10 Tips for Cheap Immersion Travel in Latin America Article and photos by Ted Campbell 11/2013

10 Tips for Cheap Immersion Travel in Latin America

Article and photos by Ted Campbell
11/2013

Parade in Almolongo, Guatemala.

“What’s up with the book?” Javier the taxi driver asked me.

“What book?”

“The green book. All the gringos have them.”

I looked at the three girls in the backseat. They weren’t technically gringas (Americans) — they were Canadians — but in many parts of Latin America all tourists are gringos.

All three held up their Lonely Planet guidebooks, straining to read in the falling darkness of early evening. I laughed and explained to Javier what a guidebook was.

In fairness to the girls, they were just passing the time on a long taxi ride. But we’ve all met a certain kind of backpacker, the long-term traveler who does nothing without consulting the book, whether Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, or something else. These guidebooks are certainly useful, but there’s a lot more to Latin America than what someone else has already done and written about.

Fortunately, having a great trip and a rich cultural experience while still saving money is what traveling in Latin America is all about.

Watching the Parade in Almolongo, Guatemala.

Here are some rules I follow wherever I go:

1. Be Friendly

Greet people everywhere you go. Say buenos días (good morning) or buenas tardes (good afternoon) before you start any communication. Say provecho(have a nice meal) to other diners in a restaurant, both when you enter and when you leave. Wave and smile to people on the street. Strike up conversations with anyone who appears friendly.

Even when you’re in a place where many people speak English, it’s good to learn at least a few phrases in the local language. Begin with ¿Habla usted inglés? (Do you speak English?) and No hablo español (I don’t speak Spanish). It shows respect.

The author and Spanish teacher Alejandra in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.

2. Getting Lost

If you are unsure of where you are going, don’t hesitate to ask for directions, but do it twice or more. I believe that asking for directions is one of the great pleasures of traveling in Latin America – people love to give them and often in enthusiastic, elaborate fashion. However, they are frequently wrong.

3. Packing

Pack the smallest backpack possible. You want it to fit below your feet and under the bus seat. If not, it will be out of sight above or below the bus, exposed to rain and/or robbery.

Don’t bring lots of clothes — buy them on the road. T-shirts are cheap everywhere. And fold your dirty laundry in your backpack to save space.

4. Choosing a Place to Stay

In certain fancy neighborhoods in big cities (Condesa in Mexico City, Ipanema in Rio de Janiero), a dorm bed in a hostel may be your cheapest option, but in my experience a single room in a small hotel in the city center is always cheaper. Stay in a hostel if you want to meet people (locals or other travelers, depending on the hostel); stay in a small hotel if you want privacy and to save money.

In many cities in Latin America small, often family-run hotels will be clustered around the parque central (center square), aka zócalo (used in Mexico). Give yourself some time to walk around and compare. Prices are often posted behind the front desk, and if you want to save money, ask for a discount — especially if you will stay more than a week.

Always ask to see the hotel room before you take it. Peek into the bathroom. Try the shower to check water pressure and temperature. Check the mattress for bedbugs. Ask about them and other bugs. They will always say that there aren’t any, but if you see one and want to leave, you’ll have a better chance of getting your money back.

One more thing — don’t stay in a hotel above a restaurant. Cockroaches and strong odors abound.

5. Long Bus Trips

Each Latin American country has several bus companies, and sometimes there is more than one bus station in the same town. There may be no difference between first- and second-class buses other than price, or there may be a huge difference. Give yourself some time to shop around and ask advice before buying tickets.

6. Breakfast

For a cheap breakfast, buy bread in the panadería (bakery) and fruit in the frutería (fruit shop) or market. In markets, expect to be given a higher price than the locals, and rather than haggle over a few dollars or dimes, simply go to a few different people within sight of each other. If they see you shopping around you are more likely to be quoted a fair amount.

7. Lunch

Some of the best lunches are found in markets. The food is cheap and regional. On the Mexican coast you get shrimp soup. In Puebla you get a massive plate of mole, a secret sauce of many ingredients, including peppers and chocolate. In Guatemala you get fried chicken.

The Municipal Market in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico.

Choose the busiest restaurant in the market. Don’t eat in empty places. Yes, you will feel sorry for the smiling people beckoning from empty food stalls as you pass in favor of more popular ones, but that’s the way it has to be.

8. Beggars

Give beggars a clear no, a headshake, and a smile, and they will leave you alone. In Spanish, a simple gracias is how you say no thanks. Sometimes they will approach your table at a restaurant. Don’t ignore them or try to apologize or they will keep bugging you.

