While in Argentina, Chris and I got to practice our spanish A LOT. It seemed that a lot of people didn’t know English, which was fine, but when we’ve traveled we’ve always found that more people know English than we expect. On this trip, fewer people knew English than we expected.
In Buenos Aires, we stayed at the Hilton and everyone spoke English - everyone!
In Bariloche, not a lot of people spoke English.
In Junin de los Andes, no one spoke English. We tried to get some toasted sandwiches untoasted and to go, but the waiter did not understand what we were saying. We ended up getting toasted sandwiches to eat in house and had to ask for them to go. We wanted to take our sandwiches on our hiking trip the next day, but the toasted sandwiches didn’t last. After we got them, we had them for dinner and they were soggy by the time we ate them (about 30 minutes after they were toasted).
In Kine, outside of Malargue, the family we stayed with didn’t speak any English. We spoke a lot of Spanish for three days and were feeling quite confident in our skills. At the end of the three days, we got onto a tour bus and everyone spoke Spanish, but we couldn’t understand them! The guide spoke only a bit of English and was asking everyone where they came from, where they had been in Argentina. Of 15 people in the group, Chris and I were the two of four people who couldn’t speak much Spanish. It made us nervous.
In Mendoza, a lot of people spoke English.
In Santiago, a lot of people spoke English. By the time we made it to Santiago, I couldn’t understand Spanish anymore. I was so used to the Castillano accent in Argentina that I couldn’t understand the Chilean Spanish. We went to one restaurant where the waiter had a severe under bite, so it was quiet difficult to understand him.
I just read an email from Kine, asking how our trip was and I could understand it. Before the trip, I struggled to decipher the emails. At least now I know a few more words!
