Editor's note: With the eurozone experiencing deflation for the first time since the depths of the financial crisis in 2009, and its unemployment rate unchanged at 11.5% for November, we thought it relevant to bring back this story, first published last October, on why young Spaniards are moving to Latin America.

Twenty-five percent unemployment, a dismal economic outlook and faith in the government at an all-time low. If it sounds like a recipe for failure for anyone with aspirations of building a career and a life, for Spaniards, that’s exactly what it is.

But rather than grit their teeth and hope to stretch their money and career prospects until the crisis wanes, some are taking matters into their own hands, leaving Spain and heading not just to Europe, but to Latin America, where language barriers are few and opportunities are plenty.

There, they are prized for their European education and background, and they are wooed with big salaries and the promise of moving quickly up the corporate ladder. Many Spaniards who’ve made the move find themselves surprised by the mix of modernity, opportunity and comforts of home in countries like Peru, Chile and Brazil.

Some 700,000 Spaniards left Spain between 2008 and 2012, according to research from Fundacion Alternativas. Figures from Spain’s National Statistics Institute show that another 547,890 people left in 2013, although officials say just 79,306 of them were Spanish nationals born in Spain. They’re following a wave of Latin Americans who themselves migrated to Spain in the late 1990s but went back home as Spain’s recession lingered on and on. Those returnees have, in large part, spurred a wave of migration from Spaniards who had no connection to the American continent before.

While their numbers are “still very modest… immigration of Spaniards going to Latin America has risen a lot,” said Jesus Fernandez-Huertas Moraga, a Spanish researcher at the independent academic think tank Fedea.

From unpaid intern to head of media

Angel Lopez, 26, is one of them. The Alicante native arrived in Lima, Peru, in March, 2012, and went from an unpaid internship at Spain’s former Canal 9 TV station to a job as the head of media for a large educational company in Peru two years later. He’s now a regular fixture in televised debates, and frequently tours Peru as a keynote speaker on issues related to advertising and marketing.

“I left Spain earlier than many people of my generation, but I was working in a…television station that everyone knew was closing, I had almost completed my studies, and I thought, if I stay, I’ll be lucky to be a paid intern or trainee at 30,” he said.