Many people argue that giving beggars change just hurts them, that it is better to make a donation at a local school or charity. But if you have change in your pocket and want to give it to someone who you think really needs it, then do so. But don’t do it because you feel scared or guilty, or the person will notice and may manipulate you into giving more.

9. Nightlife

Go to music clubs with live bands. Even if you can’t dance, you’ll have a good time in any place that plays salsa or cumbia (dance music that at first listen sounds similar to salsa, but actually has a simpler, deeper groove).

Don’t consult your guidebook to find them, but ask the hotel reception or a friendly bartender or waiter. You will meet locals and see some great music.

If you use your guidebook to find places to go out, you will be surrounded by other travelers - not necessarily a bad thing, but you might have a better time in a club frequented by friendly locals.

If you like the music but can’t dance, then learn the basic steps – they will take you a long way. You should find lots of locals in the club who are willing to help out a gringo, or you can seek out a lesson.

Jamming with the Locals in Baños, Ecuador.

10. The Itinerary

And, last but not least, the rule of thumb for all: Don’t wait to do anything you want to do. Don’t say next time, or tomorrow. Don’t skip something that sounds interesting because you want to move onto another place. Just do what you want, when you want to do it. The unknown things in the future can wait.

Sometimes when I’m in a renowned part of Latin America, such as Lake Atitlán in Guatemala, I meet people on their round-the-world trip. They stay two days; I stay two months. They see the highlights of countries all over the world, often look stressed out, and perhaps never backpack or revisit the site again. I relax, learn Spanish, make friends, find the best clubs and restaurants, and save so much money that I can do it again next year in another part of the world.

Memorize some Spanish phrases, close the guidebook, and ask advice from locals and other travelers you meet. I never make a plan when I travel, but ask people for suggestions and information and try to follow whatever sounds good.

While the round-the-world trip certainly certainly has its place, I wonder if many people travel this way because they think it’s their only chance to see the world. And when you try to squeeze in more, somehow you end up seeing less. Traveling slowly is often the best way to experience cultural immersion, which may ultimately be a more intelligent and memorable use of precious time.

Ted Campbell is a teacher, translator, and freelance writer in Mexico. He wrote a guide to Cancun and the Mayan Riviera, available online and atAmazon.com. For more stories of adventure, culture, music, food, and mountain biking, check out his blog No Hay Bronca.

An Introduction to Latin American Music The Bus, Dance Floor and Block Party Article and photos by Ted Campbell (With links to many music videos) Published 8/5/2015

http://www.transitionsabroad.com/listings/travel/articles/music-of-latin-america-introduction.shtml

An Introduction to Latin American Music

The Bus, Dance Floor and Block Party

Article and photos by Ted Campbell
(With links to many music videos)
Published 8/5/2015

You can’t escape music in Latin America.

Walk the city streets by day in Merida, the capital of Mexico’s tropical Yucatan state, and pounding bass assaults you from big speakers set up in front of paint, hardware, and shoe stores. The beat mixes with the sidewalk heat, making you feel like the party is just steps away.

In Central America, souped-up former U.S. school buses pump music that an elementary school teacher in the English-speaking half of America would find deeply inappropriate for the field trip — especially if she knew Spanish and understood what they were saying.

A "chicken bus" in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.

Click-click-click; click-click-click — a Colombian once told me that the rhythm of super popular cumbia music sounds like a walking horse. Once I could recognize the beat, I always recognized cumbia — and even learned to dance it passably.

Of course, no trip to Latin America is complete without a night of live music at the salsa club. Missing this adventure is like going to Ireland and refusing a night at the pub. Even if you don’t drink (or dance), you’ll have a great time.

And if you can’t dance, there’s no better way to learn than in the club, with friendly potential partners, floor-rattling bass, and enough drums to get even the stiffest legs moving.

But “salsa clubs” rarely only play salsa, just as most salsa bands include a few cumbia or pop songs. And late at night, once the band is done, you’re bound to hear some electro music or reggaeton played over the house speakers.

And everywhere in Latin America, you’ll hear regional music — especially if you pass through town during their fiesta days, usually the birthday of the town’s patron saint.

For example, on Saint Peter’s birthday, the place to be is San Pedro, Anywhere (every country has a San Pedro). There will be abundant food and drink, lots of fireworks, and an outdoor stage with a band playing whatever the locals get down to.

Los Angeles Azules in the center square of Toluca, Mexico.

Cumbia, salsa, reggaeton, bachata, punta, merengue, son, trova, ranchera, banda, norteño, marimba, saya, huayño, tango… the list goes on and on, practically doubling when you add Brazilian styles: samba, bossa nova, pagode, forro, axe.

