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!

Just like the English speaking world, the Spanish speaking world also consists of non native speakers. Today we’ll hear a true adventure into the Spanish language! Karina, from Germany, has lived in Colombia and Mexico, which has brought her Spanish to a fluent level. She tells us about a two day trip to an animal sanctuary in Iquitos, Peru. To reach the sanctuary she had to travel by boat through the Amazon rainforest and test both her strength and her luck! But it was all well worth it, as she was able to enjoy two weeks volunteering with rescued animals and staying in the magical Peruvian Amazon!

Karina: ¡Hola! ¿Cómo están? Soy Karina de Alemania, pero vivo en Colombia. 

Hoy viajo a Perú porque quiero trabajar como voluntaria en la Isla de los monos.

Sebastian: Her trip starts, empieza, in the Colombian city of Leticia, which is at the border, la frontera, with Brazil and Peru. And the way she's going to get to Iquitos, Peru, sounds truly magical: she's going to travel en barco, by boat, down the Amazon river. Doesn't it feel like an adventure already?

Karina: Mi viaje empieza en Leticia, una ciudad en Colombia que está en la frontera con Brasil y Perú. Voy a viajar en barco por el río Amazonas hasta la ciudad de Iquitos, en Perú.

Sebastian: Iquitos is a key port city in the Peruvian Amazon area. That’s where Karina's destino is: la Isla de los monos, or in English, the Monkey Island. This is an animal sanctuary where they protect, protegen, the monkeys from the mercado ilegal, and la caza, hunting. They help monkeys get ready to return to the wild, or as Karina says it: “to live free again”, vivir otra vez en libertad.

Karina: Iquitos es la ciudad más grande de la Amazonía peruana. En Iquitos está mi destino: la Isla de los monos.

Es un santuario para monos. Allí protegen a los monos del mercado ilegal y de la caza.

Su objetivo es preparar a los monos para vivir otra vez en libertad.

Sebastian: Karina says quiero trabajar como voluntaria allí, “I want to work as a volunteer there”. She wants to take care of animals, cuidar animales. She's really looking forward to this, and it does sound like an extraordinary experience, no wonder she feels very ilusionada, thrilled, about it.

Karina: Quiero trabajar como voluntaria allí. Quiero cuidar a los animales. ¡Estoy muy ilusionada!

Sebastian: So her trip to Iquitos starts in the evening, empieza por la noche. The trip will take ten hours! But that's not a problem for Karina, she says: puedo relajarme, I can relax, observe the river at night, observar el río por la noche, read, leer and sleep, dormir.

Karina: Mi viaje en barco hasta Iquitos empieza por la noche. Van a ser 10 horas de viaje, pero puedo relajarme, observar el río por la noche, leer y dormir.

Pero, de repente, el barco choca y un ruido me despierta.

Sebastian: But, suddenly, de repente, el barco choca, the boat crashes and a noise, Karina says, “wakes me up”, un ruido me despierta. What happened? The boat has crashed into un banco de arena, a sand bank. All the passengers have to get off and help push the boat, empujar el barco, so that it goes back into the water!

Karina: ¡Ay, no! El barco está en un banco de arena. Todos los pasajeros tenemos que ayudar. Tenemos que empujar el barco para que vuelva al agua.

Sebastian: Después de media hora, after half an hour, the boat is back in the water. However, all the passengers that helped push must hurry and nadar para volver al barco, swim to get back to the boat!

Karina: Después de media hora, el barco está otra vez en el agua, pero todas las personas tenemos que nadar rápido para volver al barco.

Sebastian: Uf! I hope the passengers were wearing swimsuits. I usually wouldn't expect to end up in the water when I get on a boat. But they are now all a bordo, on board. The trip continues and por suerte, luckily, without any more problems for Karina. Well, for now…

Karina: Ya estamos todos otra vez a bordo. ¡Uff! Ahora el viaje continúa… y por suerte sin más problemas. Al día siguiente llegamos a Iquitos.

Sebastian: On the next day they arrive at Iquitos. After a bumpy boat ride, Karina is very tired. She has a reservation at a hotel.

Karina: Tengo una habitación reservada en un hotel. Estoy muy cansada.

