Learn Spanish and a New Way of Living (part I)

If you do what I did and go to South America to learn Spanish you will also learn a lot of other things too, such as how to live a different kind of life. When I came here from the UK I really felt as though I had found my place in the world.
I loved the music, the food, the language, the way that people make eye contact with you in the street and so many other things. However, there are three things which probably every gringo who comes here to learn Spanish and explore the world finds a bit of a shock to the system.

The Time Keeping

I must confess that I am not actually that bothered by the famously lax attitude to time keeping and appointments here. I pretty quickly realised that if you can’t beat them you’ve got to join them. If someone tells me that they are going to do something at 9 o’clock I realise that this could mean 10, half past 11 or possibly never. I suppose there is also a very small chance that they will actually do it at 9. To prove the point, as I write I am waiting on some builders. They arrived this morning, mumbled something about going to find a bit of wood and said that they would be back in half an hour. That was – and I am not exaggerating – 6 hours ago. To be honest, I think the secret is to not really pay attention to the time they promise you. They will turn up when they turn up. And now so will I.