By all accounts, I should be fluent in Spanish. In the last few months, I have to report that speaking Spanish has become a foreign thing to me. I’ve reverted, lost ground, and stumble over words and phrases that used to flow out of mouth in a grammatical free-for-all, but at least they flowed and I had a little bit of confidence. Now I can’t remember words and speak slower than the Internet service works here (and that’s slow!).

The cashier asked me if I wanted the free prize they give out every few months for my puntos - points. I froze; the car attendant asked me if he could put in the 10w 40w oil. It wasn’t like I needed to say a big word like viscosity, I just needed to find the word for hood - the hood of the car not the axel or engine block. I’ve been driving for ten years here! I should know the word for hood for goodness sakes! Instead I had to hold out my hand and do that stupid smile that says: I’m a Gringa that can’t speak Spanish very well at this moment so we must rely on some charades here - bare with me kind young man. I fished around the glove compartment while the poor guy stood there holding this heavy sheet of metal (the hood) so I could find the clavo - nail - to hold the hood up because the hood holder is broken. Geez! I don’t even know the word for hood holder in English!

I like to think I’m on a learning curve and a whole bunch of new vocabulary is sputtering somewhere in my cerebral cortex just waiting to blossom the next time I go to the gas station or check out at Auto Mercado. Coco has blown past me and of course now corrects me. I was talking to one of the nannies and told her about making a “plan” for this or that.

It’s plane! Mami! Not plano!

Thanks Coco. I need that. You’ve got to correct me every time I make a mistake.

Wait, I thought, did I just say that? I gripped the wheel as I stared over the hood of the car and drove on to the supermarket, hoping this would be the day the offered those free wine and beer samples. Maybe if I just loosened up, I’d never forget a thing.

**And this is another problem. You decide. The on-line translator says: capilla del coche. Which I think is used at gas stations throughout Spain, not here! Then the dictionary says capota or capillo. So I guess I’ll do what I always do, I’ll go and ask my nannies.