Introduction

Welcome to Pedalingo! – El Pedalero’s Spanish-English dictionary designed specifically for adventure cyclists!

If you’ve ever struggled to find a translation in your pocket dictionary, or looked up a term only to receive blank stares when you used it, then Pedalingo is for you! Even fluent speakers of Spanish know that words, terms, and ways of saying things can vary (sometimes significantly) throughout Latin America. For travelling cyclists, it can get confusing.

Pedalingo is a growing dictionary organized by the themes most important to independent cyclists travelling Latin America. And your input is essential!

If you come across a region-specific term for anything to do with bicycle touring in Latin America, please send it in to El Pedalero through the contact form.

Provide (1) The word (or term) correctly spelled, (2) Where you heard/found it, (3) What it means to the best of your knowledge, and (4) Any alternate spellings you encountered.

All submissions will be researched and cross-referenced before being included to ensure that each entry is accurate and, therefore, useful. Pedalingo is our travel dictionary, so let’s make it as comprehensive as possible!

Within each theme, Pedalingo is organized like a Spanish-English dictionary. Unlike a regular dictionary, however, the Latin American terms are given preference and appear before the Iberian terms. The abbreviations are as follows:

f  – feminine noun

fpl – plural feminine noun

m – masculine noun

mpl – plural masculine noun

n – noun (used only to distinguish from identical verb forms)

v – verb (used only to distinguish from identical noun forms)

AmC – term from Central America

AmL – term from Latin America

AmS – term from South America

Andes – term from the Andes

Arg – term from Argentina

Bol – term from Bolivia

Chi – term from Chile

Col – term from Colombia

CR – term from Costa Rica

CS – term from the Cono Sur, the Southern Cone of South America

Cu – term from Cuba

Ec – term from Ecuador

Esp – term from Spain

Gua – term from Guatemala

Hon – term from Honduras

Mex – term from Mexico

Nic – term from Nicaragua

Pan – term from Panama

Par – term from Paraguay

Per – term from Peru

RPl – term from the Rio de la Plata region

RD – term from the Dominican Republic

Ur – term from Uruguay

Ven – term from Venezuela