Indigenous Peoples – Fake Flamenco

bilingual, Chile, En español, history, Indigenous Peoples, Spanish Culture and Language, The Americas

New Chilean Constitution Vote Sunday September 4

For Chileans, the most important vote this year will be Sunday; to ratify or reject the new democratic Constitution. The 170+ page document carefully crafted over 12 months by the Constitutional Congress, guaranties rights to Chileans young and old, with and without resources, and to all ethnicities and genders. The Constitution specifically ensures the rights […]

bilingual, En español, history, Indigenous Peoples, Spanish Culture and Language, The Americas

Honduras: The Courage of Lempira

Every year on July 20, Hondurans celebrate Lempira of the Lenca tribe more than 475 years after his death. Who was this famous man? He was a Native leader who gave his life in an attempt to stop the Spanish conquest. Lempira is a national hero, leader of thousands of soldiers, whose name graces a […]

archeology, Architecture, history, Indigenous Peoples, Spanish Culture and Language

Did Aliens Build Bolivian Monuments?

1400 years ago, the Huanka Civilization which flourished in the region that is present day Bolivia made incredible stone monuments. This was a pre-Inca society. For centuries, people have credited Aliens, Europeans or possibly Egyptians for their building feats. How could the Huanka move blocks weighing 1500 tons down from the mountain quarries above 3.9K […]

archeology, Architecture, bilingual, En español, history, Indigenous Peoples, Mexico, Nature, Spanish Culture and Language

Cenote: Portal to the Underworld

Unique geology in Southern Mexico generated a feature important to the people who first lived there. In Maya cosmology, fresh water limestone reservoirs and caves in the Yucatan Peninsula were called cenotes. They were portals to the underworld. In the Yucatec Maya language they are called, D’zonot. Many of these pristine aquifers are hallowed to […]

history, Indigenous Peoples

February: What’s On Your Bookshelf?

I’m joining the What’s On Your Bookshelf challenge for February! I’ve read three books so far this month, one non-fiction, one based on a true story and one YA fiction; Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom; The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris; and Rebecca Roanhorse’s Race to the Sun. Frederick Douglass, My Bondage […]

Afro-Latinos, history, Indigenous Peoples, Spanish Culture and Language, The Americas

Black History: Esteban the Explorer

Born in Morocco, early in his life Mustafa El-Azemmour was captured and enslaved by the Portuguese and sold to a Spanish man, Andres Dorantes de Carranza. The Moroccan captive was asked to renounce his Muslim faith and be baptized a Christian; renamed Esteban de Dorantes. Only Christians were allowed to travel to the Americas by […]