good of a book this is.



¡Hasta la próxima!

Thursday, June 4, 2015

¿Hola bebé qué más pues?



I've been traveling again, but this time I went to a new destination:  Medellin, Colombia.


Let's talk about some of the Spanish I heard.

As far as greetings (saludos) go, I heard the typical buenos días, buenas tardes and buenas noches, but what I also heard a lot of was simply buenas.  I heard it a lot.  If you aren't familiar with buenas, it's an informal greeting that you can use anytime of day. 

There was another greeting I heard quite a bit, and as far as I know, it is uniquely Colombian. Watch the video.  It's all of 6 seconds, so it won't take long.  If you don't see the video, click here to watch it on YouTube.



Didn't catch that?  Here's the transcript:

¿Cómo tu saludas a los niños de tu jardin?
How do you say hi to the kids in your Kindergarten class?


¿Hola bebé qué más pues? 
Hey baby, how are you?


She's so cute, I couldn't help but share that video with you.  Now, you may not hear the word "bebé" from just anybody, but without a doubt you'll hear "¿Qué más?" or "¿Qué más pues?".  It's really just the Colombian version of "¿Cómo estás?".

Did you notice that pues on the end?  It doesn't really mean anything, it's just a word paisas attach on the end of words, like, all the time.

Here are some examples:  Chao pues,Vamos pues


I took that photo from the top of the stairs, which is why the sign says baja.

Oh, remember that word paisas you just saw?  If you're wondering what a paisa is, let me give you the short version.   A paisa is a person from Medellin, a rolo is someone from Bogotá, a caleño is from Cali, and the people from the coast (e.g. Cartegena and Baranquilla) are costeños.   And that my friends, is my 1 minute, over simplified and very incomplete lesson on who is who in Colombia.   I recommend you talk to your Colombian friends to get the real deal on Colombian geography and demographics.  What I just told you will barely help you squeak by.


Other expressions that  are nearly impossible to miss are A la orden and con gusto.  Let's take a look at these.

It all started the first time I told someone gracias.  The response  I expected was de nada, but instead I got a la orden.  I heard that a few times and thought, I got this, no problem.  Then one more gracias later the response was con gusto.  Let's take a closer look at the context I heard these in.

From what I recall, I heard con gusto more in restaurants.  The mesero or mesera would bring me something and I'd say gracias,  and they would reply con gusto.  In my hotel if I said gracias to a staff member, the typical reply would be a la orden.  Except the bartender.  I'm pretty sure I heard him use both.  If I asked for something or asked someone to do something for me, like call a cab, they would also reply a la orden.

Now, we're not quite done with a la orden.  I also heard this walking past shops when the proprietors wanted to get my attention.   In this context it's more like "May I help you?".  I have to say it's a nice change from hearing "Pásale amigo" in Mexico.

If you think you're going to Ir de fiesta (go partying) in Medellin, forget it.  In Medellin you Ir de rumba! Medellin has a great night life, with no shortage of places to rumba in.  And rumba means party if you haven't guessed that by now.

Brain, what are we going to do this weekend?
The same thing we do every weekend, Go partying.


And that is enough for this first installment of my Colombian experience.  In the next post I'll talk about some more Colombian Spanish, food, and a few of the places I visited.



By the way, if you're looking for a good Spanish phrasebook for your android phone to help you out when you travel, check out My Spanish Phrasebook, it certainly helped me out of a jam a couple of times this trip. 

It was written by me, so you can rest assured it's got all the Spanish you need to help you navigate your way around a Spanish speaking country and communicate with the locals and a whole lot more.




Lastly, if you're interested in learning more about Colombian Spanish then take a look at a book appropriately titled Colombian Spanish

It's actually a lot more than just a bunch of phrases.  It really does a good job of teaching you how to sound like a native speaker and much of what it teaches is true of Spanish in general, not just Colombian Spanish.  It will help you improve your Spanish as whole.