Papi needs some Spanish speaking skills!

OK, this brings out the LOL’s big time.  Yesterday afternoon we decided to take an early dinner at one of our favorite spots in Antigua called the Rainbow Café.  They have killer nachos.  Our plan was to eat and then walk down to the Market to browse and see who we could meet.  Upon paying for dinner, I wanted to find out what time the market closed so I asked the lady behind the register this:

“Hola!  A Que tiempo es la Mercada salida?” 

at which point she just looked at me.  Then her brow grimaced.  So I repeated with a little more determination. 

“Hola!  A Que tiempo es la Mercada salida?”  

She said she did not understand.  I found myself getting a little angry because…come on…I took Spanish in high school and I know what I am talking about here.  So I said, “Gracias.” And we left.  Kristin asked me what I was saying to her as we walked off.  I told her what I had spoken and then I tried to play the victim.  Like it was the lady’s fault she didn’t understand.  Kristin just started laughing as we dissected what exactly it was that I had said.  Turns out, I was asking her, something like: 

“Hello. At what weather is the Market exit?” 

LOL.

So, looking back, the lady was more than patient with me and had tons of grace because she didn’t shame me with laughter, but tried to accommodate a gringo with no clue.

A couple of cool encounters yesterday.  As we walked around, we ran into our friend Ashley who works for Hannah’s Hope in Guatemala City.  She was giving a tour to a group that she was working with.  We chatted for bit and made plans to see her again next week.   We said goodbye, walked around the block and saw Melissa's daughter (another friend we made on our trip last year).  The little girl was playing in front of La Merced (an old and beautiful church) with her babysitter.  We stopped and introduced ourselves to the babysitter and let the kids play with our little friend.  What a treat those two “coincidance” meetings were.  

Later that night, Emma did some rooftop reporting on a beautiful sunset.  See the video below.