Martian

Are you from Spain?

Do you speak Spanish, then? was her next question. 

But, she paused, do you speak Spanish fluently? Finally asked, her eyes wide open, almost unbelieving it could be possible.

Latin? He asked, once I told him that the scientific name of that tree was written in Latin.

Oh yes! His face brightened up with a smile. Latin from Latin America!

I have had a few conversations like those during my trip. A mix of interest, curiosity and ignorance.

Europe is so small and most of the world so far from the South Pacific, and the presence of Australia, New Zealand, China and the US so prevalent, that just in French Polynesia and Easter Island "Europe" and "Spain" mean something concrete, for obvious reasons. 

Elsewhere, the only thing that could put Spain on the map seemed to be football (to some extend, as rugby dominates Polynesia), especially the World Cup, although most people would hurt my ears saying "soccer" and "World Championship". So much for diplomacy. 

But not always.

Although only once someone confessed he had no idea where Spain was (a very smiley 18 years old boy at a Tongan guesthouse), I could see on the face of many of my interlocutors that "Spain" didn't have much meaning to them. I might as well have said I was from Mars.