I have been fortunate enough—even blessed, you might say—to travel to many South American nations over the years.
One trip that sticks out in my memory is a visit to Peru. There, I was able to take a breath-taking helicopter ride over the Inca citadel known as Machu Picchu. It was amazing. With its magnificent stone walls and steps, even as reclaimed by nature is it was, it was almost as though I could sense the ancient people still milling around the fortress and its outcroppings.
While there, I stayed in the town of Aguas Calientes, whose official name Machupicchu Pueblo is actually taken the ancient site. Aguas Calientes is Spanish for “hot waters”, so it should come as no surprise that the town is known for its natural hot springs, and a host of other amazing attractions.
The hotel I was staying at had mostly American guests. It was almost as though I’d never left home. That wasn’t what I wanted, though. I wanted to experience real Peruvian life. So, I ventured out to a local market, and got the chance to mingle with the people.
I met a professor from Lima, the capital and largest city in Peru, who shared with me a lot of new information. He told me Peru has a whopping 3,800 varieties of potatoes! I met other local people, too, and we chatted about so many things, I can’t remember it all. We joked, we laughed, we discussed food, family, and culture. I even learnt a bit of Quechua, an indigenous language. This is an experience I will take with me for the rest of my life.
Beyond everything else, I was and am glad that I was able to communicate with them not in my own native language, but in theirs, in Spanish; not through an interpreter, but with my own mouth.
Nelson Mandela once said, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”
It may not be easy to learn a foreign language. You have to break habits that have been part of you since before you were able to walk, and form new brand new ones. The rewards are well worth it, though. There is nothing like being able to step outside of your own narrow perspective and into someone else’s.
If you are considering learning another language, I encourage you to do so. If you are currently learning, I urge you to keep on that path. Once you’ve had that first completely foreign language conversation, you will be glad you did.
One trip that sticks out in my memory is a visit to Peru. There, I was able to take a breath-taking helicopter ride over the Inca citadel known as Machu Picchu. It was amazing. With its magnificent stone walls and steps, even as reclaimed by nature is it was, it was almost as though I could sense the ancient people still milling around the fortress and its outcroppings.
While there, I stayed in the town of Aguas Calientes, whose official name Machupicchu Pueblo is actually taken the ancient site. Aguas Calientes is Spanish for “hot waters”, so it should come as no surprise that the town is known for its natural hot springs, and a host of other amazing attractions.
The hotel I was staying at had mostly American guests. It was almost as though I’d never left home. That wasn’t what I wanted, though. I wanted to experience real Peruvian life. So, I ventured out to a local market, and got the chance to mingle with the people.
I met a professor from Lima, the capital and largest city in Peru, who shared with me a lot of new information. He told me Peru has a whopping 3,800 varieties of potatoes! I met other local people, too, and we chatted about so many things, I can’t remember it all. We joked, we laughed, we discussed food, family, and culture. I even learnt a bit of Quechua, an indigenous language. This is an experience I will take with me for the rest of my life.
Beyond everything else, I was and am glad that I was able to communicate with them not in my own native language, but in theirs, in Spanish; not through an interpreter, but with my own mouth.
Nelson Mandela once said, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”
It may not be easy to learn a foreign language. You have to break habits that have been part of you since before you were able to walk, and form new brand new ones. The rewards are well worth it, though. There is nothing like being able to step outside of your own narrow perspective and into someone else’s.
If you are considering learning another language, I encourage you to do so. If you are currently learning, I urge you to keep on that path. Once you’ve had that first completely foreign language conversation, you will be glad you did.