South America – Fake Flamenco

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% […]

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

Celebrating Freedom

Special Friday Edition: Let’s celebrate Juneteenth, which commemorates the abolition of slavery in the United States! How about we look at the timeline of freedom in this hemisphere. We’ll check the history of our neighbors in the Americas. The Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries of Central and South America departed from our model of the […]

history, Spanish Culture and Language, The Americas

Driving on the Left or the Right?

In the world, 75 countries drive on the left and 165 on the right. A high number of countries that were in the former British Empire make up those 75, with many exceptions like the United States, Canada and Belize, to name a few. All Spanish speaking countries in the world drive on the right. […]