Donde Comen Dos, Comen Tres

Every morning in our Spanish immersion program, we start off the day by learning two or three Spanish idioms.

One of my favorites from last week was

Donde comen dos, comen tres.

The translation is, when there is enough food for two, there is enough for three. In other words, share whatever it is you have. There’s always room for one more.

I liked this idiom. I think it’s especially useful when you are traveling and so I decided why not try it out in the wild.

On Thursday we went to a soccer match and I bought a big bag plantain chips in the stadium. While they weren’t the most delicious plantain chips I’d ever eaten (I think Brittany’s exact words were “these taste kind of funky”) I'm sure that left to my own devices I probably would have polished off the whole funky bag.

But instead of doing that, I remembered the idiom and offered some of my horrible banana chips to the French couple on my right. They accepted and whether they actually enjoyed them or they were just being polite, we immediately struck up a conversation and became friends.

United in our newly discoverd love of Colombian soccer and our tolerance for weird-tasting banana chips, we enjoyed each other’s company for the next hour and a half. When the game ended we said goodbye and parted ways without ever catching the others name.

Flash forward to Saturday. Brittany and I sit down to lunch at a really nice little vegetarian place called Verdeo. A few minutes after we ordered, the woman who taught the free acroyoga class earlier this week walks in with a friend. Heeeeyyy!!! Fancy meeting you here!

Donde comen dos, comen tres! Why don’t you sit down with us, we offered.

Our table for two became a table for four.

They checked out the menu and ordered their food. We were all pretty hungry by this point. About a minute or two after they ordered, the French couple from the soccer game walks into the restaurant.

Well, this is getting crazy.

Heeeeeeeyyyyy!!!!! Soccer friends!!!!!

Donde comen dos, comen tres! Why dont you join us?

It just so happened that there was an open table for six right next to us. We move our stuff over and all sit down.

Within about a ten minute span, our lunch for two became a lunch for six.

It was a wonderful, nearly two hour lunch with a lot of laughs. At the end of it, we said goodbye to our new friends and exited stage right as we needed to make it to the museum before it closed.

After visiting the museum for a few hours it’s about 4 PM and we debate whether we should head back home or grab a coffee at a cafe. We’re on vacation so we opt for the latter.

Shortly after we order, Brittany looks us and says “oh my god, there are our soccer friends.” They were across the street strolling through the neighborhood. At that very moment they were taking a photo of the cafe we were sitting at.

Brittany says, “quick, let’s photobomb it.”

Great idea. We both stick our arms up and wave (technically, I think I may have raised the roof).

Though they couldn’t have been a more lovely couple, we decided not to call our friends over for the second time today. We thought it would be funnier if they were looking at their pictures later in the day and noticed us in the background waving back at them. “Oh mon Dieu!!!” They would exclaim. “It’s our disgusting plantain chip soccer friends!! I think they are stalking us.”

We still don’t have know their names. But that’s okay. Keeping silent was worth it for the joke. And truth be told, I’m sure we’ll see them tomorrow at breakfast anyway.

PS — dear Soccer friends, in case you end up reading this, but we never meet up again, I’m Ethan. It was nice meeting you.