G is for Gringo

For those of you who don't know, Gringo is an "endearing" term for white people/tourists/non-Spanish speakers/people without street sense/the other by Spanish speakers throughout Latin America. It isn't really offensive, it's usually just the truth so one of the important things about traveling in Latin America is recognizing and acknowledging yourself as a gringo. Gringo can be only skin deep or you can fool everyone with your looks and then open your mouth and prove yourself a complete and utter gringo.

The place I feel the most like a gringo is always in airports. The people who work in airports are usually pretty fluent in their native language and in English so you're gringohood status rests on whether or not these people choose to speak to you in Spanish. There's nothing more exciting than walking up to the ticket counter passport in hand just hoping to here "Buenos dias" instead of "Good morning." Should you be identified as a Spanish speaker you must then face the perils of carrying out a complete conversation in Spanish while retaining your non-gringo status. I was lucky enough to make it all the way through the check in to our flight gringo free when the lovely woman at the ticket counter requested to see my carry on items. I reluctantly handed my bag over and received a giant red tag reading "G" (see above). I guess I'm just a gringo after all.

It's been an exhausting few days. We left Sacramento on the 29th around seven pm. Our flight to LA was delayed due to snow in Portland so we didn't arrive until just after midnight. After picking up our bags we trudged to the international terminal and set up camp amongst twenty five other vagabonds in various stages of decaying consciousness. We may have managed a few hours of sleep before we began the long haul to Terminal Two to check in to our Aeromexico flight. The flight was sleepfilled and generally uneventful. The Mexico City Airport is kind of like being in a large white egg carton. The walls are covered in a sort of white stucco with pieces of quartz crystal which looks okay but is no good for leaning against.

Time spent during layovers can be the true test of a traveler's gusto. For an interesting list of things to do during layovers see Doug's blog at http://dougsouthamerica.blogspot.com. As for me, a few of the highlights of my layover include the following:

• Dodging cops on segways
• Watching "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" online
• Checking email at least 50 times
• Being used as a pillow by traveling partner
• Eating the peanuts you saved from the plane as a snack cause you're cheap
• Peeling and putting on layers of clothing to deal with insane temperature fluctuations in different parts of the airport
• Trying various perfumes at the duty free store

Needless to say, eventually we made it onto the plane and to Buenos Aires. So here we are, planning the next month of our trip and enjoying the freedom that is afforded only to those who leave there worries at home and explore the world with reckless abandon. Okay, well, that last bit may have been too much but it sounded good.

Until, tomorrow!