THE SPANISH ADVENTURE BLOG

When is the Best Time to Visit Colombia Based on the Weather?
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When is the Best Time to Visit Colombia Based on the Weather?

Many travelers wonder about the best time to visit Colombia due to its rainy and dry seasons. However, one of the country’s charms is its highly varied climate. Colombia has diverse climate zones: warm and tropical along the coasts and plains, cool in mountainous areas, and mild in intermediate valleys. This variety means that while there are generally rainy and dry seasons, the weather can vary significantly depending on the region, and even within days in the same location.

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Volunteering in Colombia
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Volunteering in Colombia

Volunteering at a Spanish school in San Carlos can be an incredibly enriching experience. Not only do you get to immerse yourself in the language and culture of a beautiful country, but you also get to give back to the community for example by teaching English to local students. In this blog, we'll explore what it's like to volunteer at a Spanish school in San Carlos and why it can be such a rewarding experience.

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Top 5 places you cannot miss during your trip to Colombia
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Top 5 places you cannot miss during your trip to Colombia

It’s a good sign that I’m finding it hard to make a list of only five places you can't miss in Colombia. My three weeks in Colombia have turned into three months and counting. This country has so much to offer and I have loved exploring the diverse landscapes as well as getting to know the rich culture. Between all the cities, mountains and coasts it can be hard to know what to do in Colombia and even harder to choose only five places you can’t miss… but I’ve tried my best. 

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"The Happiest Are Those Who Do For Others" - My English Teaching  Experience in San Carlos
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"The Happiest Are Those Who Do For Others" - My English Teaching Experience in San Carlos

Like many others, I arrived at Spanish Adventure with one main goal - to become as fluent as I can in Spanish in a short time period. My expectations were exceeded with the number of amazing experiences, friends, and lessons that I received here. Without a doubt one of the best decisions in my travels to arrive here - but we’ll get to that later :) What I did not expect was the joy and fulfillment I would receive from teaching English as a volunteer.

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Life experience over job experience
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Life experience over job experience

Like with most tasks that have been put on hold for a while, I’m having a hard time finding a place to start. So why not start in, uhm, southern Italy, in June 2019. Back then I was on vacation, camping and surfing with some good friends. The weather was incredible, our camping site was located right by the ocean and the wind was strong. Shortly before, I had just started my first job in a rehabilitation hospital after finishing university for a degree in psychology. My original wish was to travel the world before starting my career, but that’s kind of difficult when you don’t have any money saved up for it. So I did what my parents urged me to do: I took the path of flawless CV’s and least resistance, leading straight into the world of full-time-work. I searched for a job to begin my therapy program, found one, and eventually started helping people get their life back together while mine was not really where I wanted it to be.

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4 Reasons Why You Should Learn a Language (& Travel!) with your Partner
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4 Reasons Why You Should Learn a Language (& Travel!) with your Partner

My husband and I have been together for a little over 4 years. The first night we met, I told him about this epic “World Tour” that I was planning to take one day and he was ALL about it. Fast forward a few years to early (“pre”-pandemic) 2020: we were celebrating our wedding and looking forward to finally making our World Tour dream a reality… and then COVID-19 happened.

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Travel in the Time of COVID-19
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Travel in the Time of COVID-19

At the beginning of 2019, my wife and I started making arrangements to leave our jobs and take a 14-month sabbatical starting in April 2020. When the pandemic “started” in March we had already sold all of our furniture, purchased numerous never-to-be completed flights, and set irreversible dates for our departure from work and the end of our apartment lease. In short, we were going somewhere. This blog post is not written to convince others that travel in the time of COVID-19 is or should be accepted. Instead, it is written to describe our experience and provide some tips and predictions for those who decide to travel in the short-term future.

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Adventures in Antioquia Colombia: Rock Climbing in  Guatapé
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Adventures in Antioquia Colombia: Rock Climbing in Guatapé

Thanks to Spanish Adventure’s excellent location in San Carlos, the school offers great insight into the area’s hidden gems. Guatapé, just two hours from San Carlos, is famous for her 200-meter tall, granite rock: El Peñol. Most tourists take the stairs to reach the top—but Spanish Adventurers aren’t “most tourists”, so we tied in to harnesses and ropes for incredible, adrenaline-enhanced views of the area.

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Colombia's national sport: Tejo - steel, explosives, and beer.
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Colombia's national sport: Tejo - steel, explosives, and beer.

While Colombia’s civil war is formally over, one explosive part of its history remains. Colombia’s national sport, Tejo, involves gunpowder, steel projectiles, and alcohol. A combination of any of the latter might sound like a recipe for disaster, yet blowing stuff up while drinking beer is perhaps the best national sport a country could wish for.

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How to be a Vegetarian in Small-Town Colombia
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How to be a Vegetarian in Small-Town Colombia

Before coming to Colombia, Colombian food seemed to consist only of meat-filled empanadas and arepas - not really vegetarian. Moreover, vegetarianism is not widespread in the region - less than eight percent of South Americans eat no meat. However, being a vegetarian gave me the opportunity to try new food and improve my Spanish at the same time!

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