Spanish Cultural Project for four countries.

1. SPANISH CULTURAL PROJECT
By Harrison Chen

2. CANCUN, MEXICOMexico’s most famous beach resort can be nothing but Cancun. Hundreds of
thousands of tourists came down to Cancun for the amazing beach view and
all-inclusive resort hotels. Cancun has one of the best tourism services and
most people. With over 140 hotels, Cancun has been providing tourists with
authentic hospitality since 1970. Famous hollywood stars and families from all
around the world come to this magical place during holiday seasons. Cancun
has made Mexican beach resort business profit billions every year.

3. CANCUN, MEXICO ATTRACTIONS

4. MEXICAN FACTS
The Official Name of Mexico is United Mexican States. It is the 11th
largest country in the world in terms of population and 14th largest
country in terms of total area. Although most people speak Spanish as a
colloquial language, Mexico actually has 68 official languages. These 68
languages consists of 68 distinct indigenous indigenous languages from
the aboriginal people of Mexico. Mexico introduced lots of food source
such as chocolate, chillies and corn to the world. Even popcorn was first
domesticated in Mexico 9000 years ago. Mexico also has a really
interesting “Tax System” which is different from most parts of the World.
In Mexico, artists can pay their taxes with their art works. This method
significantly helped the Mexican artists to relieve their debts, unlike in
other countries, artists might lose their jobs because they do not have
the money to afford tax.Mexico also has the historical shortest
presidency in which Pedro Lascuráin, the 34th president of Mexico
served less than one hour.

5. MEXICAN FAMOUS PEOPLE
Alejandro González Iñárritu(Aug 15, 1963-) is a
director and film producer known for Birdman, Babel
and Biutiful. He is the first Mexican director to be
nominated in The Academy Award. He started out as
a adventurer, travelling across Atlantic Ocean by ship
alone at the age of 17. His journey to Europe and
Africa gave him some influences to pursue film
making. In the 80s, when he came back to Mexico, he
finished his communications degree at Universidad
Iberoamericana, and started his career as a radio
host. He soon climbed up the ladder and became the
director of a radio station. In the 90s, he began
producing TV shows and Movies in which his career
started to boom incredibly fast. After his successful
debut of Amores Perros, he continuously came under
the spotlight of Hollywood fame. Most recent
accolades for Alejandro is winning the Academy
Award for Best Director and Best Motion Picture of the
Year—Birdman(The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).

6. SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO

7. WHAT TO DO IN SAN JUAN

8. SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO
San Juan is the capital of Puerto Rico, a port
city situated at the northern point of the country.
It was discovered by Christopher Columbus on
his second journey across the Atlantic Ocean.
San Juan became an important military outpost
for Spain. Famous castles or fort such as
Castillo de San Cristobal and El Morro was built
as defence against possible invasions.
Nowadays, San Juan is one of the biggest and
best natural harbours in the Caribbean and is
the second oldest European-founded city in
theAmericas. It is the key metropolitan area for
Puerto Ricans. San Juan’s original name was
actually Puerto Rico, and is switched to San
Juan in the 1500s. San Juan also has the the
highest crime rate in the world which is
comparable to New Orleans and Detroit.

9. PUERTO RICAN CUISINE
Puerto Rican Cuisine can be described as a fusion of
European and Latin American cuisine. The locals call their
cuisine "Cocina Criolla”.Cocia Criolla came from the
ancient inhabitants in Puerto Rico who used corn food,
tropical fruit and seafood to prepare a meal. When Ponce
de León arrived with Columbus in 1493, the Spanish
added beef, pork, rice, wheat, and olive oil to the island's
foodstuffs. Soups are popular appetizers for Puerto
Ricans. Soups such as Frijoles Negros (black-bean soup)
and Sopón de Pollo Con Arroz(Chicken Soup with Rice)
are among the signature soups that are liked by tourists a
lot. Main courses include adobo and sofrito, blends of
herbs and spices that give many of the native foods their
distinctive taste and colour, fried beefsteak with onions
and roast leg of pork, etc…These food sources all come
from the natural local Puerto Rican ingredients. Desserts
usually include some form of flan (custard) or perhaps
nisperos de batata (sweet-potato balls with coconut, cloves
and cinnamon). Chefs in the restaurants also like to make
different style of cakes such as orange layer cake, banana
cupcakes, and guava cake.

10. PUERTO RICAN ACTOR
Benicio Del Toro(February 19, 1967-) is born in San
Germán, Puerto Rico. He started acting career in the late
80s and thriving since mid 90s. Most notable films are
Traffic(2000), Snatch.(2000) and The Usual Suspect(1995).
He mainly portrayed Mexican drug lord, corrupted cop and
other villain types of characters in most movies. He won the
Oscar for best supporting actors in Traffic which is a film
about how drug trade between Mexico and US impact the
lives of low-rise civilians, crooked cops and militaries of
Mexico, government officials of US and the teenagers in
both countries. Benicio is a charismatic and passionate
actor, despite his villain countenance. The authenticity in his
roles are largely emphasized and reflected in our modern
world. Although his families always wanted him to be a
lawyer, he still pursed acting despite all the financial
problems he had in the early years. He continued his
education in UCSD and Studied at the Stella Adler
Conservatory of Acting on a scholarship.

