An Official Portañol

Last Saturday there was another churrasco, this time in Botafogo, a neighborhood much nearer my house than Colégio. The apartment was really nice and had a great view of Cristo Redentor, but a nearby favela could also be seen from the patio - a classic example of the juxtaposition of Rio's rich and poor.

There were a ton of people there, and I had the opportunity to meet two girls from Galicia, which is a region in Spain that borders Portugal. In addition to Spanish, the people there speak a language called Galego, which is basically an official Portañol, with some new words and grammar thrown in. At times when we were talking at the churrasco, one of the girls would slip and say a Galego word by accident, but I would hardly realize that she hadn't spoken in Portuguese. We were also hanging out with a girl from Colombia, so I think some Spanish got thrown in, too. I really couldn't say what language they were speaking half the time, but as long as I could understand, I didn't care! I looked up a Wikipedia article on Galicia in Galego and was delighted to find that I could read quite a bit of it. I think it would be really cool to go live in Galicia at some point - I could practice my Spanish and learn a new, Portuguese-like language at the same time!

the view from the patio, with Cristo Redentor on the mountain in the background

the patio's other view

my new Galician friends, with the Colombian girl on the far left