Shaved ice drenched in colorful, tropical-flavored syrups. In Colombia and Venezuela the raspao is the heat's antidote: small, cheap, and available on every corner when the sun gets serious.

A hardcore party person who treats every day like it could be a celebration and needs no excuse to get the music going. Across Argentina, Spain, Colombia, and beyond, the fiestero is the social engine — the one who organizes the plans, fills the dancefloor, and stays until the lights come on.

An incredibly hard-wooded tree that lives for hundreds of years without bending. In Colombia, calling someone a guayacán is the highest compliment: you're strong, you endure everything, and nothing breaks you.

In Spanish, to go around and around mentally — obsessively thinking about the same thing without ever reaching a conclusion. Circular thinking that keeps you stuck in the same loop.