las batallas

san telmo, buenos aires

there is an interesting phenomenon in which i engage multiple times per day: the second-language battle. it happens at the newstand, restaurant, meeting, and the birthday party hosted by a local chapter of the trotskyite socialist party (long story). the sequence begins when i am introduced to someone who immediately realizes that i´m a gringo (not entirely difficult to do). what follows is that they speak to me in inglés, while i respond in castellano. the first one to break and result to their native language is the loser.

in business exchanges, the lengua invariably becomes that of the loser to expediently process the transaction in question. as a frequent loser, i offer polite words, pocket my recently purchased phone card, and move off to lose future batallas. in social situations, the battle is fought and then castellano is resorted to as a sort of compensation for having fought. you can picture this as the apollo creed-rocky relationship post-fight: the superior party has the pride of victory and helps the contender prepare for their next challenge.

a common retail batalla is to look dumb during small purchases. the buses only take coins and the 100 peso note is difficult to use. entonces, one offers the small item that they would like to purchase to the cashier/waiter, then fidgets through their pockets and frowns when asked if they have something smaller. eye contact is generally made after this, at which point one party caves in and either accepts the large denomination or ´finds´a heretofor undiscovered coin. with all humility, i am excellent at this game.

after weeks of sidelong glances, i finally mustered the courage to engage in another batalla last week. on the northern edge of parque lezama are a series of chesstables and a few prepared combatants. jorge, with his sixty plus years and wool beret, was very welcoming when i walked over and defeated me in the pair of games we played. the games were close and the first i had played in over six months, so i am holding out hope for future victory. he said that as long as the sun is shining, he´ll be there ready for the next challenge. so to all the jorges, cashiers, and cocktail party acquaintances in buenos aires......en guarde!