When taking a trip on a horrible road we broke the muelles on our trailer. Those are the leaf springs that hold the trailer off the axle. Interestingly there were several shops which repaired muelles right through that section of highway.

Muelle is also a pier or a dock for boats.

Escenario is a scene, as in a play. It can also be used to refer to the stage. It does not have to be used just in the context of a play though. Escenario is used like we would talk about a setting for some event.

Gestión can be thought of as gesture. Like our word gesture has many meanings, there are often better ways to translate gestión. It can mean to take steps as in taking steps to solve a problem. It can be negotiations as in they negotiated the terms of the deal. It can be a process as in they proceeded through the requirements.

Ambulante is exactly the same in English and Spanish. Ambulante is a word that is used in the medical field in English and it means walking, or able to move around. The story in the newspaper that I got this word from was using it to refer to traveling salesmen.

A campamento is a camp (noun). The gerund form of camping is often the same in Spanish, i.e.; ir de camping (to go camping).

There were few posts to this site since we were in a campamento last week.

I have always used the word estirar to mean to stretch. It is used when you are exercising and stretch your muscles. It is also used when you are stretching high to grab something off a shelf.

But a new use of the word came up last night. We were walking into a restaurant and saw the word estire on the door instead of empuje (push). I guess the idea is that you are stretching out in front of you to push the door away.

The word marcha has many meanings, most of which have to do with either marching or motion. The one meaning I learned this week, which is not in the dictionary I most often consult, is for a car starter motor. The word I most often seen written is arranque to mean a starter, but locally the mechanics all call it a marcha.

The only reason this comes up is that I had problems with my starter this week. Each place I consulted about parts or repair referred to it as a marcha, though they knew what I meant when I called it an arranque.

I thought tintorería was a window tinting shop for a long time. Even though there is a lot of sun here I could not figure out why they needed so many tint shops. Then I found out tintorería is a dry-cleaner’s shop.

I have seen the word abarrotes on many stores. These are typically smaller stores that sell just basic food items. Mostly small neighborhood stores. I thought it meant something like “quick in and out store” but my friend told me the other day she always thought it meant groceries.

I looked up the word and saw that it indeed does mean groceries, but it also has a verb form, abarrotar, which means to pack or to fill up.

I can’t figure out how the two meanings are connected if they are. Anyone know?

Butaca is an arm chair, or a seat. It can mean theater seating.

At our local baseball stadium the seating is divided in four sections. Two of them are called butaca and butaca alta. Butaca would be the field level seating and the butaca alta is the upper deck.