South America Week Two: More Sucre, More Spanish

More Spanish School

Week two of Spanish was both easier and more difficult than week one. I had more connection points to tie new information to, so overall things made more sense, but the additional verb tenses I learned added a lot of complexity. Having to first process in my brain what tense to use, and then remember the appropriate conjugation led to many more pauses and mistakes. Even so, each day I’ve continued to feel a bit better with the language. I’m able to ask the questions I need around town, and I’ve been able to converse a bit more with my host family.

On my last day of class, I asked my teacher if there was anything major we didn’t learn that I needed to know to really understand Spanish. Outside of a few minor things, she said I essentially had all the tools I needed and that the next steps were practice, practice, learn (a lot) more vocab, and practice. As far away as I still feel from being able to communicate the way I want to in Spanish, it kinda blows my mind that I’ve learned all of the core pieces I need to succeed in the last two weeks.

I’m excited to have the next two months to keep practicing. I’m also excited for that practice to be in conversations rather than sitting in a classroom for four hours a day. I’ve heard Peruvians speak even faster than Bolivians and with a bit more than an accent, so fingers crossed my last weeks in Bolivia prepare me well for Peruvian Spanish.

Cooking Class

On Thursday night, my Spanish School hosted a cooking class and dinner. About 15 of us attended, and helped prepare Papa Rellenas – a traditional dish that’s essentially a big fried ball of mashed potatoes with some sort of filling in the middle. Our fillings for the night were eggs and cheese.

We piled into a tiny little kitchen to peel a gigantic pot of potatoes, mash them up, and form our rellenas. Several others worked on making chuflay, a classic Bolivian cocktail similar to a pisco sour. After about an hour and a half of peeling and frying, we dug in.

Given I haven’t stayed in many hostels yet, this was the most social event I’ve done since arriving in Bolivia. As fun as it has been trying to speak Spanish most of the day, it was really refreshing to be around people I could speak English with and get to know a bit more.

My hands were covered with potatoes most of the time I was in the kitchen, so I didn’t get any photos, but here’s a few others were able to snag.

Restaurante Nativa

A tasting menu of three snacks and six courses with six small cocktails & wines. In the states, this would easily run you over a hundred bucks, likely much more. At Restaurante Nativa in Sucre, it was a whopping 16 bucks (190 bolivianos).

I’m not a massive foodie, but when presented with that sort of a culinary experience, I wasn’t going to say no. My two homestay housemates and I gave it a go on Friday night, and it did not disappoint. It was everything you’d expect from any premier restaurant. The staff gave us an explanation of every dish and drink as they served us, which we caught anywhere from 30-50% of as it was all in Spanish. They even brought out a wooden box containing all of our cutlery for the evening, which I have never seen a restaurant do before.

Each plate was small, but delicious. My favorite was a potato puree with a poached egg, crispy volcanic algae (oooh fancy), and a cream sauce. One of the desserts was ice cream with a chocolate and caramel like drizzle that all three of us raved about. Each of the cocktails used a different alcohol and a different fruit, and our final drink was a dessert liquor that reminded me of a twist on a port wine.

We all agreed it was a fantastic way to spend our final night in Sucre. I didn’t get pictures of all of the courses, and also unsurprisingly I forgot to take a picture of the three of us at the restaurant, but here’s a few samples for you.