By Nora Walsh
In this second installment of Nora’s two-part guest post, she shares three tips for becoming a heartbreaker, conquistadora, and puppet master during your next foray into the land of lustful Latinos.
She explains why speaking the same language is the key to attracting a Latino’s attention. But this goes beyond speaking espanol. It also requires fluency in the languages of dance and futbol.
#1. SPEAK THE LANGUAGE AS BEST YOU CAN
Enlist in a course at the local university. It’s the best way to meet other people your age and get local advice from a trustworthy source. Find an intercambio, a local student who wants to practice his English in exchange for practicing your Spanish. They are also a great resource for idioms and slang.
#2. MAKE A GOOD IMPRESSION BY LEARNING TO DANCE BEFORE YOU GO
Learn to salsa, cumbia, samba, tango or at the very least, learn how to follow someone who can. I suggest taking some lessons. If its salsa, enlist a Cuban male instructor. You will be dumbfounded by his ability to simultaneously gyrate both the upper and lower body seemingly independent of one another. Dancing (or following) your instructor will instill the confidence to take on any man on the dance floor. Also, being a gringa and able to keep up, or even show off, will bring most Latin men to their knees.
If you don’t have the budget to take lessons, don’t worry, most Latin men having been dancing all their lives and are strong leaders. Let go of wanting to get the steps right, finding your rhythm and being comfortable and fluid are much more important than the mechanics.
Dancing is sensual activity; it’s close, rhythmic and gets your endorphins going. Mix that with a little sweat and alcohol and it can get tricky. If you are not interested in your partner beyond the dance floor, thank him for the wonderful time (two dances at most) and move on.
Make sure he sees you interacting with other men in the vicinity. You can always return for another dance if you desire, but if you are not clear right from the get-go that you are not his “date for the night”, you will have a hard time losing him for the rest of the evening. If you are interested, by all means, dance your little heart out, have him buy most your drinks (make sure you see where they come from if you don’t have a trustful wing woman, think roofies women!), and it’s pretty clear he may not be leaving the disco alone tonight.
#3 LEAVE IT ALL ON THE FIELD
Learn the basic rules of futbol (if I have to explain to you what futbol is, you are way behind the eight ball, get on Wikipedia right now). If you were to ask a Latino to rate all sports on a scale of one to 10, he will tell you that futbol is 1-10, all the rest come after.
When you are talking to your girlfriend about love, your potential Latin lover is talking just as passionately to his friend about futbol. When your heart bleeds over a lost love, a love that makes you painfully ache in every cell of your being, this is how your Latino feels when disappointed by his beloved team. To win his respect, you must pay homage to his steadfast, unyielding commitment to his squad, and knowing a little bit about the game never hurts.
Know who won the World Cup in 2006 (Italy), who they beat (France) and have an opinion about it. Next World Cup is 2010 in South Africa, have a favorite.
Attending futbol games are one of the biggest highlights in Latin America. Stadiums are big, fans are vocal, and it has more energy packed in one space than an atom bomb. I recommend seeing one in every Latin (and Spain!) country you visit. Knowing the jersey colors that are running to through the veins of your prospective suitor will skyrocket you to an entirely new plane of existence in his eyes, and it most certainly makes for great small talk when you meet one that catches your attention. I tell you this from experience.
Here’s a quick reference guide to get you started:
Spain
Teams to know: Barca; players: Lionel Messi (Argentine) Carles Puyol (Catalan) and Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon)
Barca Rival: Real Madrid; players: Raul Gonzalez (Spanish)
World Cup titles: 0
Claim to fame: Barca is considered one of the best cubs in the world right now
Argentina
Teams to know: River (the Argentine equivalent to the Yankees)
River Rival: Boca (the Argentine equivalent to the Mets and Maradona’s legacy)
World Cup titles: 2
Claim to fame: Diego Maradona=God in Argentina; know it, live it, breathe it because they do.
Brazil
Teams to know: Botafogo, Flamingo, Fluminese, Vasco da Gama
Players: Ronaldinho (Plays for Milan), Ricardo Kaká (Plays for Milan)
World Cup titles: 5
Claim to fame: Pele (There is a long standing argument over who is the best player in the history of futbol. For pure skill and achievement, there is a fair argument for either player, this makes for an impassioned rivalry between the two countries. I recommend you have fun with it.)
Cuba
Baseball is their drug of choice. Seeing as it is an American pastime, I trust you are all up to speed on this one.
With these helpful nuggets of advice I send you armed and on your way. May the force be with you ladies, and may you be the heartbreaker, the conquistadora, and the puppet master during your foray into the land of lustful Latinos.
Bio: At a very young age, Nora Walsh recognized a desire to travel the world. In college she backpacked Europe for a summer and was bitten by the travel bug, to which she has never recovered. Nora has an affinity for all things Latin and is fluent in Spanish. She has lived in Spain, Costa Rica and Argentina, and backpacked much of South America, Southeast Asia and Mexico. Nora resides in New York City and works in the travel industry. She contributes to her travel blog weekly at http://www.herfuture.com/group/noratheexplora. She anxiously awaits her next travel adventure.
Photo by vivodefutbol (Via Creative Commons)
on May 19th, 2009 at 11:27 am
Agreed on the learning Spanish part. Apparently our accents are cute, or something.
However, the dancing and the fútbol… I can follow if I’m led by a skilled partner. If my partner sucks, like so many Chileans leading in salsa do, I look like the biggest gringa on the floor. Oh, plus, I can’t follow the beat to save my life. It’s a terrible flaw, they tell me.
As far as soccer, I despise it. I don’t like the fans, the ball, the commercials, the stadiums, the mullets. Nothing.
Somehow, I still got two latin guys out of the deal. My ex and my current boyfriend of eight months.
I think the best thing to do is be authentic, be yourself and definitely by all means be careful because as you say the men can be like predators at times.