Embarrassing Spanish Language Mistakes – Cherry flavoured lip balm

Many people that retire to Costa Rica can manage without having to learn too much Spanish to get around although your life will be so much richer if you do learn the language.

Since I do business here and have always had a Spanish speaking girlfriend, I speak more in Spanish than English but write more in English than Spanish.

But still, I manage to make a complete fool of myself on a regular basis and yesterday was one of those days…

In recovering from the ‘sniffles’ my lips were very dry so, while shopping I visited the local pharmacy to see an enormous selection of lip balms and quickly chose one that looked like it was cherry flavored or, in Spanish.

I immediately opened the packet and applied some on my cracked and thankful lips in front of the cashier as I paid her.

After visiting the bank, sitting in the car waiting for the traffic lights to change, I glanced in the rear view mirror to see what looked like an old and deformed, short-haired Angelina Jolie staring back at me with pouty, cherry colored painted lips.

Yup! Neither, the lady in the pharmacy, nor the three people in the bank cared to mention to me that I had painted my lips with cherry *coloured* and not cherry *flavoured* lip balm.

My girlfriend now has some new (only used once) lip balm and hopefully, her two sons have stopped laughing at me by now.

Truth be told, I would probably have made the same silly mistake in an English speaking country.

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Written by Scott Oliver, author of How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa and Costa Rica’s Guide To Making Money Offshore.

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.