This is the only African country that speaks Spanish | Equatorial Guinea 🇬🇶

INTRO I am from Equatorial Guinea, which is the only African country that has Spanish as its official language. It's like that. It's like saying welfare. And the most unusual thing I saw is that they sell you heads and bodies of animals like monkeys, hedgehogs, snakes and yeah, you literally see the head of the chimpanzee there We are in Equatorial Guinea, the only African territory whose official language Where are we? is Spanish. I have been wanting to come here for years and finally decided to make this trip. I am going to spend several days in the country and will try to document various factors from how Spanish is spoken here, what the accent is like, what some colloquial words are, aspects of its culture, architecture and infrastructure in general, to some interesting and somewhat disturbing facts about its economy and system of government. We certainly have a great adventure ahead of us. Come on, Equatorial Guinea awaits us.- Let's hit it. The current population of the country is just over one.six million people, of Population which it is estimated that more than half are under eighteen years of age, a product of the fact that for cultural reasons, many tribal people have many children and also that many more move to study in other territories and then do not return. Local languages Now Spanish is not the only language spoken. In fact, there are about twelve languages spoken in the population, ranging from the languages of the native tribes to a little French, pidgin or pichi English and of course Spanish, as a result of the fact that they were a colony of Spain for many years. It is very difficult to enter the country Something I should mention is that visiting Equatorial Guinea, at least for me as a Mexican, is not easy. To obtain the visa they ask you for too much information, even bank statements, how much you earn, why you are coming, where you are going to be specifically every day? And undoubtedly what is most striking from the moment you get off the Your infrastructure plane is the infrastructure of the streets. Unlike in many parts of Africa, at least the countries I have visited, here you see many paved roads, sidewalks for people to walk and less dirt roads, at least in the region of Malabo, which is the capital. We should know that Equatorial Guinea is divided into two large territorial extensions, one being the island where we are currently located and the mainland, so called because it is connected by land with the rest of the continent, where if you notice that some infrastructure is lacking is in public Public transport transport, as there is practically none. People move around a lot in shared cabs and it is more than evident that you see cabs everywhere in the streets and also people are transported in shared vans that receive the colloquial name of one hundred one hundred. This is because they usually cost one hundred francs, which is the currency used. But beyond that, if we are talking about a train, subway or bus system with large signposted routes, that does not exist. And the methods for people to get to and from work are usually more up to the companies. This is the accent Now let's move on to what I know causes you the most intrigue about how Spanish is spoken here, what is the accent or what are the idioms? Well, roughly speaking, I have noticed that it is very similar to the Spanish we hear in many parts of Spain, the word "tío" is used a lot, "qué hacéis", "a dónde váis", these kinds of details, but what's the use of me explaining them to you? We'd better talk to some locals on the street so they can hear it. I am from Equatorial Guinea. The curious thing about this country is that it is the only African country that has Spanish as its official language. We are very proud to be a Spanish-speaking country, despite being the only one in Africa. Hey, I heard that, for example, the sound of the R is strong, it is not pronounced. Well, it depends. There is an ethnic group called Bubi, in which this is registered a lot in the R, in its pronunciation of the r instead of r they say j. It is understood not as old dog, but as deaf, something like that. This is more common in the Bubi ethnic group. I, for example, am Fang and it does not register in my speech. Well, here almost everything is shared by Spain, but we have local words like estar, Whazo, WhatsApp. You see like say how is it going, how is it like that nice greeting, WhatsApp something like that it's like it's like saying well, the kid is fine, Well I grow up in the city of Malabo, on the island of Bioko and the society in general. Equatoguinean is quite welcoming to anyone who speaks Spanish. Here behind us, on the pedestrian bridge, we are watching some freestyle battles going on. Spanish rap battles in Equatoguinean Spanish is something you don't see every day. He is good Santi, he is one of the local big youtubers in Equatorial Guinea. How are you my Santi? Ah, very well, a little bit anxious, to be honest. This has totally caught me by surprise. Hey, I'm very curious about the music that young people listen to. Here they are more local artists from Spain, from other parts of Africa. Nowadays everything is ruled by national artists, dill is very fashionable, young people listen to it a lot. But if we talk about the average population let's say three, twenty-five, thirty-two years old. Most of them listen to African music and Hispanic music in general. If we talk about the architecture and appearance of the streets, I must say that I get a very colonial vibe in the historic center. I feel as if I were walking through Panama, through historical centers of Colombia, From Venezuela I came to know the largest market in Malabo and you can Local market find everything. Lots of second hand clothes at very good prices, imitation tennis shoes, fruits, vegetables, lots of wigs and hair stalls and the most unusual thing I saw is that they sell heads and bodies of animals like monkeys, hedgehogs, snakes, others that looked like opossums. And yes, you literally see the chimpanzee's head There it should be mentioned that in rural areas of Equatorial Guinea it is not unusual to eat such animals. And here you find them because there are a lot of rituals, a lot of tribal dances and despite the fact that nowadays it is already something forbidden, there are a lot of legal holes there. Of course they still exist. It is not a custom that will disappear overnight