The Strange Sounds of Brazil
Four months before I left London (back in 2009) I started taking weekly Spanish lessons in preparation for a five month trip to South America. My teacher was Ivette, a lovely Chilean woman and although 16 lessons isn’t a lot, she managed to get me to a reasonable standard so that when I arrived in Argentina I was able to order beers, follow directions and make very rudimentary conversation.
The next four months brought adventure, misadventure and discovery. I made my way through Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Colombia before deciding that five months wasn’t going to be enough. I tore up my return ticket and continued my journey through Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua (where I met the woman who later became my wife), Guatemala and finally to Mexico.
The extreme southerly and northerly points of my trip – Spanish all the way!