Geography & Natural Wonders
This country is the only one in South America with coastlines on both the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.
Colombia
These round, flat corn breads are popular in both Colombia and Venezuela.
Arepas
This Mexican musical tradition often features trumpets, violins, guitars, and performers in charro suits.
Mariachi
This ancient civilization built Chichén Itzá and Tikal and developed complex calendars and writing systems.
The Maya
This Mexican artist is famous for her self-portraits and paintings inspired by Mexican culture and identity.
Frida Kahlo
This Mexican holiday honors loved ones who have died, often with colorful altars called ofrendas.
Día de Muertos
This Central American country is famous for its canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Panama
These thick, stuffed corn cakes are a traditional food especially associated with El Salvador.
Pupusas
This traditional instrument, resembling a large wooden xylophone, is especially important in Guatemala.
Marimba
This empire built its capital, Tenochtitlán, on islands in Lake Texcoco.
The Aztecs
This Colombian singer is internationally famous for her Spanish and English songs and energetic dancing.
Shakira
This Colombian festival is famous for colorful costumes, parades, music, and dancing.
Carnaval de Barranquilla
This country is home to Angel Falls, the world's tallest uninterrupted waterfall.
Venezuela
This rice-and-beans dish is especially popular in Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
Gallo pinto
This Colombian musical style often features the accordion and tells stories through songs.
Vallenato
Mexico and most Central American territories gained independence from Spain in this year.
1821
This Venezuelan independence leader was known as El Libertador.
Simón Bolívar
This historic Colombian coastal city is famous for its colorful buildings, stone walls, and cobblestone streets.
Cartagena
This Central American country is famous for its rainforests, volcanoes, national parks, sloths, and toucans.
Costa Rica
This Venezuelan dish includes shredded beef, black beans, white rice, and fried plantains.
Pabellón criollo
This traditional Venezuelan music and dance style uses the harp, maracas, and cuatro.
Joropo
This Indigenous Colombian people were skilled goldworkers whose objects helped inspire the legend of El Dorado.
The Muisca
This K'iche' Maya woman from Guatemala received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 for her advocacy for Indigenous rights.
Rigoberta Menchú
This country is famous for its Caribbean coastline and barrier reef, part of the world's second-largest coral reef system.
Belize
This ancient Maya city in Guatemala is famous for its enormous stone temples rising above the rainforest.
Tikal
This famous Mexican sauce may contain chile peppers, spices, seeds, nuts, and sometimes chocolate.
Mole
This musical tradition of communities in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua often features drums and reflects African and Caribbean influences.
Garifuna music
For a short time after independence, Colombia and Venezuela belonged to this larger country.
Gran Colombia
This Colombian writer won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982 and wrote stories combining realistic and magical elements.
Gabriel García Márquez
This Venezuelan celebration features dancers wearing colorful devil masks and costumes in a religious tradition.
Diablos Danzantes