Sam's South American travel story

Sam pictured with with a traditional family of coffee farmers and producers

Think: teaching English, yoga and all things coffee.

Read Sam’s story below on how learning Spanish at The Language Academy helped him travel South America and experience the real parts with the real people of each country.

🅠 Where did you travel?

Ⓐ “I travelled for over 10 months in over 6 countries in South America. I started in Argentina building houses in Patagonia, then Bolivia teaching English and yoga before crossing over to Chile. After Chile I went to Peru and stayed there for 4 months running coffee courses and blending with local roasters for a café in Cusco.

From Peru it was Ecuador and into the jungle before finally settling in Colombia for the final part of my trip where I had the pleasure of working with a traditional family of coffee farmers and producers (pictured) I was able to learn all things coffee from the seed to harvest and eventually the cup.

Whilst I was there, I was also able to translate many books of coffee from English to Spanish so that they could use the information to start a coffee museum in their town to help tourism.”

🅠 When did knowing the local language help you out the most?

Ⓐ“If it hadn’t been for my studying with The Language Academy I would not have been able to do half of the things I did in South America and it really gave me the chance to get out of the typical tourist route and into the real parts with the real people of each country.

Not to mention South America is still a developing continent and many things can change without warning with anything from problems at border crossings, to protests delaying or changing bus routes unexpectedly. I saw many tourists fall into some bad situations trying to get by on only English and equally avoided many with my Spanish.”

🅠 What is one unforgettable memory you could have only experienced speaking the local language?

Ⓐ “The best thing about the trip was definitely being able to teach everything from English to a bit of latte art and coffee industry training where these people could really benefit and increase their opportunities at achieving so much more in life. It’s one of the most rewarding things you can do and it’s never unappreciated.

It gave the trip a totally new element of uniqueness.”

A big thank you to Sam for sharing your story with us, what an epic tale of discovery – we hear you are now adjusting to life back in Australia, so welcome home.

🗣️ If you want to learn Spanish, or brush up on your existing skills of another language, call us today on (07) 5578 6838 to find out more.