1. There are four official languages in Spain: Castilian, Catalan, Basque and Galician.
2. Approximately 5.8% of Internet users speak Spanish, making it the 4th most common language in the Internet community.
3. The Hispanic world has brought the world many traditional and intercultural dances: Flamenco (inspired by Gypsy and Andalucian cultures), Salsa (Latin American), Merengue (Hispano-African) and Mambo (Afro-Cuban) to name but a few!
4. Although predominantly Catholic, Spain agreed to same sex marriages all the way back in 2006.
5. The word ‘chocolate’ is originally from the Mexican indigenous Nahuatl, later being adopted by languages worldwide.
6. Spanish is the second most used language in international communication, as well as being an official language of the UN and its organizations.
7. Spain is the only country in the world to have a festival dedicated to the tomato: La Tomatina.
8. It is widely claimed that the word 'gringo' came into the language as a result of the American marines singing ‘Green grow the lilacs grow...’. Opinions differ though!
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- Find the places to practice your Spanish skills online.
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Soundtrack: Nick Drake and Simon & Garfunkel helped the journey go smoothly.
The good times couldn’t last forever. It was the end of our run: K and X continuing to south Ushuaia, and I was heading back to Santiago - to see a concert that I wasn’t even sure would be on because of the earthquake. But I had the ticket and it was expensive, so it was time to return...Published in Nick's Chilean JournalTags -
Soundtrack of the week: Radiohead, Kid A
When you’ve travelling you can’t stay in one place forever. You have to keep moving, keep your momentum, otherwise you risk getting too comfortable, getting bogged down... getting bored. We’d been in Bariloche for 4 days, maybe 5. Christ, how many was it? It was becoming hard to tell. Whether it was Tuesday or Saturday no one knew - the days slipped easily into one another until we almost forgot that this was just a short stay, a small part of a larger expedition. We had drunk wine, met like-minded souls, swum through waterfalls, cycled round lakes, hiked up hills (dunk beer on top of said hills), learned to hula-hoop on top of hills; played scrabble, played chess, played cards, drunk more beer and more wine... Now, it was time to move on.Published in Nick's Chilean JournalTags -
On 27th February there was an earthquake off the coast of Chile measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale, 500 times stronger than in Haiti. Tremors were felt as far north as Peru, and as far east as Buenos Aires in Argentina. It moved the entire city of Concepcion, one of the closest cities to the epicentre, 3 meters to the west; the capital, Santiago, shifted a full 30cm west. It caused a tsunami wave which travelled along the coast and washed away entire towns. It was not a good day to be in Chile. Published in Nick's Chilean JournalTags -
Soundtrack: Air and José González, for some laid-back mental meanderingsUncle K had just turned up at the flat in Santiago with the same small dog with wild, straggly hair that had followed us around the streets the night before. I was silently sceptical. You see a lot of dogs on the street in Chile, often lying incapacitated in the shade of cars trying to escape the heat. Where had this dog come from?
Published in Nick's Chilean JournalTags -
So I walked through the arrivals gate, into the chaos of Santiago airport. I felt that feeling that I assume everyone feels when arriving at a foreign airport: a sense of joy that you’ve reached your destination in one piece, coupled with the slight confusion about where you’re supposed to go next. I had accidentally turned left when I should have gone right, and consequently had to steer my uncooperative luggage trolley through a crowd of people to find my relatives. As it turns out, there are about three or four different flights which arrive in Santiago every morning in the space of about half an hour, and mine was one of them; the place was heaving.Published in Nick's Chilean JournalTags
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Soundtrack: F*** Buttons - Space Mountain. Epic electronics for an epic landscape.
“Down down down. Just keep going down.” Our philosophy remained steadfast and we continued ever southwards towards the tip of the continent. From Bariloche we took a bus for 5 hours to El Bolson, where we spent several easy-going nights. The best thing about the whole place was the campsite where we stayed, where we built fires and grilled the hell out of massive juicy steaks for dinner. The owner of the place, who I took to calling Esteban but whose name it turned out was really Daniel, sold us locally made beer in unmarked bottles for £1.50 a litre, the best beer we tasted in Argentina, and took pleasure in showing us his collection of wild boar heads mounted on the wall of his cabin.Published in Nick's Chilean JournalTags -
Soundtrack of the week: Zero 7, Yeah Ghost.
Bariloche... what a town! The place where well-off Argentinians go for their summer holiday... None of the people I spoke to there were locals. It has a great reputation for outdoor activities: kayaking, white-water rafting, climbing, zip-lining, trekking, fishing, cycling, even sliding in a rubber-ring down a mountain... all this and more if you’ve got cash on your side. Consequently the place is full of tourists. Not that that’s such a bad thing: the town is thriving, full of shops and restaurants and hostels and life. But it does make it a little expensive; they know they’ve got a captive market, and if you don’t like their price, you can just go off to the next big town - some 200 miles away.Published in Nick's Chilean JournalTags -
Soundtrack: Kelpe, Organic Underwater Beats‘I’m coming to Santiago on Tuesday, and then a few days later heading south to Patagonia. We should meet up.’ Such was the communication from X, a friend from London who was living in Buenos Aires. ‘Sounds good,’ I replied. ‘I’ll be around. In fact I’d love to see the South too. Fancy adding one more to your travelling party?’
It seemed like too good an opportunity to miss. I didn’t know what to expect from the South apart from slightly colder weather, but I was more than ready for a new adventure into unknown terrain.
‘Sure,’ replied X. ‘My friend K is coming too, so it’ll be three of us.’
Published in Nick's Chilean JournalTags -
Here’s the idea: graduate from University, find a job or just see if anything grabs your attention in the world of employment, and if nothing happens, there's one good option: move to South America. Sounds fair enough. After graduating I still had no idea what I wanted to do for a living, and coupled with the economic downturn - which made it difficult to find a proper job - I decided to throw myself into the thick of it and move to Chile for six months. I wanted to gain some real world experience, do some interesting, mind-expanding travelling - see new things, taste new cultures - instead of just banging my head against the impenetrable wall of employment back home.Published in Nick's Chilean JournalTags -
Salamanca is set out with a big circular road around the centre, and then there are the outskirts. I'd recommend living inside this circle, just because it is easy to get to university and nightlife! The circle is only about 15 minutes walk from one side to the other - everything is extremely close!Published in Spanish-speakingTags
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