South America – Fake Flamenco

Chile, history, Spanish Culture and Language, The Americas

Chile’s New President: Gabriel Boric

Exciting news from South America! Sunday in a run-off presidential election, Chileans chose between Gabriel Boric (social democrat) and José Antonio Kast (conservative). They voted overwhelmingly for Boric, 56% to 44%. Over one million more Chileans voted in December than the first round November 21 (when Kast won 28% to 26%). This month’s voter turnout […]

Nature, The Americas

That Time South America Was an Island for 20 Million Years

How do we define a long time? A 245 year old country? Nope, add more zeroes. 20 million years qualifies. Thinking about those millions of years South America was an island blows my chronological socks off. Animals found nowhere else developed there, due to its isolation back in the Miocene era. What is now Panama […]

archeology, history, Indigenous Peoples, Spanish Culture and Language, The Americas

Khipus: Tied Up in Knots

The Inka were a very sophisticated culture located in what we now call South America. Their empire went from modern day Ecuador and Peru south to Chile, and also included parts of Colombia, Bolivia and Argentina. Until recent times, archeologists thought that they did not have a writing system. However, new research has revealed the […]

Afro-Latinos, Latinas, Spanish Culture and Language, The Americas

Play Haiku Jeopardy

April, National Poetry Month in the United States is coming to an end. Let’s give it a good send off and play Haiku Jeopardy. The poems will give clues to their subjects. Your response need not be in question form. In your comments, guess what the verses describe, or make a Haiku riddle of your […]

Argentina, Art, Spanish Culture and Language

Argentine Artist Hits With Her Best Shot

Although you won’t find her work at SFMOMA or MOMA NYC, she’s shown her art on three continents. Argentine artist Karina El Azem is famous is South America, but you may not have heard of her yet. She uses non-traditional materials like glass seed beads, pearls, bullet and shell casings to make geometric designs and […]

Indigenous Peoples, Spanish Culture and Language

Paraguay’s 2 Official Languages

Paraguay is one of three countries in the Americas that name one or more indigenous languages as official, alongside Spanish. Interestingly, it is also the country where the most non-indigenous people are bilingual in an indigenous language, in this case Guaraní. Over 5 million people in Paraguay speak it. The 2012 census determined that 64% […]