Raj Patel's Blog Ramblings from Rajesh Patel

Trying to Buy a Pizza

The second night of my vacation in Buenos Aires, I was starving so I decided to head down the street to look for some munchies.  I saw a pizza joint and headed in. 

I pointed at the menu and said I wanted a "caprese" - she said it in spanish that it was enough for 4 people and said "si".  She asked me a bunch of questions that I didn't understand and made the motion of carrying something.  I said "si".  Then she asked me for "su nombre"(your name) - I thought she was asking me for my telephone number, so I said "no telephono". 

At this point the transaction was about to abort - I didn't know why they needed this informacion - so I gave her the business card and pointed to the address of where I was staying.  Then I paid my money and they said "ciao" which means good buy.  At this point I understood what had happened, somehow I negotiated for the pizza to be delivered to my hotel.  Not knowing enough spanish to change the terms of the arrangement, I headed back to the hotel and waited out front for my pizza...