Spanish

Spanish Conversation Practice – ‘Intercambios’

Spanish Conversation PracticeHaving studied Spanish grammar in Guatemala and Ecuador until I was blue in the face, my Spanish language learning leveled out for a while simply because I couldn’t face opening up another grammar book.

Then I arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina and decided to try out the famous Intercambio concept. Put simply, an Intercambio is a language exchange between two people. You meet up, spend half the time talking in your native language and half the time in theirs. This usually takes the form of meeting for a coffee and chatting for an hour in English and an hour in Spanish, although some Intercambios I have done have lasted 5 hours or more…!

I have been using a website called Conversation Exchange to organise Intercambios in Buenos Aires, Madrid & Barcelona. You need to register and add a brief profile (no photos allowed incidentally), then you can either contact people or wait until people contact you.

Intercambios also have a bit of a reputation as a means of meeting potential partners. Out of 15 people that contacted me in Buenos Aires from the Conversation Exchange website 14 were women between the ages of 28 and 33. My Colombian friend suggested to me that they were all after European visas. Or maybe it’s simply the fact that more women are learning English?

Whatever the underlying motivations, intercambios are a great way to practice your Spanish, get out and meet local people, and make new friends.

Colonia del Sacremento, Uruguay

Colonia del Sacremento, Uruguay
Colonia del Sacremento, Uruguay

Colonia del Sacremento is a beautiful small colonial town only a two and a half hour ferry ride from Buenos Aires. It has everything a place needs to be a tourist Mecca – a beach, cobbled streets, intriguing history and a location overlooking the Rio de la Plata.

The city has some good guesthouses, restaurants, bars and expensive supermarkets.

The city was founded by the Portuguese in 1680 to smuggle goods across the Rio de la Plata into Buenos Aires. The Spanish captured it in 1762 and held it until 1777, when tax reforms finally permitted foreign goods to proceed directly to Buenos Aires.

Studying Spanish in Cusco, Peru

Finding myself with a few days to kill in Cusco, and having seen enough colonial churches and Incan ruins to last a while, I decided to try and find a Spanish school that I could join at short notice and do a few days of one-on-one Spanish lessons.

Spanish classes in Cusco, Peru

I quickly found out about the Fairplay Spanish School, a relatively new Cusco-based NGO that trains local Peruvians who wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to become Spanish teachers – especially single mothers – to teach Spanish. Fairplay then acts as their agent finding them work and then taking 33% of the fee with the rest going directly to the teachers.

As I’ve already studied 8 weeks of one-one-one Spanish on this trip in both Guatemala and Ecuador, and have done huge amounts of Spanish grammar, I specifically requested to just spent my time on conversation practice. I spent my time with my teacher (Marta) pictured above, strolling around the museums, plazas, shops and markets of Cusco, chatting away. The photo above was taken at San Cristobal church overlooking Cusco in the middle of one of my Spanish ‘classes’.

I would highly recommend Fairplay Spanish School and especially Marta (herself a single mother) to anyone thinking of studying Spanish in Cusco, Peru.

Further information

You can contact Fairplay Spanish School through their website at http://www.fairplay-peru.org.

The Fairplay Spanish school charges the following:

$15 or $30 enrolment fee (the higher fee includes the Fairplay grammar book)
$4.50/hour – for one-on-one lessons with a less experienced teacher
$6/hour – for one-on-one lessons with a more experienced teacher

Whilst in Cusco, I stayed at Andes de San Blas guesthouse. It is located in the heart of San Blas (Calle Carmen Alto 227), and costs about $10 a night including breakfast and free wi-fi internet.

You can contact them at andesdesanblas@hotmail.com or by phone on (+51 84) 242 346.

Video: Hervideros organic mud-baths outside Tumbes, Peru (Spanish/English)

When crossing the border from Ecuador to Peru I lost my bus onwards to the Hare Krishna village north of Lima. This meant I had to spend the night and the whole next day in Tumbes. At first I was a bit annoyed because I really wanted to move downwards towards the Hare Krishna sanctuary.

However, I met a young guy named Mauro Alexander, who was my taxi driver when I arrived in Tumbes, and he changed my point of view. He suggested that he would come and pick me up at my hotel the next morning at 10 and take me to Zorritos beach and Hervideros mud baths.

Having left Thomas in Ecuador (he had to work) I was now a woman travelling alone. This made me feel a bit vulnerable. I considered several times whether to accept Mauro’s offer and decided to say yes eventually. Why? Because I remembered when I visited Nepal back in 2006. I met a guy called Shiva in a wool shop. We talked a few times and he invited he to come and stay with him and his brother two hours outside of Kathmandu in their small village for the night. My intuition told me that I could trust Shiva and I decided to say yes. That visit is one of the most memorable 24 hours in my life. Shiva and his brother took care of me like a beloved sister and at night he gave me his bed and cover and slept himself with his brother. Shiva is one of the kindest people I have ever met in my life – he has such a good heart and always thinks about other people. Still to this day, when the world is against me, I think about Shiva – to remind myself that there are many wonderful and loving people. That’s why I said yes to the invitation from Mauro – because sometimes we have to take chances in life to fully enjoy the beauty of it.

So Mauro picked me up at 10 and we drove to Hervideros. Hervideros is placed in the south of Zorritos, in Monte Guacura (Guacura Mountain), in the department of Tumbes. Hervideros has several natural pools with medicinal high-temperature waters that contain iodised salts, minerals and special properties for skin and for health. The surrounding area is the most beautiful area I have seen in Peru. We spent a few hours at the mud-baths and afterwards we went to Zorritos beach before Mauro took me to my bus bound for Lima.

The mud baths were not in my guidebook (it had free entrance), but you can contact “Mauro Alexander” through facebook and pay him to drive you there. It is very beautiful and well worth a visit. The video above shows you me covered in mud and Mauro who also explains (in Spanish) about Hervideros.