Almost everyone here in Argentina — Buenos Aires, in particular — speaks at least a little English. Jamie and I both speak muy poquito Espanol, so everyone involved seems to laugh and have a good time figuring out a way to communicate.
And then we got to the front of the line at the Buenos Aires subway ticket booth today. Neither of the middle-aged women behind the glass spoke a syllable of English and our Spanglish wasn’t getting us anywhere, either.
Then we heard a quiet voice behind us say in English tinged with just the very merest Argentinian accent, “First you buy the card for ninety pesos and add some extra money to pay for your rides. Each ride costs about twenty pesos.”
We turned around and saw the 15-year old boy who owned the voice and said, “Wow. You look just our godson Jack did at your age.”
He also showed us how to use our new subway cards to get through the turnstiles and then told us which train to take.
Young Nicholas was a sweet, helpful kid. You expect doppelgängers to look alike, but we now have proof that they can also share personality traits.