Palabra de honor: I guess you've been wondering where was I for the last month. (And if you weren't, that's OK; I forgive you.) Turns out I had to go all the way down to Mexico in order to be able to see Frida. Can you believe that? All because it never opened in this podunk town I live in.

But that's not the actual reason I went to Mexico for: I went to spend the holidays back at home. And it was about time! I have been on this side of the Rio Grande without a single Spanish-speaking soul to talk to on a daily basis for the last seven months, and that can prove a serious setback to a Spanish-speaker, even a native one. Everyone could tell back home; my Spanish has turned hesitant, with the speech patterns of someone who knows what's on their mind but not how to put it into words. I now have to translate from English, for crying out loud!

I had to admit to some of my friends that I was starting to lose some of my grip on Spanish while my English hasn't improved. This produced the advice I expected from them: Better hurry and go back to Mexico before I'm unable to talk any of both languages.

Or maybe there's a second option: Spanglish. Though the brand my friends suggested, they did so joking: "Close the pinche door!" Which, as I observed, can turn into "¡Cierra la fucking puerta!"

When it comes to Spanglish, though, they might have the right idea about it in Frida; namely, use Spanish only to pepper English with terms that have no English equivalent. In particular, I'm thinking about the word panzón, what Salma Hayek's Frida calls Alfred Molina's Diego Rivera. Literally, panzón means "fatso." But "fatso" is always a derogatory term, while panzón can actually be used in an endearing way. (Well, only if you call panzón someone who is already endeared to you. Never try it on some Mexican you've just met.)

Then there are the culinary terms, like mole. There's just no equivalent to the food itself; no use trying to give it a new name. As long as it's made of the right mix of nuts, seeds, chilies and spices, mole is always mole. Although not everything works that way: true tequila is only from Tequila (just like true champagne is only from Champagne). Everything else is but mezcal (or bubbly wine).

Ah, Mexican food! Now there's something I was sorely missing. What you can get here in the US of A just doesn't compare to the real thing. I got my fill of tacos al pastor, huaraches and even carnitas. And I also had traditional holiday dishes like romeritos and bacalao (cod). Sadly, I couldn't find the time for tortas cubanas...

¡Ay! I just got back from Mexico, and I'm already hurting to go back.