Sometimes when I'm out doing the crucigrama with my vendor friend J, I'm left minding the stand while he's "watering the trees", which is a lot of fun because *no one* takes me for a tourist while I'm in the chair. I make tinto or cafe con leche, dole out ciggies and sweets, and only if I make a syntactic slip does anyone squint and go "Heyyyy". Otherwise, I sling street slang and confites with the best of them.

It's such a funny reminder that context cues are huge in looking like you "belong".