The Whistle (Kent)

I am very intrigued by the use of "the whistle" by native Ecuadoran Spanish speakers.  Maybe it's a Galapagos thing, but it's common for people here to use a light whistling sound with a particular motion that goes with the action that the whistle is representing.  In other words, the whistle is often used here in place of an action verb.  Two people in our household family are particularly found of "the whistle":  Pepe (the grandfather), and Chuleta (nickname for the nephew fisherman).  They use it so well and effectively that it's now inspired me to use it more in my speaking, both English and Spanish.

Pepe, who's quite the joker, (and the one who calls me "Clark Ken") likes to tease me a lot about eating prohibited animals, like iguanas, giant tortoises, and sea turtles.  They are, after all, protected species here in the Galapagos, which also happens to be a national park.    However, the law that protects these species is only 25-30 years old.  Pepe, who is 58, grew up in the Galapagos before these animals were protected and before the population and tourist boom, which started in the 1970s.  So, Pepe has eaten most of these animals, and likes to talk about it around me because he knows that I wouldn't think of eating illegal meat from a national park.    He was especially fond of sea turtle meat, which he tells me nearly every day tastes really good:  "La tortuga es muy rico!"  He also tells me to bring him one the next time I go snorkeling so that we can have a BBQ.  "Bring me a sea turtle," he tells me in Spanish, "and (light whistle sound accompanied by the cutting of the throat motion) . . .  a very delicious BBQ!"

Yesterday Chuleta and Pablo took us on a very nice boat adventure in the family's small fishing boat.  In the morning we went to a very nice beach. Nine of us from the household went and all of us ate a wonderful lunch in the boat.   During lunch we were asking Chuleta how he (and the other 2 guys he works with) lives on the boat.  It's basically primitive camping on the water.  They are gone for 3-4 days at a time and they sleep on the boat.  There's a small covered area where the 3 of them sleep.  It's barely big enough for 3 men, and the fact that Ecuadoran men tend to be shorter than men from the U.S. helps.  It's basically a crawl space with no windows.  The boat is maybe 30 feet long, and doesn't have any regular seats.  We didn't really know what to expect because he said that he had a kitchen.  Chuleta's "kitchen" consists of a little gas stove that he takes out of the crawl space, along with a few pots and pans.  "The boat also has a bathroom," he says.  "Really?  Where?"  some in the boat ask.  "Well," says Chuleta very seriously, "for 'po po' (poop), you come over to this side of the boat, drop your pants, lean your butt over the side of the boat and (light whistle sound accompanied by his hand making a quick downward motion representing the falling feces)."  "And to wipe?"  someone asks.  "You reach your hand down into the water and (light whistle sound accompanied by a splashing/wiping motion)" says Chuleta.  "And to pee?" someone else asks.  Chuleta replies with, "You go to the other side of the boat and (light whistle sound accompanied by the motion of a man peeing over the side of the boat)."

That's all for now.  I gotta go (light whistle sound accompanied by the motion of a man putting on underarm deodorant).