You don’t have to be in Brazil this March 4th to have your very own Carnaval experience. The samba schools that compete for Carnaval honors in São Paulo hold open rehearsals in the months leading up to the big night. For travelers it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an up-close experience most people [...]

The other night I sat with a friend and asked her about her stories of traveling abroad. She has been everywhere from Italy to Egypt to Panama to Argentina, staying in each place for a couple of years, if not more. I thought, “Wow, what an incredible adventure.” “Yeah, I [...]

I returned to the Plaza Dorego in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of San Telmo to watch the people dance. Every Sunday Night, one side of the plaza is reserved for a milonga — the Argentine word for a place to tango. It’s a tradition for the class to go. Every [...]

Has anyone else noticed how it seems like more and more people they know have just traveled to or are planning to visit Machu Picchu? Not that I don’t understand why — it’s indisputably one of the great sights to see on Earth, and pretty much on everyone’s “bucket list” [...]

Frommer’s recently compiled a list of their favorite Central American islands, from the Turneffe Atoll in Belize — whose 30-mile-long stretch of shallow water offers over 70 different named dive sites — to the Corn Island in Nicaragua where the crowds and development are still years, if not decades, away. [...]

When I was reading the recent news reports about Colombia’s terrible rains and floods that have been ravaging the South American country for the last few weeks, it made me think back to my own trip there almost two years ago to the date. I was there in late November, [...]

It wakes you up. It begins your day. After the third or fourth one, the day may come crashing down. Coffee breaks are a part of our societal makeup, the moments we relish in between sitting at a desk or in between the hustle. Sometimes we use them as social [...]

You find them lurking everywhere: on the corners of dimly lit streets, in the goopy hands of people, in your freezer. You can hear the icebox-toting vendors screaming its name, beckoning for your business, “Helado! Heladoooo!” Ice cream. It is a cross-cultural thing. When venturing into Buenos Aires, some fantasize [...]

Colombia’s Caribbean coast is in the news big time this week, with article in both the Financial Times and the NY Times. Gone are the days when the region’s checkered history scared away tourists. Now, for better or worse (better if you’re a local depending on travelers), you’re more likely [...]

The high season for Machu Picchu is roughly June through September, as summer travelers use their vacation time to explore the ruins in the predictably good weather these months bring. In October the rainy season begins, not a great time to trek along narrow paths and camp outside. Oddly enough, [...]