Here at Guinness World Records we say “adios” to a stunning 2013 in Latin America, adjudicating a new record attempt once a week on average. In total we visited 13 different countries and 26 cities with 9 of those receiving an adjudicator for the very first time in their history!

The year kicked off with 653 couples dancing the Marinera in the Peruvian town of Trujillo and ended with the Fiesta Nacional de Básquet breaking their own record in Manu Ginobli´s hometown Bahía Blanca for the most players in a basketball exhibition match. We’ve been as far north as Monterrey who cooked up a record for 45,252 people which is the largest attendance at a BBQ and we shivered as far south as Patagonian town El Calafate in Argentina for the largest coin mosaic – the southernmost record attended by a Guinness World Records representative in our 58-year history.

There were records for beach-lovers with Bora Bora, the Ecuadorean flip-flop brand breaking the record for the most people buried in sand and Havaianas setting a new record in Buenos Aires for the most people bouncing beach tennis balls. For food lovers the starter in February had an oriental flavor as the Chinese-Costa Rican community made the largest fried rice to celebrate Chinese New Year – then hot dog lovers were watering at the mouth when Hellmann´s Chile created the longest line of the snack in September to celebrate their 100th anniversary while desserts were offered in the form of the longest fruit cake first set in Durango to celebrate the Mexican city´s 450th anniversary before being broken by the Panadería Schick bakery in Nicaragua.

With all those food records you will glad to know that Sensodyne Mexico are taking care of the dentistry records with the largest model tooth just one of many “super-structures” in the leading Latin American country for record-breaking. For mother’s day Cerveza Modelo built the tallest flower arrangement and in Puebla they celebrated the installation of the largest mobile observation wheel.

Guinness World Records may bring out the competitive streak in people but it also gets people working together for a cause – in Colombia the children’s cancer charity SANAR were helped by many organizations including the national post office and police force to collect plastic bottle caps from across the country and break the recycling record. Going back to Mexico and Whirlpool and Ariel Power Pods united to form the largest mobile laundromat washing clothes and 9 different children’s homes before donating the High Efficiency washing machines. Teletón El Salvador brought 8 bakeries together who collaborated to make the largest cupcake mosaic and raising tens of thousands of dollars for the charity´s three rehabilitation centres. In Venezuela we saw EPA unite almost 70,000 families with the largest online photo album of hugs that culminated on International Family Day in May – while in November Coca-Cola broke their first record in Venezuela with the longest pouring relay to promote the power of working together and sharing.

A live record event is a great way to bring a community together and promote a local culture, in Guadalajara the mariachi tradition was stronger than ever 700 mariachis performing simultaneously. In Colombia the largest Colombian folk dance was achieved by 555 pairs during the annual San Juan celebrations in Neiva. In Paraguay the distinctive sound of the Paraguayan Harp was amplified by a record 420 harpists in October.

It has been a fantastic year south of the border and we congratulate all of our new members of the Guinness World Records family and welcome back those who have returned with more records!