Learning Spanish Through Music

My Spanish Notes

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Learning Spanish Through Music Posted: 19 Oct 2013 11:37 PM PDT Today I have something special for you all.  My friend Ted who writes the blog No Hay Bronca,  has written a great post for us.   No Hay Bronca is where Ted writes about his experiences living and traveling in Mexico and Central America, Mexican music, culture and a whole lot more.  I clearly remember being instantly hooked on his blog after reading just one entry, so be sure to check out his blog, No Hay Bronca.    And if you plan on traveling to Cancun be sure to check out his post Having a great time (and cheap) in Cancun without doing the all-inclusive thing.  It's got some great travel tips.  I plan on traveling to Cancun myself this year and I've already gotten some great ideas and advice from him. Anyway, I've rambled on enough.  Ted's going to take it from here.  Enjoy! Learning Spanish Through Music by Ted Campbell I joke that when I first moved to Mexico three years ago, I only knew three words of Spanish: cerveza, bonita, andgracias. All those boring years of high school and university Spanish were totally wasted. But the truth is I’d already done some traveling in Latin America before and was quite confident when ordering food, getting a hotel or having some light chitchat on the bus. But Mexico – especially Mexico City – is another story. At times Mexican Spanish seems like another language. It’s full of slang, and much like American slang, the meaning can change depending on the situation. Imagine yourself at a party where everyone speaks gibberish. The music is just loud enough that you have to lean in close to hear what people say. And when the words come through, you can hear but you still don’t really understand. You experience a strange mixture of boredom, frustration and odd contentment. And what makes it worse is that the people keep coming because you speak just enough gibberish to encourage them to talk more. And it goes on until 5 a.m. And when you wake up it starts all over again. I had this experience countless times during years of parties and weekend trips with friends before I became reasonably fluent in Spanish. Once on a 5-day trip in Puerto Vallarta, after days of barely understanding nonstop conversations in Spanish, I sat next to my buddy on the beach and pulled out my notebook, asking him to explain some of the words I kept hearing. I jotted down about 20 words and their many meanings. From then on those words jumped out at me as the trip went on. I like this blog and asked to write a guest post on it because it teaches Spanish the way I learned it – straight from the street. I suffered through a lot of parties but picked up something from every one of them. I hit the books and worked my way through Spanish grammar. And I learned a lot from listening to music in Spanish, as well as discovering really good bands that few English-speaking folks north of the border have heard of. If you want to learn Mexican Spanish the natural way, but don’t have a Mexican friend to sit down with and explain it to you, then listen to music. Listen to Panteon Rococo, Molotov, Celso Piña, Los Tigres del Norte, or one of the many other great groups from Mexico. Café Tacuba plays in many styles, but can best be described as alternative rock. Chilanga Banda is their take on rap/hip hop. It’s chock-full of Mexican slang, many starting with ch-. I can’t claim to understand everything he’s saying, so I won’t explain the whole song. Instead I listed some common Mexican slang that appears in it. Please add to my list in the comments! Chilango: Someone from Mexico City, known as D.F. in Spanish. Chilanga Banda means Mexico City Band. Chamba: A job, and not a fun one. The verb is chambear Chava: gal, kid, or a child. Chava is for a girl and chavo is for a boy. Chafa: something cheap or low quality Chela: beer Ñero: A low class person, aka naco From the chorus: Pacheco: stoned; high on marijuana Cholo: Mexican hip-hop kids, who wear baggy pants and flat-brimmed hats Churro: Mexican donuts, a long tube of fried dough covered in sugar. Or it’s the word for a blunt, an above-average sized joint. It’s easy to find the complete lyrics on Google, for this or any song. Search for Chilanga Banda letras – letras is the word for lyrics in Spanish. Do this for any song you like. Better yet, sometimes kind souls make videos on YouTube that have the lyrics: Ted Campbell nohaybroncablog@gmail.com http://nohaybronca.wordpress.com/ I write a blog about living in Mexico called No Hay Bronca. Most posts are travel stories, but one of my most popular is called TopTen Mexican Slang. Thanks to Rodney for letting me contribute this guest post.

Buenos Dias . . .

