South America Travel
Here’s What You Can Expect During A Food Tour Of Veracruz
The air outside is thick, but the smoke in Santana’s bar is thicker. Even if I were a non-smoker it would be worth it just to sit in the bar’s tiny, air-conditioned seating area and watch the old men slowly drink themselves into an affectionate stupor at three in the afternoon. This is the first […]
Turning The Car Around: One Road To Expatriatism
Stories can be told from limitless angles of perspective. So let’s begin this tale from the viewpoint of a Salvadorian family living in a small, rural village. It is a sunshiny day in a one-goat town a few hours drive and world away from the busy capital — a place far removed from the beaches […]
You Haven’t Experienced A Sunrise Until You’ve Done So In Tikal, Guatemala
The only thing more magical than hiking through a jungle in the dark, following a path that must be made of white gravel because it glows faintly in the full moon, is hiking through a jungle in the dark past big black hills — blacker than the sky behind them, blacker than the trees that […]
The Driest Place on Earth: From Bolivia’s Salt Flats To Chile’s Atacama Desert
Pan-American Transmissions: Part 11 “Pan-American Transmissions” is a travel series from Special Contributor Diego Cupolo as he travels south from Nicaragua to Argentina. He has few plans, a $10-a-day budget and one flute-playing gypsy companion. Check back as new dispatches are posted from the road. Pink flamingos wade through blood-red lagoons on a seemingly endless […]
8 Stunning Photos From Lake Atitlan
Lake Atitlan in Guatemala — the 1.8-million-year-old 600-meter-deep volcanic lake located a couple hours from Guatemala City — is usually the highlight of anyone’s trip to the country, with its picturesque volcanoes towering over the lake, the small villages clustered along the shorelines and the chocolate shaman who seek spiritual enlightenment in cups of cocoa. The vagabond Canadian duo […]
How A Radish Festival In Oaxaca Made Me Feel Like A Mexican
“Oye chica! Tenga aca. Te invitamos!” Someone was calling to me as I walked by a makeshift tent on the side of the street in Oaxaca’s old center. Curious, I joined the speaker, a young Mexican man, as well as a few others, underneath their tent. They had set up a large folding table which, […]
Explore The Colors Of Puerto Vallarta [Travel Video]
Ever heard of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera? Me either, until I watched the above video from Andrew Julian who did a little test run of his new camera while on a trip to Mismaloya, a small village located just south of Puerto Vallarta. (Fun fact: parts of Predator were filmed nearby.) Besides setting you back […]
My Failed Attempt To Conquer Cotopaxi
Two grueling hours of climbing through ashy volcanic dirt, each frustrating step taken, I slid backward half a step. We progressed slowly, rhythmically. Sergio, our Ecuadorian guide lead the way, with Stonie and I tagging along, bundled up in bright blue and red, wearing steel-toed boots, equipped with a light daypack and glacial-climbing equipment, our […]
My Encounter With Keith, The Chocolate Shaman Of Guatemala
The mist smells of banana leaves and wood smoke, the scent of the Guatemalan highlands when it rains. Mothers carry firewood on their heads and get knocked around by a downpour that’s like bowls of dirty water being thrown from the sky. Village children in hand-woven clothes hide under a tree and squeal as workers […]
Michael Palin: The Greatest British Traveler Of Our Age?
Everyone’s favorite ex-Monty Python member turned traveler turned three-year term as president of the Royal Geographical Society, Michael Palin, is back with a new travel series, Brazil With Michael Palin, which recently began airing on the BBC, and hopefully coming to a local station (or Netflix) soon. Palin, who long ago could have rested on […]