The long line was daunting. In the middle of an Arizona desert, in scorching heat, tapping on red sand to draw footprints, we waited for hours to enter the slit on the ground to see the Antelope Canyon. With a small talk while resting on a rare shadow formed underneath a dune, we learned a great deal about each other. From Spain, she had traveled to many countries before this and she appreciated the Nepal for its great mountains, although she is yet to go there. She said there was a wide influence of a spiritual Nepali guru in Spain and people revered him all over the country. I painted a mental picture of Gautam Buddha as she explained and struggled to recall his name.
A guide called us from a short distance, “Come on back in the line. There are rattlesnakes in the sand.” While I tried to assure her that he was probably joking, she didn’t want to take any chance. She went back to stand in the grueling sun with her boyfriend. And I followed. It’d be awkward to be a lone victim. In Spanish, she spelled the word and told her boyfriend that I was from N. E. P. A. L. and that my family lived there for the most part. He made an “eh?” remark as his eyebrows jumped on his forehead. After reporting a few more of my stories to him, she asked her boyfriend to pour some water on her head to help her cool.
Previously in our conversation, I did not get a chance to tell her that I knew Spanish.
(Follow my Arizona trip from the beginning or jump onto other Arizona stories in Sedona, Grand Canyon and Page)
Enchantalez 