Bryan Adams - Heaven (David Archuleta Acoustic Cover)

zipolite

Van Halen - Right Here Right Now Concert (HD)

Van Halen - Hot For Teacher (HQ music video)

This IS Nice. I will MAS Van Weezy here .. . . . :)

Playa Zipolite. Welcome To The Beach Of The Dead!: VanWeezy chris vanorman waterford mi, United Stat...: VanWeezy chris vanorman waterford mi, United States   152 followers

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

VanWeezy chris vanorman waterford mi, United States

VanWeezy

chris vanorman
waterford mi, United States

•  152 followers

Some of my friends were here ... I worked that night at the worlds second largest concrete structure on this small world of ours ...

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image by last.fm

ArtistBon Jovi Artist statistics Add setlist

VenueSpokane Arena, Spokane, WA, USA

TourBecause We Can - The Tour Tour statistics Add setlist

• Edit venue & date  

Very cool.

They had a great time.

I did too . . .

20 Days Until My Next 2 Week Adventure Begins! ivan

Cusco (Cuzco) Peru Adventure Travel | Budget Travel Adventure

larkycanuck / 2 days ago

TOP 5 REASONS WHY NOT TO VISIT CUSCO (CUZCO), PERU

Cusco (or Cuzco) is the second largest city in Peru, and once upon a time, the largest city in South America during the era of the Inca Empire. Cusco was the central capital of the Incas. While most budget adventure travelers spend much time in Cusco (it is after all the base point for all Machu Picchu travels), the Larkycanuck does not recommend spending more than 2 days in Cusco. Here are the top 5 reasons for not doing so.

View of Cusco City from the airplane

1. Altitude

At 3,400 m (11,200 ft), Cusco is higher in elevation than Machu Picchu ruins, which stands at only 2,430 m (7,972 ft). Unless you are accustomed to such altitudes, or have acclimatized to it by spending 2 days, you are likely to feel symptoms of altitude sickness ranging from anything mild like dizziness, nausea to extreme like faint spells, cramps, severe breathing problems. Consult your doctor at home before undertaking a trip up here.

2. Tourist Trap

With over 1.5 million tourists visiting Cusco any given year, if the UNESCO had an official list of World Tourist Traps like it does for its Heritage Sites, Cusco would be in the global top 10. Which is good. But also bad. As one can only expect of tourist traps, the place is bustling with mostly overpriced hotels, restaurants, clubs, and souvenir shops. If you are likely to be ripped off anywhere in the world simply for being touristy, this place is it. While you may convince yourself that any purchase made serves the local economy and handicrafts, think twice! Make that thrice! Most souvenirs and handicrafts are not actually made in Peru, let alone by the Andean handicraft workers. Although official tourist staff will “recommend” authentic locations, beware. Recommendations don’t mean much from any stranger, official or not. It helps to know aninsider, like an international tourist guide, to suggest where the bargain stops are. And most genuine guides will be upfront in not recommending Cusco.

Saksaywaman

3. Not much to see

Besides a few notable exceptions, the city downtown itself does not have much to offer in terms of things to see in Cusco. There are some ruins outside the city centre, but once you have done Machu Picchu and Pisac, these local ruins are tiring at best to visit. Extremely boring at worst. So I recommend touring these local spots (Saksaywaman, Qorikancha, Tambomachay, Kenko) and others before departing for Machu Picchu trek. There are some notable tours to take within Cusco, but most local operators do not offer it, which is sad. It is a behind the scenes Cusco tour offered by select companies.

4. Dining options are blah!

I will admit that I did not spend enough time in Cuzco to be the authoritative source on dining options. But two meals and several walks along the plazas to find Starbucks, McDonald’s, and other fast food delicacies of North America is enough to hint at what to expect. Don’t waste your money on fine dining or expect authentic experience unless you go with a local. There are many other places in Peru to indulge.

Tambomachay

5. The crowd

See point #2 above. The visitors are not just foreign tourist. A good part includes Peruvians from other regions and other Latin Americans. The crowds can get bothersome at certain times, especially if you take a local tour that caters to mostly Peruvian crowd. We took such a bi-lingual tour in Cuzco. While the guide was really good and gave a different (local) perspective of the sites than a tour guide catering exclusively to foreigners, we were delayed extensively by locals who were on the tour bus (one did not show up for 30 minutes and was finally left behind by the group).

My fans familiar with my budget adventure travel stories will of course find my top 5 reasons to not visit Cusco as facetious.  It is partially true. Cusco does have some spectacles worth visiting. Check out some of these photos below, and I will let you decide.

