{"id":15561,"date":"2022-04-25T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-25T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/?p=15561"},"modified":"2022-04-21T11:23:25","modified_gmt":"2022-04-21T15:23:25","slug":"five-years-in-latin-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/five-years-in-latin-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Years in Latin America"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Do you know that old saying &#8220;<strong>El tiempo vuela cuando te est\u00e1s divirtiendo<\/strong>&#8221; (Time flies when you&#8217;re having fun)? Well, it&#8217;s certainly true, because I just celebrated a milestone of <strong>cinco a\u00f1os en Am\u00e9rica Latina<\/strong> (five years in Latin America) and that time absolutely flew by! I always like to <strong>reflejar<\/strong> (reflect) in moments like these, as half a decade is quite a long time. That&#8217;s easy to do thanks to this blog and all the posts I&#8217;ve made over the years! Let&#8217;s see where the time went&#8230;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_13184\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13184\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13184\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/01\/8-DJI_0760.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/01\/8-DJI_0760.jpg 700w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/01\/8-DJI_0760-350x263.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-13184\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">My home away from home for most of the past 5 years.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\">Living in Mexico<\/h2>\n<p><strong>He vivido en M\u00e9xico durante la mayor parte de los \u00faltimos cinco a\u00f1os<\/strong> (I&#8217;ve lived in Mexico for most of the past five years). Most of that time has been spent in the lovely beach town of Puerto Vallarta. We originally planned to stay for one month and ended up spending 2.5 years there on and off. It&#8217;s just that special!<\/p>\n<p>You can read more about my Mexican home away from home in this post &#8211; &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/bienvenido-a-puerto-vallarta\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bienvenido a Puerto Vallarta<\/a>.&#8221; If you&#8217;re curious to hear more about what it&#8217;s like living there, we have a very detailed video about it that you can check out:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Living in Puerto Vallarta\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gr-f8VJs7fk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Tambi\u00e9n visitamos muchos lugares diferentes en M\u00e9xico<\/strong> (We also visited many different places in Mexico). One of my favorites is <strong>Ciudad de M\u00e9xico<\/strong> (Mexico City), also known as CDMX. Read this post to see what you can do with <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/una-semana-en-cdmx-one-week-in-mexico-city\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">una semana en CDMX<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(one week in Mexico City). It includes an exploration of the city&#8217;s <strong>Centro Historico<\/strong> (Historic Center) as well as some awesome day trips.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The top thing to do in CDMX (in my humble opinion) is seeing <em>lucha libre<\/em> at the arena. The famous Mexican style of professional wrestling is an exciting event that&#8217;s fun for the whole family. Read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gratefulgypsies.com\/seeing-lucha-libre-in-mexico\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this post<\/a> for more info and check out a short video:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Lucha Libre in Mexico\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iAmuXEQlSOw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Tambi\u00e9n hay muchas ruinas interesantes para visitar<\/strong> (There are also many interesting ruins to visit). I recently wrote about some of the most famous Mexican ruins (<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/the-ruins-of-mexico-one\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Part One<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/the-ruins-of-mexico-part-two\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Part Two<\/a>), so head to those posts for more on amazing places like Teotihuac\u00e1n and Chich\u00e9n Itz\u00e1.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\">Studying Spanish<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Me gusta aprender espa\u00f1ol mientras viajo<\/strong> (I enjoy learning Spanish as I travel). Before we moved to Mexico, my Spanish was pretty much limited to &#8220;<em>Me gusta tacos<\/em>&#8221; and &#8220;<em>Una mas cerveza, por favor<\/em>.&#8221; We took a 3-week Level 1 class at Spanish School Vallarta to learn the basics and highly recommend studying there. You can read more about my experience in <a title=\"Studying Spanish in Puerto Vallarta\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/studying-spanish-in-puerto-vallarta\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this post<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_10922\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10922\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10922\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/10\/DSC03195.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/10\/DSC03195.jpg 600w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/10\/DSC03195-350x233.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-10922\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Plaza Botero in the center of Medell\u00edn.