11. DOMINICAN
REPUBLIC

12. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
HAS IT ALL

13. GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION OF DOMINICAN
REPUBLIC
Dominican Republic is situated at Northern Caribbean Sea right next to Haiti. In fact Dominican
Republic have 2/3 of Island of Hispaniola, and Haiti has the other 1/3. While Dominican Republic is
a popular tourist destination, Haiti suffered severely from impoverishment. Dominican Republic, at
48,921 sq. km, is the second largest country in the Caribbean, after Cuba. It contains varieties of
highlands and lowlands offshore islands, rivers and lakes, all of which contribute in some way or
another to the varied beauty of the country and the adventure travel options to explore. Although it
is on an island, it has five mountain ranges which The Cordillera Central has the highest mountain
range. It also contains Pico Duarte, the highest mountain in the Caribbean, at 3087 meters. Large
portion of the country is mountainous land which gave locals hard times to travel when they want to
set out to the cities. However the elegance of nature is preserved quite well in all regions of
Dominican Republic.

14. RELIGION PRACTICES IN
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
In Dominican Republic, Roman Catholic
is the most dominant religion practised
among 57% of the people. There are
also 23% protestants, 18% atheist and
2% other religions. There are estimated
7.6 million people were baptized
Catholics in Dominican Republic, almost
78% of the total population. Protestants
in Dominican Republic migrated from
US back in 1800s. Later, Protestant
Organizations are growing stronger and
stronger after more people were
emigrated to the country, which added
diversity to the religious representation
in the Dominican Republic.

15. FAMOUS DOMINICAN REPUBLICANS
Dominican Republic is famous for its popular
baseball players who not only plays in the nation, but
also across North America. Antonio Alfonseca, a
retired relief pitcher, played in Major League Baseball
for the Philadelphia Phillies, Florida Marlins, the
Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves and Texas Rangers.
He has a win-loss record of 37-35 with 400 strikeouts
and 129 saves. He has won the World Series
champion in 1997 and NL Rolaids Relief Man of the
Year in 2000. He is known for his six fingers on each
hands, which is also the reason he was named “El
Pulpo”,The Dragonslayer, and Six-Fingers. It mights
be genetic problems since his grandfather also has
this trait, but Antonio regards it with pride, as a kind
of family emblem.

16. FACTS ABOUT SPAIN
Although Spain is the origin of the language Spanish, only 72% of people in
Spain speaks Spanish. The rest speaks Catalan, Galician, Basque and
others which shows that Spain has a diverse minority groups in the country.
The National Anthem of Spain has no words but tones. It’s one of the few
countries that do not require people to actually sing the words out aloud.
Spain’s architecture can be described as one of the most delicate artistic
forms of all time. The The Eiffel Tower was originally intended for Barcelona,
Spain, but the project was rejected. The Sagrada Familia Church has been
under construction for more than 130 years and still expected to be
completed by 2026. The world's oldest existing lighthouse is the Tower of
Hercules, in Spain, erected in the first century and still operational.
Agricultural products such as olive oil has 43% production done in Spain.
Spain also has the highest unemployment rate in the world with a 27.7%
higher than 25% in the Great Depression Era for US. In 2011, a small town in
Spain, Town Of Sodesto,on the brink of financial ruin, bet on the world's
biggest lottery and won with $950-million lottery jackpot.

17. BARCELONA, SPAIN
Barcelona is the capital city of Spain and the most populous and popular city within the country.
Barcelona is one of the world's leading tourist, economic, trade fair and cultural centres, and its
influence in commerce, education, entertainment, media, fashion, science, and the arts all
contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities. Barcelona is a transport hub. The
Port of Barcelona is one of Europe's important seaports and efficient European passenger port.
Barcelona–El Prat International Airport handles above 35 million passengers per year for tourists
and business. An extensive motorway network and a high-speed rail line is built so that Barcelona,
a core city in Europe, connects with all other great nations, and provides significant convenience
for travellers.

18. TOP 10 ATTRACTIONS IN
BARCELONA

19. FAMOUS ACTOR FROM SPAIN
Javier Bardem, one of the most famous Spanish
actors in Hollywood, won over 100 awards including
an Oscar, Winning Supporting actor for the film “No
Country for Old Man”. Javier started of acting in the
Spain film business with notable film such as “Mar
adentro”, “Segunda piel” and so on. In most of
Javier’s movie, he portrays emotionally harmed or
psychologically disturbed characters. In “No Country
for Old Man”, he starred as a bounty hunter who had
anti-social personality disorder. Throughout the film,
he showed his apathetic and ruthless behaviour
towards the people obstructing his way, and threw
coins to decide who should live or die. His talent in
acting brought him to be the first Spanish actor ever
win an Oscar award.

20. BIBLIOGRAPHY
• "Antonio Alfonseca Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com." Baseball-
Reference.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Aug. 2015.
• "Benicio Del Toro." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 11 Aug. 2015.
• Carmack, Justin. "28 Interesting Facts about Spain + Highlights -." True Nomads. N.p.,
07 June 2013. Web. 11 Aug. 2015.
• Carmack, Justin. "35 Interesting Facts About Mexico -." True Nomads. Interesting
Country Facts, 09 May 2013. Web. 13 Aug. 2015.
• "Geography of the Dominican Republic by Hispaniola.com." Geography of the
Dominican Republic by Hispaniola.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Aug. 2015.
• Kitchen, The Latin. "18 Traditional Puerto Rican Recipes." 18 Traditional Puerto Rican
Recipes. N.p., 6 June 2013. Web. 11 Aug. 2015.
• Reps, Sunwing. "Cancun Is a Place like No Other." Cancun Is a Place like No Other.
Sunwing.ca, n.d. Web. 18 Aug. 2015.
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May 2009. Web. 11 Aug. 2015.
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AP Worldstream.
• Wloszczyna, S. (2012, December 1). Spanish Cultures Converge in NW Bookstore. The
Washington Post.