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From Shakira's Suerte:

Yo puedo escalar los Andes solo

Por ir a contar tus lunares

Why is por preferable to para in this case. If one translation of para is roughly "for the purpose of", then doesn't "for the purpose of counting your moles" make sense?

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You have misunderstood the meaning of the sentence. The sentence is not saying that he would climb the Andes for the purpose of counting her moles, but that counting her moles is his motivation for climbing.

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  • Which are semantically pretty much the same. Purpose and motivation at least in that sentence, do mean equivalent things.
    – Petruza
    Commented Jan 1, 2012 at 3:24
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    In sentences like this, "por" means more of "due to" / "as a result of" / "because of". para is "in order that", "with the goal of". When describing rationales, por will always refer to the past, and para to the future: Lo hice por no tener dinero — I did an action, and I was already out of money (the lack thereof being the impetus to my action. Lo hice para no tener dinero - I did the action while I had money, but my goal was to get rid of my money.
    – user0721090601
    Commented Jun 26, 2014 at 17:10
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Yes it would make more sense and be more grammatically correct para in this case, but por is not wrong either, and song lyrics are the place to take this kind of liberties.

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