 

Disclaimer: A portion of this tour was sponsored by Gate1 Travel. Check out their other incredible tours in Peru.

http://larkycanuck.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/089.jpg?w=660

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Moderate earthquake – Oaxaca, Mexico on October 18, 2013

Moderate earthquake – Oaxaca, Mexico on October 18, 2013 Click on the “I Felt It” button behind the corresponding earthquake. Your earthquake experience is not only important for science, but also for people in the area ... earthquake-report.com/.../moderate-earthquake-oaxaca-mexic...
Earthquake - Magnitude 4.1 - OAXACA, MEXICO - 2013 October 18 ... Earthquake - Magnitude 4.1 - OAXACA, MEXICO - 2013 October 18, 02:43:45 UTC earthquakestoday - recent and latest earthquakes, earthquake map and ... www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=339668
4.1 magnitude earthquake near Miahuatlán, Oaxaca, Mexico and ... 10km NE of San Cristobal Amatlan, Mexico - 4.1 EARTHQUAKE - Oaxaca, Tehuacán, Minatitlán, Coatzacoalcos, Córdoba, Orizaba, Veracruz, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, ... earthquaketrack.com/quakes/2013-10-18-02-43-45-utc-4-1-68 You felt this earthquake. Tell us! Magnitude mb 4.1 Region OAXACA, MEXICO Date time 2013-10-18 02:43:45.0 UTC Location 16.39 N ; 96.34 W Depth 69 km Distances 448 km SE of Mexico City, Mexico / pop: 12,294,193 / local time: 21:43:45.0 2013-10-17 83 km SE of Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico / pop: 262,566 / local time: 21:43:45.0 2013-10-17 10 km NE of San Cristóbal Amatlán, Mexico / pop: 3,539 / local time: 21:43:45.0 2013-10-17  Source parameters provided by:  National Earthquake Information Center, U.S. Geological Survey -- Golden, USA (NEIR) More information at:  USGS/NEIC Denver, USA  GeoForschungsZentrum (GEOFON) Potsdam, Germany

Zipolite chill out

PARTIAL ECLIPSE OF THE MOON - TODAY, visible from Zipolite if the clouds allow!

Only Sam M 7:05 am Oct 18 PARTIAL ECLIPSE OF THE MOON - TODAY, visible from Zipolite if the clouds allow!  ..... Enjoy http://www.timeanddate.com/ eclipse/lunar/2013-october-18 Oct 18 – Oct 19, 2013 Penumbral Lunar Eclipse www.timeanddate.com The Penumbral eclipse on Oct 18 – Saturday, October 19, 2013 - Are you able to see it

Geo BalZipolite The best sunsets in the world not to mention the beach today with full moon super breaker ..... I mean super romantic

Geo BalZipolite

The best sunsets in the world not to mention the beach today with full moon super breaker ..... I mean super romantic

Barefoot youth basketball team wins Mexico’s heart The impoverished youths from an indigenous tribe went undefeated in Argentina. By CHRIS CHASE – October 16, 2013

Barefoot youth basketball team wins Mexico’s heart

The impoverished youths from an indigenous tribe went undefeated in Argentina.

By CHRIS CHASE – October 16, 2013 at 4:29pm EDT

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A group of Mexican youths from the small population of indigenous Trique Indians are being hailed as heroes in their home country after going undefeated at a youth basketball competition in Argentina. Their heritage is only part of their story.

Because many of the boys can’t afford to buy sneakers, most of the players on the team play barefoot. That didn’t hold them back at the International Festival of Mini-Basketball, where the team went 6-0.

The AP reports the boys’ success earned a one minute ovation on the floor of the lower house of Mexico’s Congress.

Mini basketball is pretty much exactly what you’re thinking. The court is smaller, the free-throw line is closer to the backboard and the baskets are lowered.

The Kitchen or Cocina Posted on October 10, 2013

The Kitchen or Cocina

Posted on October 10, 2013

17 Comments

The kitchen has to be in the top 1 or 2 rooms one would pick as a favorite. It is mine. I have no man caves so it is the kitchen for me.

First off there is equipment (the garage is not really part of the house and does not count guys). We have blenders, coffee makers, coffee grinders, Cuisinarts, vacuum seal machines, colorful Kitchenaid or otherwise mixers, shiny woks, pots and pans and all kinds of knives, spoons and forks not to mention wine and beer openers etc. I mean the kitchen is a place to marvel at technology (forget about the computer station). And our kitchen comes with a pretty woman who spends most of her waking hours in that room (lucky me).

