Return to the Land of the North: Plane ride UIO-MIA

Here I am in the plane. The boarding process amused me because of a chance meeting with an old "elitist" lady. These older wealthy Latin Americans (I call them the old elite, ancianos del elite) never cease to amaze me. She asked me if I was Argentine and I told her no, but I could be a "Kirchnerista" (someone who supports Argentine president Christina Kirchner). Her response to that was, "Es por eso que estamos en semejante situación en América Latina, por los jóvenes que creen en fantasmas" (That's why we're in this kind of situation in Latin America, because of the young people who believe in ghosts). She may have been referring to Ernesto Guevara, but something gave me the impression that she was more talking about her frustration with the fact that the rich Latinos, such as herself, are losing their ability to continue increasing their wealth through corruption and exploitation of the working class. Big surprise, when I got on the plane, I saw she was seated in business class.

Flights to and from Latin America are interesting because they're bilingual. Everything  is said first in English, then repeated in Spanish. Sometimes the translations aren't exactly word for word, but the general idea is the same.  One thing that's rather amusing about these English/Spanish flights is that you get to watch the flight attendants play the Latino or Gringo Guessing Game. I can just imagine the thoughts going through their minds, "Hmm, this guy must be gringo because he's white, but, then again, there are white Latinos." Then you can observe their next, better play it safe, move, "Buenos días, good morning." When they served the meals it was, "Buen provecho, enjoy!" From there, it depended on me, to speak Spanish or English, I opted for Spanish (may as well hang on to it as long as I can).