If you're traveling with someone else, you might need to make suggestions. You can use the obvious verbs, recomendar and sugerir, or you might want to use the very encouraging phrase: vamos a + infinitive. This expression, the equivalent of “let's …” in English, is one of the most positive ways to make a suggestion. Who could resist the enthusiasm in your voice when you say, ¡Vamos a explorar el barrio histórico! (Let's explore the historic district!) or ¡Vamos a caminar por el centro para ver las mejores fuentes! (Let's walk around downtown to see the best fountains!)? This expression is sometimes shortened to simply vamos a + place: Vamos al museo (Let's go to the museum), for example. In either form, this expression is a lot more encouraging than the other ways of making suggestions in Spanish.

TRACK 67

Listen to the comments and questions of your traveling companion and make suggestions using vamos a. (The text is not shown here because this is meant to be a more challenging exercise.) You can check Appendix D to see sample responses.