These genres make up a wide world of music that can take years to dissect. And other than a common language (with Portuguese the exception), they don’t seem to have much in common, besides lots of rhythm.

Fortunately, rhythm — drums and bass — is usually the best way to identify the genre of Latin American music you are listening to. (Of course, asking someone never hurts.)

Either the drumbeat alone or the interplay between drums and bass defines much Latin music. Salsa, along with many other genres, uses a clave, a repeating pattern of clicks, often one-two-three, one-two; one-two-three, one-two. (That's how to count it — listen to the music to get the timing.)

Blind street performers playing some afternoon salsa.

The clave might be buried in the mix, more felt by the musicians than noticeable in the song. However, in this example, a Cuban salsa cover of a cumbia song written by a Mexican rock band, you can hear the woody clicks of the clave if you listen closely.

Reggaeton, a Caribbean style that has more in common with rap than reggae, is an easy one — it always uses the same drumbeat. The sound might be different — a high-hat instead of a snare — but the pattern is the same. Once you know the pattern, you will always recognize reggaeton.

So here are five common types of Latin American music: cumbia, banda, trova, huayño, and samba. Though each genre originated in a specific country, they have all since gone international.

This isn’t even close to a comprehensive list. The countries where this music originated, such as Cuba, Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil, have many other types of regional music, which will be described in future articles.

Cumbia

Often confused with salsa, the cumbia beat is distinctive, both for its horse-trot drumming and its distinctive, repetitive basslines.

Also, the instruments are often the same as in salsa and the dance steps are similar. For a salsa song with elements of cumbia, listen to “La Vida Es Un Carnaval” by legendary Celia Cruz from Cuba.

Originally from Colombia, cumbia music is played everywhere from Tierra del Fuego to New York City (and surely farther north in some Canadian house parties as well).

Besides huge superstars like La Sonora Santanera or the group’s former singer Margrarita “La Diosa de Cumbia” (the queen of cumbia), some of the biggest cumbia bands are from outside of Colombia, like Los Angeles Azules (The Blue Angels) from Mexico.

In Argentina, there is a style called cumbia villera (video).

Cumbia is easy to mix with reggae, rock, rap, or practically any kind of music, producing crossover bands like Celso Piña (Mexico) and Chico Trujillo (Chile).

Banda

You’re not alone if you ever sat in a Mexican restaurant with Mexican music on the radio and the bouncy, um-pa-pa music reminded you of polka.

In fact, several kinds of music from the north of Mexico, like tejano, banda, conjunto and norteño, can be traced to Europe. In the 1850s, Germans and Poles migrated to northern Mexico and Texas, bringing accordions and the ¾ polka rhythm. (Most popular music counts 1-2-3-4; polka — and many Mexican songs — count 1-2-3.)

The way to tell banda from other Mexican music is to check out the instruments. Banda is, well, a band: a horn section (trumpets, trombones, clarinets, sometimes sax, and always tuba for bass) and a drummer or two, usually without piano, guitar, or bass guitar. Look for big, loud bands of guys in matching suits and an enthusiastic, cowboy-hat wearing audience.

One of Banda El Recodo's several trucks for near-constant touring.

Banda is arguably the most popular music in Mexico. If the party goes past 4 a.m., you’re probably listening to banda. If you are drinking beer at 10 a.m., you’re probably listening to banda. And if the local government is throwing a big party in the center square of town, they’ve probably hired a banda group or four.

In Mexico, banda even has its own cable TV channel, and big names like La Arroladora, El Recodo and singer-songwriter Espinoza Paz draw huge crowds at music and cultural festivals.

U.S. citizen Lupillo Rivera is an all around badass and activist for immigrant rights, with lots of famous songs like “Sin Fortuna” (Unlucky) (video).

Trova

The tiny island of Cuba pulses with music. Take drums from Africa, rhythms from Latin America, fun-loving people, plenty of heat, and just enough cultural melancholy, and countless genres emerge.

Trova has spread throughout Latin America, even returning to Spain, its ancestral home. Trova is an exception to listening to the drums and bass to identify a genre. No, trova is usually just a singer with his or her guitar.

Trova comes from trovador, which — you guessed it — means troubadour: musician/poets with stories of love, life, adventure and loss. It’s the best kind of folk music, like Woody Guthrie at his most political, Tom Waits at his most symbolic, or Bob Dylan at his most abstract.

In 2011, after a concert in Guatemala, Facundo Cabral from Argentina was gunned down in his limousine, caught in the crossfire between gangsters and the shady promoter he was sharing the ride with, a terrible irony for someone who sang about peace.

Along with Mercedes Sosa, Silvio Rodriguez, and Fernando Delgaldillo, he is one of the giants of modern trova.

