Hey, that tastes good!

Food seems to be a recurring theme with my blog. I guess that's a good thing. This time I ate my first pupusa. They're from El Salvador, and you can read about them here . Let me tell you, they are ¡muy rico!

Pupusas are sold in a place called a pupusería, and the one I visited had several kinds on the menu - pupuso mixta, which had frijoles (beans), chicharron (chopped pork), and queso (cheese). They also had pupusas de pollo (chicken) and de carne (beef).

Aside from selling pupusas, this place was also a panadería (a bakery), and they had a number of tasty looking treats. There were turnovers called pañuelos (my Colombian friend called them Pastel de Gloria) that were filled with either piña (pineapple) or fresa (strawberry). On a side note, If you want to know what any type of food has in it, you can ask "¿qué tiene?".

There was also a kind of banana flavored bread pudding, called pudding. I have no idea how you actual spell it Spanish, but it's said with a Spanish accent.

I gotta say that I'm loving all of this latin food. I can't wait to see where my appetite takes me next!

Perdiste el tiro

Pockets is a very popular place in Tijuana, Mexico to play billards, or as we say,  pool - Juego de billares, or billares for short.

It's is an awesome place.  It's a chain (cadena) that has locations (locales) in Mexico and the US.  If you're ever in Tijuana, think about stopping by.  It's a great place to grab a beer (cerveza) and a hamburger (hamburguesa) or some wings (alitas).

I rarely play pool, but I let my friends talk me into going.  Luckily they also taught me the lingo I needed to  know and now I'm going to share that information with you all. 

First things first.  The table is called a mesa de billar. 

The cue sticks are called tacos. Or tacos de billar to make sure you don't get them confused with the oh-so-tasty comida called tacos.

The pockets are called buchacas. The corner pocket is called esquina. The middle pocket is called medio.

The bolas are divided into las chicas (solids) y los grandes (stripes).   And the eight ball is called la bola negra.  The rack is called a triángulo.

You quebra (break , from quebrar) with la bola blanca.  You may also hear the verb romper used, but my friends seemed prefer the verb quebrar.

When it's your turn to shoot, you're going to tirar. You can say, "Voy a tirar".

And if you're like me, the next thing you'll hear is your friends telling you:

Perdiste el tiro
You missed the shot

As if I couldn't see that for myself. 


And sadly, I also became quite familiar with:

No tengo tiro 
I don't have a shot

If you're going to call your shot you can say things like:

El tres en la buchaca del medio
Three ball in the side pocket

Metela en la buchaca de la esquina
Put it in the corner pocket

Voy a golpear la nueve con la seis para meterla en la esquina
I'm going to use the six ball to put the  nine ball in the corner

And that's it for today.  If you have some  billards related vocabulary or phrases in Spanish please leave them in the comments below.

Lastly, if you want to brush up on the reglas (rules) of the game, take a look at this page. It's in Spanish, but it's not terribly hard to read.  And speaking of rules, they actually are different from the rules we're used to here in the US, so make sure you get that clarified before you start.

I had a great time playing pool, but unfortunately playing pool in Spanish didn't improve my game. Now I suck at pool in two languages.

Oh well...

Gasolineras in Mexico

So on a recent trip to Mexico, I was riding with a friend who had to make a quick stop for some gas. All in all, this really wasn't a big deal. It's certainly nothing to get excited over.

However, there was one huge difference about buying gas in Mexico - they pump it for you.

The attendant will ask you what kind of gas you want, how much, and take care of everything else. If I remember correctly, there are two types of gas you can buy, regular and premium, but don't quote me on that. Green is regular (I think) and red is premium. You ask for either el verde or la roja. By the way, a gas station in Mexico is called a gasolinera.

Yes, good old-fashioned full service gas stations are alive and well in Mexico. Imagine that, not having to get out of your car, and it doesn't even cost you extra. Wow, real customer service. Something I'm certainly not accustomed to here in the US

Elephants love peanuts

Well, that's what they say. I guess it's true. But if you ever find yourself talking to a Spanish speaking Elephant, you're going to need at least one of the following words...

Peanuts are cacahuates. Well, that is, if you're in Mexico.

In Spain you would call them cacahuetes.

And if that isn't confusing enough, in Colombia and a few other places, a peanut is called a maní.

Apparently this is a surprise to some Spanish speakers as well. Check out this thread. You'll also find out what other countries use maní for peanut.