Aunque, A Pesar: Although, In Spite Of

Meanwhile, over in new music, we're featuring Shaila Dúrcal's wistful song, Vuélvete la luna. This opening line is setting up conditions to contrast what comes later in the song:

Aunque estas lágrimas me digan lo contrario...

Although these tears may tell me otherwise...

Caption 1, Shaila Dúrcal - Vuélvete la luna
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Aunque, a combination of the words aun and que, is a common conjuction meaning "although" or "even though." (Do you remember we discussed that "aun" means "even"?) After a couple lines that begin this way, she switches to another contrast:

A pesar de todo lo que estoy pasando a diario...

Despite everything I'm going through on a daily basis...

Caption 5, Shaila Dúrcal - Vuélvete la luna
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The phrase a pesar de means "despite" or "in spite of." Does that surprise you? Perhaps you're thrown because pesar can mean "to weigh." Well, note that pesar is not only a verb but also a noun that means "regret." But we can't get too mired in the word-by-word translation here because a pesar de is an idiomatic phrase that defies a literal, word-by-word translation. Kind of like "in spite of," come to think of it.

"Habemus" toma, a pesar de nuestro tour.

"Habemus" [We have] the shot, in spite of our tour.

Caption 46, Alan x el mundo - Mi playa favorita de México! - Part 2
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A pesar de ser tan trabajador, no logró el ascenso que quería.
In spite of being such a hardworking man, he couldn't get the promotion he wanted.

Entonces sí lo pasaban. -A pesar de ya estar familiarizado con la represión.

Then they did show it. -Despite being familiarized already with the repression.

Caption 86, Arturo Vega - Entrevista - Part 1
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No fue a la reunión a pesar de que le habían dicho que era muy importante.
He didn´t attend the meeting despite being told it was very important.

A pesar de todo, todavía te quiero.
In spite of all, I still love you.