My name is Leobardo Elizondo, im an exchange student from Monterrey, Mexico. I study chemical engineering in Tecnologico de Monterrey. I joined this course to learn more about Latin America and to know (try to understand?) the perspective people have about us.
I REFUSE to believe that Latin America is just an idea (even if its an idea that works and has consequences), in my peronal point of view… Latin America is the connection that the habitants of certain territories have; its a mixture of culture (product of the Spanish colonization) yet it maintains independency between different countries. Latin America is gastronomy, is music and mostly, its UNION. Latin American countries are tied between each other, even before the Spanish arrived natives had already developed relationships within their own people.
«The meeting of two worlds» I liked this video because of the information it contained, it explains how two different cultures collided, in terms of information i believe it contains the essence, however, i think there is a mistake when they say Colombus goal was to look for gold, the real goal was to find a new route to India through the sea. Another thing i didnt like was the fact that the opresenters were reading all the information and you could even see the papers from where they read. Because it is an informative video i expected them to know the information and just look at notes, as reading a paper just makes the whole video boring and improvised.
«Modernity in Latin America» is the second video i saw. I liked that they approached the topic as they started from a general idea (the fact that Latin American countries had an economic boom) and then reduced their focus to individual countries explaining which resources were traded with europe or between them. They also included some effects of the new econom, being the most important (from my point of view) the «new paper» of woman which granted them more liberties to work and do different things than just staying at home. Im «glad» they mentioned the slavery aspect as this brought another different culture to the countries, enriching not only in races but cultural aspects as slaves would later on be released and slavery being one of the reasons for most countries to search for their independence. I absolutely loved how they spoke of Porfirio Diaz, giving both types of arguments, the fact that he was a dictator but helped the economy of Mexico.
Latin American Studies 
Hmm. Perhaps I should have added that as well as an idea, Latin America might also be a feeling? I do like that thought.
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While listening to this week’s podcast, I was clicking around on the blog posts of our class, noticing your page had Spanish prompts, so I started reading. Your post this week caught my attention, and I started scrolling through your previous posts. I agree with you, 100% that Latin America (at least the small window of it that I have been fortunate enough to experience) is…something special that escapes my mind to find a word to describe it…a certain no sé qué. The sense of community that I have experienced in my quick visits to Latin American countries is something I have an immense amount of respect for…something I have never seen. It is truly a feeling that one can only experience by being there.
My first trip to Latin America was to Puerto Vallarta. No no, not the fancy resort district, we stayed just outside of La zona romántica. It was an amazing experience. The folks we encountered were a proud, welcoming people who answered our questions and asked about the place we came from. In fact, I still keep in touch with one of the vendors who I met there. My second trip was to Cuba, a place that enchanted me and changed my way of thinking forever.
You are quite right, Latin America is something that fills one’s spirit, their being, how they live life and experience life. It is their way of waking up in the morning and going through their day…with family, with community.
A friend of mine on Facebook has a page called «Latin America is a Country» that includes various articles from all over the place in Latin America, about Latin America, the people, the culture, the food, the music. Check it out if you are interested.
Cuídete,
Craig
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