once you leave the city, the Out of town landscapes are very green, there is a lot of nature and in general everything starts to feel more tribal and people speak less and less Spanish. In fact, the most commonly heard languages are Fang and Bubi, although it varies greatly. Oh, and something that I find very interesting is that on the roads you can see many abandoned cars, because nowadays, the registrations in this country are ninety% written. There is still no great digitization of data. It is very easy to just crash, leave your car abandoned, let whoever finds it find it. Small advantages or disadvantages brought by the lack of digitization. In many of these communities it is very common to see these types of water wells that the community goes to for water. There are bars in every small town there is going to be more than one bar. In fact, this is one of the countries that consumes the most beer because Local cinema sometimes we just passed by the only movie theater in the whole country that is very funny. They basically show pirate movies. They tell me that some years ago they tried to do the legal business right, but as there is so little population and there is not really a culture to go to the movies, it went bankrupt, the owner got into debt and today that movie theater, as well as other more street projection centers, what they do is that they look for links on the internet or even pirate DVDs and project them there selling very cheap tickets. Local sport The most popular sport here is soccer. This is one of their stadiums. Recently the national team did very well in the African Cup, but of course, the most famous Guinean athlete at international level is still Eric Zamboni, the swimmer who some years ago made a record time in the Olympics. Currency and conversion the currency used by the four Guineans. It is the franc whose conversion at the date of recording is one six hundred to the dollar. This currency is used in several African territories and until recently the banknotes were printed only in French. Nowadays, English, Spanish and Arabic have also been included. And the issue of the economy in Equatorial Guinea is somewhat complicated because in general it is a very new country, so the culture of working with office hours has been difficult to inculcate. It is very common that you arrive at a store, at a store, and the manager is asleep or has gone for a walk. However, many migrants are arriving from Ghana, Senegal, Cameroon, even from Migrants in Equatorial Guinea Latin America. I have met several Venezuelans and Cubans, especially because there is a lack of doctors here. I want to be a lawyer and a dentist because there are not many dentists here, there are usually none, not many. That's why it's possible. I make a business of dentists to help Equatorial Guinea, because there are not many here. Since there is not a large percentage of the population with a university education, they have brought many doctors from Cuba, who are well known to be among the best in the world. I am Cuban, I work here in Equatorial Guinea, I am a gynecologist and that is what we left for, to look for a future. It is better that it is common to see Cuban doctors here in Equatorial Guinea. if it is common, that the government has a contract with us, we do everything we can. Beyond that. There are many Lebanese and Chinese, because these nations have made large investments. In fact, much of the popular housing financed by the government has been done by Chinese builders. Yes, that is a small country with a huge cultural exchange. Is it a dictatorship? A very interesting fact that could also become disturbing is that Equatorial Guinea has the longest serving government leader in the world today. Teodoro Obiang has been leader for about forty-five years and there are rumors that his successor could be his son to keep power in the family. And in fact, as a foreigner I find it very strange to see the president's picture everywhere. In every street you are going to see spectacular, huge ones with his picture. Every business you go into is going to have him portrayed there on the front page. The man has even made his birthday a national holiday. It is known as the birthday of the Equatorial Guinean leader. Yes, very strange for a visiting foreigner. This has been interpreted by many international media as a dictatorship. In fact, it is one of the countries that tops the list of least freedom of the press and I can corroborate this. Recording in the streets here is an issue, it They don't allow recording in the streets is problematic. Cops are going to interrogate you, they are going to stop you everywhere. What are you recording? For what purpose? And in my opinion this hinders the tourism sector a lot. The fact that not much is communicated from here inside, despite having divine beaches, a biodiversity like in few other places, the country is visited by only five thousand tourists a year. Or so says the official figure. Abandoned mansions A sample of an excessive squandering of goods for show is right back there, in a complex with fifty-two luxury mansions each with its own heliport, which is completely abandoned. This was built some time ago, when an Assembly of the nations of the African Union happened with the idea that each leader of the nations would have his own mansion for his entire team. For most of the time, it is a complete ghost town and it is very bizarre that they are all entirely identical. A massive copypaste that represents an investment of millions and millions of euros. Although beware, as with everything, there are two sides to the coin. There are two opinions. There are those who say yes. This could be a dictatorship, but many more comment that the territory is doing very well, without internal, tribal or external conflicts with other territories. So, in spite of what you might hear in the international press, if you talk to the people here, many will tell you that they are fine, that they are happy, that they don't see it. Big problem. I mention this because I consider it important to have a context about the territory, but I do consider that as in everything, there are two opinions, two sides of the tortilla, Conclusion and Farewell so here you have a little bit of Equatorial Guinea. Wow! I have been enchanted with this country. A very interesting mix of cultures and traditions. I have really enjoyed my days here, I hope to be back soon. See you soon. You know, in a few days with a new video, bye.