The Constant Tourist

St. Francis Cathedral in Santa Fe On more than one occasion in college, my best friend Jamie and I would position ourselves around key touristy areas in New Mexico...places like Old Town Albuquerque or outside St. Francis Cathedral on the Plaza in Santa Fe...and pretend to be tourists. We would acquire (probably really bad) versions of an accent, be it Southern or Canadian or British...and proceed to have a discussion about the strange cultural intricacies of New Mexico. Our favorite was The Salsa Debate. It went a little bit like this: "Jamie, salser is a dance. You dance the salser." "No, Jana. Salser is most definitely a sauce. For tortillas and cheese and stuff." "I am almost positive that there is a Latin American dance called the salser, and you can take lessons." "Well you must have been at a cooking school because you chop up a bunch of tomatoes and chile, add cilantro and something else, and that is called salser." "No, it's when people wear really frilly costumes and shake a lot...on the DANCEFLOOR, JAMIE." "SAUCE, JANA!" "DANCE!" "SAUCE!" Then we'd kind of taper off, pretend to look at a statue, and examine the looks we got from people as they wandered away (probably far, far away). The key element of this argument was always pronouncing the term, "salser." It adds a certain je ne sais quoi, does it not? There's a couple of points here. 1. I miss my Jamie! We met the first day of college (literally, the very first night in the dorms as doe-eyed freshmen) and have been inseparable ever since except for when she has to work or when I have to live in Texas. 2. I hope I am always a tourist...and not the joking kind. I hope I always find myself in a new place, and always have the courage to ask questions about where I am and to take photos without fear of...looking like a tourist. Ok ok. And maybe even pick up a silly knickknack or two. See? I'm not ALL curmudgeon.