Latin America is more diverse than many people think. During my travels throughout Central America, South American and the Caribbean, I’ve come to realize how greatly this is so. Latin America is not simply a part of the world marked by the Spanish language, a warm culture and the love of fútbol. It is much more, much grander… It much more unique than that.

Having had the opportunity to travel throughout the various locations mentioned above, I’ve gained a deeper understanding of what it means to be Latin American in these parts of the world and how Latin American cultural identity can differ. Although not an expert on Latin American history and culture, the experiences I’ve had while traveling throughout Spanish speaking countries have been quite impactful and insightful and have lead me to various conclusions regarding the uniqueness of the Latin American regions/countries.

Below I’ve highlighted some of the ways in which Central America, South America and the Caribbean are different and what I found to be particularly special about my time in each location.

Central America

What a treasure Central America is! Having first traveled to Central America when I was in high school, I came to learn how simple and influenced by indigenous culture parts of Central America are (that being Guatemala especially). While walking through the cobble stoned streets of Antigua, Guatemala, my classmates and I took in the sights of the surrounding mountains, the volcano in the distance, the pastel colored buildings and were tempted to buy the handmade crafts and jewelry almost every time we saw a native woman wearing brightly colored, traditional clothing doing so. Pleasant sights such as these became the norm as we did some exploring throughout Antigua that week, but we also became familiar with the not so pleasant sights that mark the poor countryside in Central America as well.

Central America is a region of Latin America that has been stricken with poverty. I came to understand this more clearly when I traveled to Central America for the second time. On my second trip to Central America, I had traveled to El Salvador where I spent time visiting my sister who had been serving in the Peace Corps. We stayed in the small, humble home of a women in the community named Moncha who, despite not having much, provided for us with what she had and extended warm, hospitable hands towards us.

For the 10 days that I was there, I observed life in the poor, Salvadoran country side and got to know some of the community members over coffee accompanied by home-baked breads and cookies. It was amazing to see how connected the community members were. Despite not having a lot of physical possessions, many of folks that I met were rich in relationships and filled with love for others. I mean, the ENTIRE community knew that I was coming before I got there and many wanted to meet me. In the end, I was able to personally speak with and spend time many of them.

As a woman of color, it was interesting to observe people’s perceptions of myself and my sister. In El Salvador, the colored population is scarce due to a history of race laws that prohibited blacks and other racial groups from entering so we certainly were “exotic”. For example, our incredibly coarse and curly hair was quite the novelty. My sister even received the nickname “curly haired girl” because of it.

Overall, my time in Central America was precious. Central America is especially filled with natural beauty and simplicity and the people I’ve gotten to know are as equally as warm as the climate. However, the harsh reality is, Central America is also a region that has been greatly affected by poverty (as well as other social issues such as narco trafficking) which has led many community members to flee to the United States.

South America

 

While in South America, I had the opportunity to spend time in the cities of Lima, Peru and Buenos Aires, Argentina and made a short visit to Colonia, Uruguay. The cities visited, I came to find were much larger than the cities I had passed through while in Central America and they were incredibly modern. Lima, has its own short of charm as it was on the coast and is famous for its great food and is a popular destination for tourists on their way to Cuzco. Buenos Aires, being “the South American equivalent to Paris”, has been greatly influenced by Europe making the food and culture a mixture of both Europe and Latin America. Even though the cities in South America, especially Buenos Aires, seem to be a bit faster paced than other areas of Latin America I’ve visited and incredibly modern, the culture is still very family orientated and affectionate, people typically greeting one another with a kiss on the cheek.

Despite South America being very built up in many places, is also home to lots of natural beauty such as in the famous Patagonia region in Argentina/Chile. It is also home to two of the the new seven natural wonders of the world, the Amazon River/Rain forest and Iguazu Falls. I had the privilege of visiting Iguazu, located in the North of Argentina, during my time abroad and loved it. Never before had I seen a waterfall so big or walked through a jungle so dense and vibrant. It was certainly one of my favorite excursions.

As a woman of color in South America, again I found myself in the great minority, especially in Argentina. There is not much racial diversity in Argentina, not even when it comes to indigenous culture. In Peru, however, there is more indigenous culture, particularly in the rural areas where indigenous women continue to make crafts and clothing to sell. I came to find that there is also a large Chinese migrant population in Lima, Peru as well which has led to the creation of a Chinese/Peruvian cuisine called Chifa. While eating at one such restaurant I had some of the best sushi that I’ve ever had! I would highly recommend Chifa to visitors.

Poverty, although seemingly not as evident in some parts as it was in Central America, is also a great problem in South America as well. During my time in Argentina, some of my friends and I traveled to the countryside where we helped build a home for a poor family. Poverty is even an issue in the city. The outskirts of Buenos Aires are home to a variety of poor neighborhoods akin to the favelas in Brazil.

It is also relevant to note that the way they speak Spanish in Argentina and Uruguay is certainly distinct! In no other Latin American countries do they pronounce the double “l” with the “shh” sound. This is something that I had to get used to and learn how to imitate at times for my host mom to understand me clearly.

The Caribbean

While in the Caribbean, I spent time in the Dominican Republic. This experience was certainly unique compared to other experiences I’ve had while traveling throughout Latin America. For one, I had the opportunity to enjoy a warm tropical climate, swim in crystal clear waters and eat lots of tropical fruits. The way people speak Spanish in the Dominican Republic is also unique. It is (to me) more fast paced and filled with lots of slang. When it comes to the rhythm of life the country, the city of Santo Domingo, the capital, did not appear to be at as slow as the rhythm of life in rural Central America or as fast of a pace as the large city of Buenos Aires, except for the traffic. In the city, people drive aggressively and close together, making for quite the thrilling ride at times, especially in the down town areas.

In general, the culture was warm and welcoming. Folks that I got to know in the community near which I stayed greeted me with a smile and seemed very interested in getting to know me. While I was there, I spent a good amount of time working alongside women from a poor area of the city, a slum, called Las Malvinas who I was able to get to know fairly well along with their children. In general, the Dominican Republic, especially parts of Santo Domingo, is incredibly poor. As I did not spend my time in a tourist destination such as Punta Cana, I saw this first hand and during my time there I helped in the effort to fight poverty to which the residents I served seemed grateful.

Out of all the areas that I’ve visited in Latin America, I seemed to fit in the most in the Dominican Republic. For one, as a person of color, I was in the majority. I even had a lady ask me if I was Dominican (my accent in Spanish seemed to give me away when I spoke for too long). People understood my hair and braids and no one pointed it out as if it was anything unique. As a daughter of a Bermudian woman and having visited Bermuda many times, I’ve also been exposed to typical island culture from young so being in a place where people rode motor bikes and ate plantains (platanos) and cassava (yuca) was not new to me. This familiarity making my time in the Dominican even more comfortable and inviting.

In the end…

I am incredibly grateful for the experiences I’ve have abroad in these different locations. Each has enabled me to learn, grown and expand my world view tremendously. In addition, all my experiences abroad in Latin America have been precious in one way or another and have shown me just how unique and diverse Latin America is. I encourage you to go and see for yourself!