Spanish Blog

Love the show Desperate Housewives and want to improve your Spanish? Well, the good news is that you have two ways to do that. Univision is airing its version of the show with a multinational cast: Mexican actress Lucía Méndez as Alicia Arizmendi (Mary Alice Young), Venezuelan Scarlet Ortiz as Susana Martínez (Susan Mayer), Mexican Ana Serradilla as Gabriela Solís (Gabrielle Solis), Colombian Lorna Paz as Leonor Guerrero (Lynette Scavo), Mexican Julieta Rosen as Regina Sotomayor (Bree Van de Kamp) and Venezuelan Gabriela Vergara as Roxana Guzmán (Edie Britt). Other Spanish-language remakes of Desperate Housewives have been filmed for Argentina and Colombia/Ecuador, while Brazil has its own version in Portuguese.

Also, if your TV set has the SAP (second audio program) option, you can watch the original show with a Spanish soundtrack.

Check out a part of the first episode from the Argentinean version. Nos vemos prontito.

Have you ever had “atole”? Atole is a traditional cornstarch-based Mexican and Central American hot drink. Chocolate atole is known as champurrado and it’s typically accompanied with tamales (in Brazil they have pamonha).
This drink includes masa (corn meal), water, piloncillo (small blocks or bricks of unrefined solid cane sugar, rapadura), cinnamon, vanilla and optional chocolate or fruit. The mixture is blended and heated before serving. It can also be prepared with rice flour or oatmeal in place of masa. Although atole is one of the traditional drinks of the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead, it is very common during breakfast and dinnertime at any time of year. It is usually sold as street food.
There are some very interesting idioms using the word atole, check them out.

- Dar atole con el dedo: to swindle, to cheat.
- Tener sangre de atole: to be cold, or slow (said of a person)
- Con la que entiende de atole, escoba y metate, con esa cásate: Look for a wife who can cook, keep a house and sew. Usually said in rural areas.
- Más vale atole con risas que chocolate con lágrimas: Better be poor and live happily than with luxuries but sadly.
- No se puede chiflar y beber atole: You can’t do two things well at once. In Portuguese they say “You can’t whistle and eat sugar cane.”
- Si con atolito vamos sanando, pues atolito vámosle dando: If a method or way of doing things is effective, let’s keep it instead of making up a new one.
- Como dueño de mi atole, lo menearé con un dedo: I can do whatever I want with what’s mine.
- Contigo la milpa es rancho y el atole champurrado: Life looks wonderful when I’m with you. (tipically Mexican)

Here’s a very easy atole recipe in Spanish. Try preparing it and tell us how it tasted!

Ingredientes:

1 1/2 litro de jugo de fresa o fresas molidas
275 gramos de masa “como la de las tortillas”
2 tazas de agua
Azúcar a tu gusto
canela al gusto

Instrucciones:

Comienza hirviendo el jugo de fresa y la canela diluyendo la masa en la tasa, después de eso agrega el agua poco a poco hasta que todo esté completamente mezclado. Mueve constantemente y agrégale el azucar. Bájale la temperatura y deja reposar durante 10 minutos.

Hope you like it!

See you next time.

Puerto Rico is well-known for its wide range of musical talent and has provided artists like Ricky Martin, Olga Tañón, Luis Fonsi, La India, and Chayanne, just to name a few. The bomba and the plena, the salsa, and the reggaetón are some of the music genres that take over the radio stations nowadays. The website Music of Puerto Rico offers a thorough compilation of musical information such as intruments, artists, genres, audio clips, lyrics, and much more. Make sure you check it out and learn some more about this extremely culturally rich part of Puerto Rican culture.

Now, here’s an interview with Chayanne, a widely famous actor and singer who’s sold over 10 million records and has had nine number one singles on the Billboard Hot Latin Chart. Try and listen for the gist of the conversation, pay attention to their gestures and have fun listening to real and unedited Spanish. Enjoy and see you next time!