Como estai?

No, that's not a typo. Last night we went out with our Chilean friends and I definitely feel more savvy in the lingo of Chilean young people. I really enjoy talking with them because it enriches my understanding of the cultural differences among Spanish speaking countries in the Americas. I think too often we group together a population and geographic region and think of them as similar when in reality they are very diverse. It's really helpful to understand these cultural differences, in my opinion, especially if you're going to be travelling among countries/cultural regions. For example, I am told that in Chile, rather than pronouncing, "Como estas?" with the "s" on the end, they pronounce the "s" as an "i". Also, in Chile, "chaqueta" means "jacket," while in Mexico, it means "condom." :O That is one mistake I don't want to make while shopping for outerwear in Mexico. :P

Our two Chilean friends' accents are so disimilar that I would think they were from different countries.Even within Latin American countries, there is as much diversity as within the United States. You might be thinking, "Well, duh, Maggie" right now, but really, while you may know that diversity exists, how often do you think of Mexico or Guatemala or Belize or Chile as simply arbitrarily divided hunks of land that contain inumerable cultures and subcultures?

On a completely unrelated note, we went to Jardin Borda on Friday night to see Flamenco dancing...! I know Rashelle wrote about this on her blog so I won't repeat what I'm sure she described more poignantly. I will only say that it was entrancing. I was wondering a bit about the history of Flamenco. I've been told that it originated in Spain among the Moors and Jewish outcasts as a form of self-expression. Flamenco seems to have a very rich history, and I would love to learn more about it. At the performance, the music sounded indigenous to me. I have heard Spanish guitar music, and this was similar, but the singer I believe, was singing in a mixture of Spanish and some other language. His style of singing seemed similar to indigenous music that I have heard, or at least similar to American Indian music. Well anyway, it was an experience that definitely enriched my understanding of Flamenco.