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Tambi\u00e9n tom\u00e9 clases de espa\u00f1ol dos veces en Medell\u00edn<\/strong> (I also took Spanish classes twice in Medellin). This is a great place to study Spanish and one of the most popular digital nomad destinations in Latin America. I wrote a detailed post about <a href=\"http:\/\/Medell\u00edn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">studying Spanish in Medell\u00edn<\/a> if you&#8217;d like to learn more. You also might want to go over this <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/an-intro-to-colombian-spanish\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">intro to Colombian Spanish<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I almost forgot about that time I took a few weeks of Spanish classes in Lima, <strong>la capital del Per\u00fa<\/strong> (the capital of Peru). We spent a month there and although we didn&#8217;t have the best weather, we quite enjoyed the city. Here&#8217;s a video about our experience traveling there and Santiago as digital nomads:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Backpacking South America (As Digital Nomads) - Peru and Chile\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/07zMhxPnDwU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Para ser honesto, mi espa\u00f1ol todav\u00eda no es muy bueno<\/strong> (To be honest, my Spanish still isn&#8217;t very good). I can get by when traveling in Spanish-speaking countries, although I&#8217;m having a bit of a hard time right now as I&#8217;m in Barcelona. The Spanish that&#8217;s spoken here is quite different than what I&#8217;m used to in Mexico!<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\">Amazing Experiences<\/h2>\n<p>What stands out most to me when I look back on the past five years is the sheer amount of amazing places I&#8217;ve visited. In my travels around the Spanish-speaking world, there have been dozens of unforgettable experiences.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_11397\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11397\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11397\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/05\/DSC07063.jpg\" alt=\"Machu Picchu Jungle Trek\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/05\/DSC07063.jpg 600w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/05\/DSC07063-350x233.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-11397\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Machu Picchu!<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In the past five years, I&#8217;ve been able to check a bunch of things off my <strong>lista de deseos\u00a0<\/strong>(bucket list). This includes <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/machu-picchu-jungle-trek\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trekking to Machu Picchu<\/a>, visiting the <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/el-salar-de-uyuni\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Salar de Uyuni<\/a> in Bolivia, hiking\/camping in the <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/torres-del-paine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Patagonia region of Chile<\/a>, and seeing the <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/semana-santa-en-guatemala\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Semana Santa processions in Guatemala<\/a>. All of these experiences have been made even better thanks to my Spanish abilities, meager as they may be.<\/p>\n<p>And how can I forget about <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/partying-in-latin-america-el-carnaval\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">celebrating Carnaval<\/a> in Mazatl\u00e1n and Barranquilla? Wow was that fun! The motto in Barranquilla is \u201c\u00a1<strong>Qui\u00e9n lo vive es qui\u00e9n lo goza<\/strong>!,\u201d which basically means \u201che who lives it enjoys it.\u201d I lived it and I most definitely enjoyed it! Check this video for proof:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Carnival in Barranquilla: The BEST Party in Colombia?\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nX3N5nwPIOg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll be forever grateful for all of these experiences I&#8217;ve had traveling around this fascinating part of the world for the past half-decade. I&#8217;m also thankful to Transparent Language for letting me share my stories and videos with you all during that time. I hope my posts have been useful, entertaining, and insightful for all of you interested in learning the Spanish language and the culture of the Spanish-speaking world.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Now if you&#8217;ll excuse me, I&#8217;m in Barcelona for the week and I think it&#8217;s time for some <em>tapas<\/em>!<\/p>\n<p><em>Hasta luego y muchas gracias a todos!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>-Sasha<\/p>\n<p>P.S. I&#8217;ll still be writing for the Chinese blog and my page, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gratefulgypsies.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Grateful Gypsies<\/a> if you care to follow along.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_15564\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15564\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15564\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/1.jpeg 700w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/1-350x263.jpeg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-15564\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image taken and used with permission by Sasha Savinov.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"263\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/01\/8-DJI_0760-350x263.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/01\/8-DJI_0760-350x263.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/01\/8-DJI_0760.jpg 700w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>Do you know that old saying &#8220;El tiempo vuela cuando te est\u00e1s divirtiendo&#8221; (Time flies when you&#8217;re having fun)? Well, it&#8217;s certainly true, because I just celebrated a milestone of cinco a\u00f1os en Am\u00e9rica Latina (five years in Latin America) and that time absolutely flew by! I always like to reflejar (reflect) in moments like&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/five-years-in-latin-america\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":13184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,547385,2617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15561","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-travel-geography","category-videos"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15561"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15566,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15561\/revisions\/15566"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}