Getting into the swing of things: beefing up my language skills

I have been in Lima for a little over a week.  The weather has been gorgeous, hot and humid. Just how I like it, seriously.

The unique thing about this trip for me is that with it being as long as it is along with me having been here twice before is that many of the standard tourist things I have done.  My reason for being here is also a bit different.  It is not just about seeing the sites and experiencing the culture, but rather to get to know more of the day-to-day life in Lima and honestly improve my Spanish.  My comprehension is already improving but my vocabulary, my conjugations, my grammar, all need a lot of help.  A monologue on my part may be slow but generally fine. However, any interactions are slow and fraught with errors. Luckily most of the time I can make myself understood.  There are times that a person just gives me a a quizzical look and I have to find another way to explain what I am asking.

Picaya amarilla

This morning for instance, I was at an open air market with Amybeth.  While she was going from stall to stall finding fruits and vegetables for the cafe, I was walking around being an obvious tourist taking pictures and asking what various items are.  Picaya (dragon fruit - delish), palto (avocado - creamy like butter), granadía (hard to explain - a fruit with seeds in a thick liquid-like paste - sweet and smooth), maracuyá (passion fruit - sweet and tangy), chirimoya (custard apple),
etc.

One stall was a lonchería (lunch place) that had prepared sandwiches in a glass case.  Most of them were clear, pork, chicken, egg... One kind of looked like a pig's foot or hoof on bread. When I asked what it was, the young woman said it was a relleno.  Relleno means filling kinda like "chile relleno," a green or red pepper filled with deliciousness. This was definitely not a pepper. It was brown and oddly shaped to be a pepper. When I tried to ask what was in the relleno, the young woman looked at me perplexedly like I had used words that didn't exist in Spanish, and... maybe they didn't, or if the word existed the combination of words I used were incomprehensible to her.  I tried something simpler, "¿relleno con qué?" I got an answer but not what I was expecting, "camote" (sweet potato). Luckily Amybeth came around the corner and helped me clarify things. The sánguche relleno was a sandwich of morcilla (blood sausage) filled with camote.

Like I said, I have a long way to go. It is a bit embarrassing with all my years of study.  Lack of practice.  UGH!