Sebastian: Hola! Soy Sebastian y estás escuchando el pódcast Un día en español, a Spanish podcast for beginner learners! Each episode welcomes you into a day in the life of a Spanish speaker in Latin America or the US. I’m here to help you out and make sure you've learned some new Spanish expressions by the end of this episode!

Did you ever go on a school trip? It's something that many students look forward to. But they aren't affordable for everyone, so it takes some students considerable creativity to come up with ways to raise money for their trip. Today we're going to hear how Tomás and his classmates use their entrepreneurial skills to raise money to travel to the Patagonia region of Argentina. Let's listen to Tomás' story!

Tomás: Hola, me llamo Tomás. Tengo 17 años y soy de Argentina. Hoy mis compañeros de clase y yo tenemos una misión importante.

Sebastian: Have you noticed? Tomás is Argentinian, and as you might have heard in other episodes, one of the characteristics of Argentinian Spanish is to pronounce words like llamo and yo with a kind of "sh" sound. In addition to this, if you listen closely you‘ll notice that Tomás doesn‘t pronounce the “s” in certain words.

But anyway, what is this important mission that Tomás and his compañeros de clase, his classmates, have?

Tomás: Necesitamos plata, dinero, para nuestro viaje de fin de curso. Todos los años, los estudiantes del último año de escuela hacen un viaje de cinco días a Bariloche.

Sebastian: So he says necesitamos dinero, we need money, for the school trip. Every year the students in their last year of high school, los estudiantes del último año, go on a trip to Bariloche. This is a city, una ciudad, in the Patagonia region of Argentina. It's al lado de, next to, a glacial lake, el lago Nahiel Huapi, and it‘s also next to the Andes mountains.

Tomás: Bariloche es una ciudad en la región de Patagonia. Está al lado del lago Nahuel Huapi y de la cordillera de los Andes.

Sebastian: They've heard thousands of great stories from the students that have been there. What they usually do there is visit some tourist attractions in the city, as well as senderismo por la montaña, hiking in the mountains, or they visit the lake. All of those things take place during the day, and every evening there's a party. As Tomás says, this trip is la mezcla perfecta para unas vacaciones inolvidables, the perfect mix for an unforgettable vacation.

Tomás: Los estudiantes que hacen el viaje de cinco días a Bariloche siempre tienen miles de historias geniales. Durante el día hacen turismo por la ciudad, senderismo por la montaña, o visitan el lago. ¡Y todas las noches hay fiestas! Es la mezcla perfecta para unas vacaciones inolvidables.

Sebastian: But all good things have a price, and the trip to Bariloche is no exception. Unfortunately it's not cheap, barato, but rather caro, expensive, and they need money for their viaje de fin de curso, end of year trip.

Tomás: Pero tenemos un problema: necesitamos dinero para el viaje de fin de curso. No es un viaje barato… es bastante caro.

Sebastian: Right now, they're once again discussing how to raise money. Tomás' friend Juan, who is a genius, has a brilliant idea. Let's hear what he says!

Tomás: Ahora estamos hablando otra vez de cómo conseguir dinero. Mi amigo Juan, que es un genio, tiene una idea brillante.

Juan: –Escuchen chicos,

¿saben cuál es una buena idea? Vender empanadas. A todo el mundo le encantan las empanadas.

Sebastian: Juan strongly suggests that they sell empanadas, a fried or baked pastry stuffed with various fillings that's common in Argentina and across Latin America, something that everybody really likes, a todo el mundo le encantan las empanadas.

Sebastian: After Juan's speech everyone agrees to selling the empanadas. He's truly un genio!

Tomás: ¿Ven? ¡Juan es un genio! Todos dicen que sí a las empanadas.

Sebastian: So, al día siguiente, the next day, they all meet at Juan's house. They have all the ingredients that they need in la cocina, the kitchen, but there's a problem: they don't know how to cook empanadas! They really should have thought this through beforehand. What are they going to do now?

Tomás: Al día siguiente todos nos encontramos en la casa de Juan. Tenemos todos los ingredientes que necesitamos en la cocina, pero tenemos un problema: no sabemos cocinar las empanadas. ¿Qué vamos a hacer?

Sebastian: Luckily Juan calls his grandma. She tells these students what they need to do to cook some delicious empanadas. And they start cooking! At first it's a bit difficult but after preparing tres o cuatro they become experts.

Tomás: Entonces Juan llama a su abuela por teléfono. Ella nos dice qué necesitamos hacer.

