Saturday, May 22, 2010

Wow I could have had one of those

During the past week I was in Campeche working on a project with some members of the Governor's cabinet. We spent most of Wednesday speaking with cabinet secretaries. in the last meeting of the day, the secretary asked us whether we wanted refreshments. I responded but my colleague said he might prefer a "Vayocho" - during the day I had been introduced to a couple of new words and some foods which I had not tried before; but I had never heard of such a drink. When our refreshments were brought out my friend received a Vayocho - you might know it as a V-8. The commercial came to mind.
At the end of a long day I am often tired and Spanish comes harder for me.  But thinking creatively about the sounds could have made this translation easy.

Campeche is a part of the Yucatan peninsula.  Its original meaning was the place of snakes and ticks.  Like the rest of the peninsula, it can be very humid.  I was fortunate to be there when there was some rain - so it was pleasant.  It is a smaller state with about 750,000 people and a focus on petroleum and agriculture.   Like many other parts of Mexico it has two main cities and more than 50% of the people live in those two cities.

The picture is of one of the landmarks in the state - the Cathedral of San Francisco. It looks even better in person! (Taken with a Canon 10-G, no flash)

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