My Spanish is not up to the task

November 3, 2008 9:20 AM

Where, exactly, in Chihuahua do you catch the bus to Santa Eulalia? We were told it was the Francisco Portilla bus and could be caught on Ave. Ninos Heroes. We´ve waited for literally hours and not seen it.
posted by bricoleur to Travel & Transportation (2 answers total)

okay, I just saw your title and I see why you're not asking around. My Spanish is rusty, but I'd just say, perdon, donde esta el parada de autobus a Santa Eulalia? You can also just inquire habla ingles? before you ask for directions. The odds are good you can mime it out; in my experience, Mexicans are patient with Spanish learners (at least, more so than Americans can be with English learners).
posted by changeling at 10:43 AM on November 3, 2008

Response by poster: Thanks, but my Spanish, bad as it is, isn't that bad. I just can't follow when people talk very rapidly. And in Chihuahua, I think they are not so used to tourists and, hence, do not speak slowly to accommodate. Everyone we talked to tried to help but we had misinformation from the get-go and it took a while to work through that.

Anyway, for the record, the Francisco Portillo bus doesn't go anywhere near the Ave. Niños Héroes. (That may be a temporary situation due to construction, though.) We finally picked it up on Ocampo south of 20 de Noviembre.
posted by bricoleur at 8:19 PM on November 6, 2008