The Mexican Kitchen Can Be a Real Social Meeting Place – BYOP – Bring Your Own Paddle

We have a park bench in our Casita kitchen. A seat to watch the action and the pretty lady in motion. Better than a seat in the park I would say. I spend time on that bench just marveling at the devices and the processes that go into preparing more than a 1000 meals a year.

I am the first to admit some of our accommodations are not the glitzy fancy type. We have no bidets or sparkling porcelain tubs or grand pianos. We do not have television screens the size of the one at the drive-in. Things are pretty simple around our houses. But we do make an effort to have the tools and provide the space for where food production occurs.

If there is any one room that will show you are no longer in a 1st world country it is the Mexican kitchen. I mean a bedroom is pretty much a bedroom as is a bathroom, living room or den. You will probably not see a molcajete, a tortilla press, or a tall bottle of propane in that U.S. kitchen of yours – no not likely. The sinks and cabinets are usually simpler. Mexican kitchens usually appear more utilitarian (we are discounting Tancho’s kitchen here) I have yet to see a store selling Wolf stoves or Sub-Zero refrigerators.

We have seen wood fired cooking areas and baby chickens scurrying about. We saw one more or less outdoor kitchen area with a large cement tank/sink that served not only to wash dishes but as a watering trough for the family horse. I kid you not.

We have been challenging our fellow Bloggers in our Mexico or Bust community of Blogs to showing their living condition. No holding back – even the laundry and bathroom did not/will not escape our peering eyes.

The Calypso Couple have four very modest houses. We will confine our kitchen exploration to the casa we are currently at in Xico, Veracruz. Ask us again when we are in Puerto in a few weeks.

Background: We have owned this Casita for 8 years or so. For the first 4 or 5 years we utilized the kitchen built into a 9 foot Lance truck bed camper which rests comfortably on Mexican dirt here in Xico for these many years. In the beginning there were three of us – mostly living in that camper. We eventually restored a couple of rooms in a Casita. We now have an office/bedroom/living room upstairs and a new, by a couple of years, kitchen that we built on a deck we had built when we first moved in.

If you have been following along for a while you watched and read about the cocina construction.  It is in here amongst the many 100’s of 1000′s of words. Check back in May and June of 2011 by going to the right – look in the monthly archives.

But alas here is our cocina/dining room; well kitchen with park bench is more accurate:

If you look carefully you will see a propane gas tank in the corner. Under a Silpat mat we have a one burner induction stove top. Then we have a two-burner propane gas stove-top – very crude, but functional. Also note the mocajete – not often seen in a U.S. kitchen where as nearly all have and use one here in the Hood. Guacamole made in a mocajete – mm –  you will never go back to a mixing bowl.

Induction Stove Top, Gas Two-burner and even a French Press

Nothing fancy in the sink area – kind of upscale for the Hood at that.

Señora Calypso at the sink.

We have refrigeration in the Hood

You might have noticed the refridge is hiked up on blocks – probably seldom seen in First World kitchens. Here it is a matter of possible water rising up on the floor and the fact that Mexican appliances are made for short people – there are none of those little people at the Calypso Casa.

Plastic shelving as opposed to lovely wood cabinets is a necessity in a humid area. At the beach the hinges will rust to needing replacing in a year. Air flow and plastic instead of metal wherever possible.

We do have a microwave with convection baking, nearly all the tools that a modern U.S. kitchen might have – just resting on a cement floor in the tropical jungles of Veracruz, Mexico and stacked on plastic shelves. We even have a recently added Keurig coffee maker.

So OK our cocina is pretty simple and definitely sports a Mexicano flavor. Now we are sending out the challenge to show us your food processing work stations. This has already been in discussion (with my ongoing threatening). So Laurie has put in her two cents HERE (she is such a good sport) and Felipe reminded me that his cocina has been on the Internet for viewing for several years. I think it really represents what a gringo can put together here in Mexico when money is no object – I mean wow – just keep me out of there when I have a hang-over!

Our water bottle sits on the floor – this does shame me.

And Felipe claims he doesn’t even know what a Wolf Range is – woof, woof! But then we have not seen Tancho’s Kitchen Kastle – because if memory serves me – it probably cannot be topped – Tancho?

Hopefully many of you will contribute a photo(s) of your Mexican (or otherwise) kitchens.  We will all be closer when we know where everyone is during the commercials.

Stay Tuned!

Posted in Consumerism, FACTOID, Friends, Frugal Travelers, Mexico, Mexico-Travel, Opinion, The States, Ursulo Galvan, Xico | 17 Comments