Check out his deeply introspective “No Soy de Aquí, Ni Soy de Allá” (I’m not from here, and neither from there”) (video).

Huayño / Andean music

At art fairs and street festivals around the world, pan flute groups with two to twenty players transport coin-tossing crowds to the towering Andes Mountains with their evocative music.

If you ever wondered why these groups play Simon and Garfunkel so much, perhaps it’s because the duo once recorded a version of a huayño classic, “El Condor Pasa.”

The Andes, especially in Peru and Bolivia, produce countless genres and subgenres of indigenous-influenced music that often features pan flutes of many sizes: little ones that fit in the palm of your hand, or big ones that reach down to your knees.

Though popular bands like Proyeccion have modernized it, like many kinds of folk music, huayaño is originally dance music with poetic lyrics. The classic song “Ojos Azules” (video) is known throughout Latin America.

An interesting pop culture back-story is the origin of Jennifer Lopez’s 2011 club hit “On the Floor.” She (or her manager) wasn’t the first to hear a casino-like cascade of coins in the catchiness of that tune, which was originally ”Lllorando Se Fue” (“She Left Crying”) by Bolivia’s Los Kjarkas, who in turn had adapted it from an old Andes melody.

In 1989, it was made hugely famous and renamed “Lambada” by Kaoma, a French group with a Brazilian singer, who had covered note-for-note a previous Brazilian version of an even older Peruvian cover. Sounds complicated? It’s South America’s big-money answer to “the ABC song” / “Twinkle Twinkle” / “Ba Ba Black Sheep”.

Also, more recently “Llorando Se Fue” was the used as the chorus in “Taboo” by reggaetonist Don Omar.

Samba

Cross the border from Bolivia into Brazil, and everything changes. First, the language — on paper, Portuguese looks a lot like Spanish, but just wait until you have to speak it.

Also, the food — sure, there’s rice and beans and lots of fruit, but where’s the spice?

And, of course, the music. Yes, there’s lots of drums, loud bass, and lots of dancing, but listen a little closer (or try to learn the basic dance steps), and you’ll quickly find that you are listening to something quite different, and often much more complicated.

Brazil is its own world, and it has its own world of music.

Bossa nova, a mix of samba and jazz, is probably best known in the English-speaking world due to “The Girl From Ipanema.” Like trova, bossa nova is often just a singer and guitar, while samba has lots of drums and other instruments.

Samba rhythms mixed with jazz structures gave rise to bossa nova, which has since injected samba with a smoother, jazzier feel.  

Chico Buarque is luminary if Brazilian music — and how do you make a great musician even better? Pair him with someone like Mart'nália (video).

Variations on samba rhythms have been used in countless hits, such as “Sympathy to the Devil” by The Rolling Stones, “The Obvious Child” by Paul Simon, “Matador” by Los Fabulosos Cadillacs (ska/fusion legends from Argentina), and of course by many Brazilian rock bands, which gave rise to a kind of music called MPB, or musica popular brasileira.

Los Fabulosos Cadillacs at the Vive Latino music festival, Mexico City.

Samba is only one of many distinctly Brazilian styles of music, which include pagode, similar to samba; accordion-led dance and party music forro; carnaval party-music axe; and funk (roughly pronounced “funky”), Brazil’s answer to reggaeton.

Please check back for more articles that will further explore the many types of Latin American music.

Ted Campbell is a teacher, translator, and freelance writer in Mexico. He wrote a guide to Cancun and the Mayan Riviera, available online and atAmazon.com. For more stories of adventure, culture, music, food, and mountain biking, check out his blog No Hay Bronca.

An Introduction to Latin American Music AUG 6

https://nohaybronca.wordpress.com/2015/08/06/an-introduction-to-latin-american-music/

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An Introduction to Latin American Music

AUG 6

Posted by TC

Hello kind followers, Mexico aficionados, Spanish language enthusiasts, and music lovers. I’d like to thank Transitions Abroad – a great website for information about living abroad – for publishing my article about Latin American music, The Bus, Dance Floor, and Block Party.

Click the link for the article, and then click all the links in the article to hear some diverse music.

Speaking of music, enjoy these photos of Jenny and the Mexicats from a free outdoor concert in San Cristobal de las Casas:

  

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We’re down in Zipolite which is a beautiful, sort of away-from-it-all, type place. Unfortunately the beaches in this area are almost universally unsafe for swimming, especially for small children. However, it’s too hot and humid down here to do anything but go to the beach. So we tried a couple of different ones out, played in the shade as much as possible, and splashed around in the shallows whenever the seas let up a bit.

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