When I arrived in Granada in June, I knew I wanted a way to practice my Spanish language every single day. I had always heard the best way to do that was through music, but the reggaeton beats of BadBunny and Rosalía were difficult for me to understand and practice.
Luckily, in my first three weeks here, I stayed with a host-family in which my host dad/brother were very musically gifted. From my first night, they would show me song after song from the likes of the infamous Camilo Cesto, to Luis Miguel and finally, Aventura. The latter is the most famous bachata band of all time, a genre of music that involves a simple three-step dance, amazing guitar solos and intimate lyrics. I immediately fell in love with this type of music, but more specifically, Romeo Santos, the lead singer of Aventura. One day back in August, I was scrolling through the discography of Aventura on Spotify when I decided to check out their upcoming concerts. To my surprise, they were coming to Managua on November 5! I immediately looked up the price of the tickets but figured they were too expensive to buy. However, in the following weeks turned into months, I couldn’t stop listening to the Hispanic rhythms and the soothing voice of Romeo Santos on my bus rides and many walks around Granada.
Fast forward to the weekend before Halloween, and I was sure the tickets were too much money and that I wouldn’t know all the songs that were to be played. So as typical for us volunteers on a Saturday night, we watched some college football, drank some Flor de Caña and Toñas on our balcony and headed out to Encuentros (an upbeat bar with good music and good people). Luckily for me this night, I started talking to a group of backpackers from all over the world and ended up leaving Encuentros with a group of friends from Germany, England and the US. As we were walking down the lively, bar-filled Calzada street, I heard the beautiful singing voice of Romeo Santos that I had become so acquainted with in the last four months, luring me into this bar. I stopped the group in front of said bar and began to sing and dance, and although some were not interested, my friend from the US began to dance alongside me. We entered the bar together and continued dancing, and as it turned out, she is a Mexican-American who grew up listening to Aventura in her Indiana house. After a few songs, I brought up that ‘I wish I was going to Aventura’ and was met with the immediate response of “What?! When?! Where?!?!” So that night, we found tickets and discussed the idea of us going together in what was a week from then. Turns out, we did end up going, and it was, without a doubt, a highlight of my year. An absolutely amazing experience that I am so grateful for.
From learning about the genre four and a half months ago, to practicing my bachata dance in the shower and discovering new music on the bus, Romeo Santos/Aventura have given me an incredible opportunity to practice my Spanish and connect with other Latinos through music, something inconceivable if I had not made the decision to come be an English teaching volunteer in Granada, Nicaragua.
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