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I work in the architectural profession as a designer for a firm in San Francisco.
It is a goal of mine to learn Spanish fluently andI believe the best way to go about that is to live in a major Spanish speaking city.
From a practical standpoint I think it wouldbe best to work in my profession in a large Latin American city to support myself. Ideally I would like the experience of living abroad for around 3 years or so - I believe that may be ample time to learn the language and make a meaningful connection to a city.
The cities I am strongly considering are CDMX, Buenos Aires, and Bogotá.
My reasons behind CDMX are because it is a major job market in the Spanish speaking world and also because it has some fascinating historic and contemporary architecture. My only qualms might be the bad air quality and the hot weather - I am actually a fan of cooler weather similar to San Francisco (i.e. 50s and 60s Fahrenheit).
My 2nd option is Buenos Aires because, like CDMX, it is a large spanish speaking job market. But it also has fantastic architecture! And the urban center is much more dense and walkable than CDMX. I am also fascinated by Buenos Aires' architectural history.
My only qualms with Buenos Aires might be the hot humid weather during their summer as well as the general remotness from other places of interest (it's a far drive and flight to see anything interesting outside of Buenos Aires).
My 3rd choice is Bogotá. In terms of weather Bogotá sounds like it is the best option (in the 50s and 60s Fahrenheit most of the year). I hear that Colombian Spanish is also the most general form of the language.
The city als has some fascinating red brick vernacular architecture. However I am not sure how the job market is there. Nor how it compares to the other 2 in terms of safety.
Which of these 3 cities might offer the best experience to learn Spanish and work in the design field for a few years there?
Actually Buenos Aires among the 3 is the one that has more interesting destinations both by flight or drinving.
I guess there is quite a bit that I overlooked there.
With Montevideo across the river, Iguazu Falls, the wine growing regions of Mendoza, the alpine resorts at Bariloche, the glaciers of Patagonia. ...there is quite a bit. Though all those places are very far from each other.
I always thought CDMX had the most to see that is within a few hours drive from the capital. There is Cuernavaca and Puebla just outside the valley, Cumbres Del Ajusco Natl Park, Teotihuacan, Acapulco within a few hours drive, the Mayan ruins and beach resorts of the Yucatan a short domestic flight away.
I would recommend you start out by taking an intensive course in Antigua, Guatemala, the old colonial capital (full of beautiful old architecture). The best school in town (which has several imitators, but the original has the best instructors) is El Proyecto Linguistico Francisco Marroquin. They can arrange for a homestay for you, so you'll have a family to practice with, if you don't require the privacy of a hotel. You have the option of taking 4 hours/day of classes, or a full-time schedule of 7 hours. You can sign up for as many weeks as you like. Once you gain some fluency, then you'd be in a stronger position to make the kinds of connections you want in a major city. The weather in highland Guatemala is ideal October through about February.
http://spanishschoolplfm.com/
This is a non-profit school. The proceeds from language classes support research and dictionary publication in the Mayan languages. The school was set up by the Maryknoll Order (Catholic) back in the 60's, I think. They have very strict standards for their teachers, who are required to be able to teach Spanish as a second language, with a thorough knowledge of grammar.
If your main goal is to learn Spanish then Bogota is your best choice, Colombian accents are highly renowned amongst Spanish speaking people and also Colombia has got the most accredited institutions for learning Spanish: https://sites.google.com/a/sicele.org/sicele/
+ Colombia has got the oldest Academia de la Lengua Española in the continent.
+ Weather in Bogota is cooler than either Buenos Aires or Mexico City.
By Boat
Montevideo 2h (also take cars)
+130km Punta del Leste
By plane
Iguazu 1h50min
Bariloche 2h20min
Santiago 2h20min
Florianopolis 1h50min
Curitiba 2h10min
São Paulo 2h35min
Rio de Janeiro 2h55min
Among others
I'm not saying that Bogotá and Mexico don't have lots of places to go around. But for sure BUE has plenty nice places to go if his income permits.
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