"Your papers," answered the official. "I would lose my position if I let you pass without seeing them. The pay is very small and it is my sole income; the illustrious señores would not be so ungracious as to wish to see me lose that?" he entreated.
I showed him my passport which he looked at, then turned upside down, frowningly trying to figure out what it was.
"What nationality are you?" he inquired.
"What language is this paper written in?"
"English," I replied.
A puzzled look spread over the stupid face of my interlocutor.
"How is it then that you have an English passport since you are a North American?"
"English is the language of North America."
The official was astounded. "Pardon, señor, but I thought Spanish was the language of entire America."