Article and Photos Copyright © Khai Weyn Ong
I had a couple of weeks break between the end of spring quarter and the start of summer research work. A fellow coursemate, Henrik, had nothing to do while waiting for his flight back home to Sweden, so we decided to terrorize Mexico together.
We had no time to learn any Spanish – while boarding the plane, the only words I had in my head were “Hola”, “Adios,” “Buenos dias”, “Como estas?” and, oddly enough, “Jugo de naranja” (orange juice). Henrik probably knew a few more words. Between us we had two mini phrasebooks and a couple of travel guides.
Cramming on the plane didn’t accomplish very much. Upon arrival, we quickly realised that although Mexico City is just 4 hours flight from San Francisco, nobody there speaks English.