Sebastian: The next morning she wakes up at 6 am and goes to the dining room for breakfast, a desayunar. After breakfast she packs her things and gets ready to check out and pay.

Karina: Me despierto a las 6 de la mañana. Después de desayunar recojo mis cosas y voy a la recepción a pagar.

Sebastian: En la recepción, at reception, she tells the recepcionista that she wants to check out and that she's ready to pagar la habitación, pay for the room.

Karina: –Buenos días. Quiero hacer el checkout y pagar la habitación.

Recepcionista: –Perfecto, solo una noche, ¿correcto?

Karina: –Sí, solo una noche y el desayuno.

Sebastian: The receptionist lets her know that the room is 80 soles. Sol is the Peruvian currency, which also means “sun”. Karina wants to pay with her credit card, but they only accept cash, solo efectivo… So Karina desperately needs to go to a cajero automático, a cash machine (or ATM). The closest one is five minutes away a pie, on foot, at a casino.

Recepcionista: –Una noche son 80 soles.

Karina: –Quiero pagar con tarjeta, ¿puedo pagar con tarjeta de crédito?

Recepcionista: –No, lo siento, solo aceptamos efectivo.

Karina: –Oh… pero no tengo suficiente dinero. ¿Hay algún cajero automático cerca?

Recepcionista: –Hmm… el más cercano está a 5 minutos a pie, en un casino.

Sebastian: Well, that's annoying! She has to walk to the casino. But, Karina's luck once again betrays her, and the cajero automático at the casino doesn't work. And if this wasn't enough, it's Sunday, and todos los bancos están cerrados, all the banks are closed!

Karina: Camino hasta el casino.

Pero el cajero automático no funciona. ¿Qué voy a hacer? Es domingo y todos los bancos están cerrados. ¡Qué desastre!

Sebastian: The situation is truly a desastre. But desperate situations call for desperate measures, so Karina counts her monedas, coins, and decides to try her luck at the casino. Between you and me, after seeing how her luck has panned out so far on this trip, I'm not sure if this is the best idea!

Karina: Situaciones desesperadas necesitan medidas desesperadas… Cuento mis monedas y decido probar mi suerte.

Sebastian: Well, here we go, she walks into the casino. She goes to the first slot machine and puts a coin in…

Karina: Entro en el casino. Voy a la primera máquina y meto una moneda… Nada, no gano.

Sebastian: It was a long shot… Nada, nothing, no gano, “I do not win”. So she tries a second time…

Karina: Lo intento otra vez y… nada. Bueno, tengo suficientes monedas para intentarlo otra vez.

Sebastian: She doesn't win the second time either. But, oh, no, she's going to try it again, she has monedas suficientes, enough coins to try it one more time. Aaaahh I can't watch this! Or, I mean, listen to it!

Karina: Bueno, voy a intentarlo una última vez. Meto las monedas y…

¡No puedo creerlo! ¡Muchas monedas empiezan a salir de la máquina!

Sebastian: Oh my gosh! She won! I can't believe it, no puedo creerlo, and neither can Karina! Many coins, muchas monedas, start to come out of the slot machine, empiezan a salir de la máquina.
Finally her luck has turned! Now she has enough money, suficiente dinero, to pay for the room.

Karina: Tengo suficiente dinero para pagar la habitación. ¡Qué suerte!

Sebastian: She goes back to the hotel, and she's running, corriendo. She pays for the room and then finally gets on another boat to go to the Isla de los monos. And believe it or not, this time without any problems!

Karina: Vuelvo corriendo al hotel. Pago la habitación y por fin voy en otro barco hasta la Isla de los monos, ¡esta vez sin accidentes!

Sebastian: After a journey full of unexpected obstacles, she spends two unforgettable weeks playing with and taking care of the monkeys. She feels lucky once again, or as you would say in Spanish: “the luck smiles at her”, la suerte le sonríe.

Karina: Y después de un viaje con muchos problemas, paso dos semanas inolvidables cuidando y jugando con los monos. ¡La suerte ahora me sonríe!

Sebastian: Wow! What a trip! I'm so happy that Karina's luck finally changed! And hey! Someone please sign me up for a trip to the Monkey Island!

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!