Todos empezamos a cocinar. Al principio es un poco difícil, pero después de hacer tres o cuatro empanadas ya somos expertos.

Sebastian: Hours later, they're at the park ready to sell the empanadas. There are a lot of people at the park, but they're not stopping at their puesto de empanadas, empanada stand.

Tomás: Horas más tarde estamos en el parque para vender las empanadas. Hay muchas personas en el parque, pero no se paran en nuestro puesto de empanadas.

Sebastian: But, as usual, Juan has an idea. He gets up on a chair, se sube a una silla, to advertise the empanadas, para hacer publicidad de las empanadas.

Tomás: Juan se sube a una silla. ¿Qué hace?

Juan: –Tengo una idea, Tomás. Voy a hacer publicidad de nuestras deliciosas empanadas. Ayuda.

Tomás: –...OK

Sebastian: Juan starts to shout about how delicious the empanadas are, empanadas like the ones his grandma makes. He shouts that they have empanadas with meat, de carne, and also vegetarianas. And he asks the people in the park to buy empanadas for them and for their family, compren empanadas para ustedes y para su familia. He asks them to help the students go to Bariloche, ayuden a estos estudiantes a viajar a Bariloche.

Juan: –¡Empanadas caseras, como las hace mi abuela! ¡Deliciosas empanadas de carne y también vegetarianas!

¡Compren empanadas para ustedes y para su familia! ¡Ayuden a estos estudiantes a viajar a Bariloche!

Sebastian: And Tomás also starts to shout about the delicious empanadas! But Tomás adds an extra twist to his announcement: some rhyming! He says that they are both for the carnivorous and the vegetarian. And tells people that it doesn't matter if they just want una dos o tres, as they have enough for the whole mes, month!

Tomás: –Deliciosas empanadas para el carnívoro y el vegetariano. ¿Cuántas necesitan? ¿Una, dos o tres? ¡Tenemos empanadas para comer todo el mes! ¡Compren estas deliciosas empanadas!

Sebastian: But the rest of their classmates look at them with sus ojos muy abiertos, their eyes wide open. They're even turning a bit red… which makes Tomás’s cara, face, also turn a bit red. I mean, when you're 17 you're afraid to make a fool of yourself, hacer el ridículo.

Tomás: El resto de nuestros compañeros y compañeras nos miran con los ojos muy abiertos. Están todos un poco rojos … Yo también tengo la cara ahora un poco roja. ¿Estamos haciendo el ridículo?

Sebastian: But, do you remember? Se acuerdan? Juan is a genius. His idea of advertising the empanadas makes the people in the park stop and look at their puesto, stand. And de repente, suddenly, there's a fila, a line of people waiting to comprar, to buy, empanadas.

Tomás: Pero, ¿se acuerdan? Juan es un genio. La gente mira nuestro puesto. Y de repente, hay una fila de personas que quieren comprar empanadas.

Sebastian: It's increíble, incredible, because people aren't buying just one. The first person buys five. And many people buy more than six. A lady at first wants seven or eight, but she ends up buying nine. And another man buys ten!

Tomás: Es increíble. La primera persona compra cinco empanadas. Y después muchas personas compran más de seis. Una señora quiere siete u ocho, pero después compra nueve. Y un señor compra diez empanadas.

Sebastian: So in one hour they sell all of their empanadas! This is a great business idea! They explain to the people who were not able to buy one that they will be selling them the whole week.

Tomás: En una hora vendemos todas las empanadas. Explicamos a las personas que quieren comprar que ya no tenemos más, pero vamos a vender más durante toda la semana.

Sebastian: Thanks to Juan's idea, after a week of hard work preparing and selling empanadas at the park, they raise enough money for their trip.

Tomás: Después de una semana conseguimos dinero suficiente para nuestro viaje.

Y por fin, ¡cuando viajamos a Bariloche la pasamos de maravilla!

Sebastian: And finally, when they get to Bariloche they have a great time! So in the end the empanada business proved to be a very successful one. The kids' hard work really paid off. I'm impressed with their entrepreneurial skills, and their cooking skills…! But it's Juan's grandma who may be the real hero of that story!

Were you able to catch a lot of the Spanish in this episode? Visit babbel.com/podcasts to follow along with the dynamic transcript, get helpful learning resources, and test your knowledge with the full Spanish story.

Un día en español is produced by the language experts at Babbel. Whether you're hoping to make new Spanish-speaking friends or explore a new culture, the Babbel app teaches everything you need to understand and use the language. Thanks for listening and ¡Hasta el próximo día!