Salud, amor y pesetas

¡Salud!



Un grupo de amigos, un vinito ....

Best friends and a good wine .... is there any better combination? Latin cultures have known this forever.

So it's no wonder that there are so many different ways to toast with friends in Spanish.

The simplest and most direct:

¡Salud!


But few are satisfied with that. So it is often expanded to:

¡Salud, amor y pesetas!


Good, but still not good enough. Sure, health, love and money are important, but you need something more ... and everyone has their own favorite variation of this theme:

Salud, amor y pesetas, y tiempo para gozarlos

Salud, amor y pesetas, y tiempo para gastarlos

Salud, amor y pesetas, y tiempo para gustarlos

Salud, amor y pesetas, y tiempo para disfrutarlos

(And by the way, how come that never got updated to Salud, amor y pesos, or Salud, amor y bolívares, or Salud, amor y colones?)

But my favorite bríndises are the ones I learned in college from a dear Venezuelan friend (and by the way, one constant in my life seems to be incredibly wonderful Venezuelan friends ... I'm going to have to blog some other time on what is either the amazing Venezuelan national character, or my amazing luck in finding such wonderful friends). But back to my point .... the toasts:

Pa' arriba
Pa' abajo
Pa'l centro
Pa' dentro!

.... and this treasure ....

Manjar de dioses,
Dulce tormento,
¿Qué haces afuera?
¡Vámonos pa' dentro!


Recently I wrote to my college friend and told him that I still remembered the toasts he taught me, more than 25 years later.

His response:

Estiro el brazo,
Empino el codo,
Y de un solo golpe,
Me lo tomo todo!!


Good friendships last forever, and that is certainly something to toast to.

Anyone else have a favorite bríndis to share? Add them to our comments .... and ¡salud!