Yo Hablo Spanish
One of the plans I made when I left Aruba last December was to learn Spanish. I planned to return one day, possibly for an extended stay. While I was there, I met a young woman at Passions who spent her winters in Aruba, and she wasn’t a wealthy heiress. She was a digital nomad, about the same age as my niece. I asked for her realtor’s business card because I would genuinely like to do that one day.
Aruba is a Dutch island, but it has a large Venezuelan immigrant population, and outside of hospitality, there are plenty of Spanish speakers who don’t speak English. So I thought it would be good to seriously learn Spanish.
But first I had to figure out which Spanish. Venezuelan Spanish? Puerto Rican Spanish? Mexican Spanish? Honduran Spanish? Castilian Spanish? Spanglish? The possibilities are endless.
I knew I didn’t want to make the same mistake I made on my first trip to Portugal. I practiced the little Portuguese I had learned for the trip on a taxi driver, who smiled and said, in perfect English, “That’s Brazilian Portuguese.”
I settled on Latin American Spanish because there’s a greater chance my next beach vacation will be Panama or Belize rather than Tenerife. IYKYK.
I’ve been using Mango Languages. You can get a free membership through your library, and my library is part of the program, so I signed up. So far, what I’m really liking about Mango is that it gives you the phonetic pronunciations of the words, but it feels like I’m back in 10th grade Spanish class.
So, I’m also using Language Transfer, which I discovered on SoundCloud. Language Transfer teaches you to actually think your way through a language instead of memorizing a bunch of vocabulary and grammar rules. And it’s free! So I’ve been listening to it at the gym.
That and Bad Bunny. “Perreo, baby… hasta abajo, baby.”
Recently, I saw someone on social media recommend Destinos, a 52-episode telenovela from the ’90s that was actually created to teach Spanish as you watch. I was having a lazy Sunday last weekend, so I put it on and had the best nap ever. Not sure I learned any Spanish, but I’ll try again this Sunday.
I’ve also been thinking I should invest in a pair of the Apple AirPods with Live Translation. I was once seated next to a guy on a flight who spent a good 20 minutes explaining why his AirPods Pro were better than my Bose over-the-ear noise-canceling headphones.
Only one of us ended up crawling around the airplane floor mid-flight looking for an earbud, though, so I didn’t make the switch. But for Live Translation? I may get a pair. I’m thinking that hearing the language translated in real time might help me learn faster and better too.
I don’t know if I’ll ever have the opportunity to live part of the year in Aruba, but if I do, you bet I’ll be hablando español like a native Venezuelan.
A Well-Traveled Towel
Speaking of things that translate well from travel into daily life. See what I did there?
I’ve heard it said that “the testament of a really good beach towel is whether it has a life beyond the beach.”
One of my sisters gave me a Fouta towel for Christmas 11 years ago. It’s light and packs down to nothing. It’s also quick-drying, and I can wear it as a sarong. I’ve used this towel at the beach, at the community pool, and at home too. These days, it’s draped over the ottoman end of my sectional to protect it against dirty feet because, well, it’s raggedy. I need a new towel.
The one my sister gave me is from a Balinese designer who no longer sells retail, and I can’t even find them to buy anywhere.
This Mayde NOOSA Towel is the closest match I’ve found. Except mine is a vibrant print similar to this Zara scarf.
I didn’t find the towel on the Zara website, but I did find this linen-blend scarf for my upcoming Aruba trip. It has already arrived, and the ivory background is more of a warm beige, but all the colors work nicely with my existing wardrobe. I could probably wear it as a sarong, but I definitely couldn’t use it as a towel.
The towel I found that I think would be the best replacement is this Robbie Fouta Towel from the Sézane x Inoui Editions collaboration. At $105, it probably is a good investment considering I’ll hopefully use it for years to come, but I’ve been struggling to pull the lever. I keep thinking I can find something similar for less than half that price. In the meantime, they’re selling out before my eyes.
The Songs That Take Me Back
I’ve been playing Naomi Sharon’s “I Know” on repeat lately. I’ve already added my favorites from her album No Sleep in Paradise to my beach soundtrack for my upcoming trip. Last trip, I had Freetown Collective’s “Kaya” and “Take Me Home” on heavy rotation. When I play them now, I’m back in Aruba. That’s why I make a playlist for every trip. Long after the vacation is over, the music can take me right back. I have a feeling “I Know” will become the core memory for this one.
Your turn: What’s something from your vacation that turned out to have a life beyond the beach?