If you love great restaurants, beautiful jungles, amazing beaches, great surf or indigenous culture, Panama is the place for you. WHERE: Panama WHO: Dixon Hamby, a freelance photographer based in Seattle, Washington. WHEN: My first trip to Panama was in 2006 because a dear friend of mine had moved there for the winter and loved [...]
Posts from ‘January, 2010’
An Interview with Stephanie Elizondo Griest
Stephanie Elizondo Griest has mingled with the Russian Mafiya, polished Chinese propaganda, and belly danced with Cuban rumba queens. These adventures inspired her award-winning memoirs Around the Bloc: My Life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana; Mexican Enough: My Life Between the Borderlines; and the guidebook 100 Places Every Woman Should Go. She also edited Best [...]
How Suzy Got Her Groove Back in Oaxaca
Suzy DiSanto–a 45-year-old wife and mother in Durango, Colorado was feeling bored and uninspired. But attending a Salsa dance retreat in Oaxaca, Mexico put the spice back into her life. THE TRIP: Salsa Retreat, an 8-day dance vacation and Salsa workshop in Oaxaca, Mexico. WHO: Suzy DiSanto –45 years old, married for 20 years, and [...]
A Resource for Exploring the Real Costa Rica
Last night, my friend was telling me about his recent trip to Costa Rica. During his time there he and his family rode ATVs, glided down ziplines, and took guided tours of the forests. But he said what fascinated him the most were the few glimpses he had of how people lived in the rural [...]
After Difficult Birth, Guatemalan Rock Thrives
By Lisa Munro Unlike its Mexican counterpart, Guatemalan rock music has not achieved critical acclaim, despite its widespread appeal. Guatemalans proudly proclaim their national artists as “puros Chapínes” and one can find Guatemalan rock music blaring from the makeshift speakers on any public bus. Alux Nahual, one of Guatemala’s oldest rock groups continues to enjoy [...]
Intrepid Traveler Dispatch: Guanajuato, Mexico
Sean Bagshaw, a professional photographer from Oregon, tells and shows us in vivid detail his month-long trip in Guanajuato, Mexico, which he is still enjoying with his wife and two sons. While Dad is out taking breathtaking pics of the old colonial mining town, Mom and the kids are brushing up on their Spanish at [...]
A Stronger Haiti May Emerge from the Rubble
By any measure the earthquake in Haiti is a disaster of epic proportions. But by some accounts it might present an opportunity to transform the impoverished country into a self-sustaining nation. “It’s terrible to look at it this way, but out of crisis often comes real change,” C. Ross Anthony, the Rand Corp.’s global health [...]
Seven Travelojos Blogolutions for 2010
Practically every year going back to high school I’ve resolved to do something that involves waking up at five in the morning. I would devote this golden hour to whatever I was feeling passionate about at that phase of my life. These passions have ranged from practicing basketball, to running, or learning Spanish. Last year, [...]
Mexico Says Adios to 2009, Hola Bicentennial
The passing of 2009 marks the end of what Queen Elizabeth II would describe as Annus Horribilis for Mexico. Queen Elizabeth coined the term in 1992 to describe a year in which much of the royal family plagued by scandalous marital woes and the Windsor Castle caught fire. By comparison, the problems Mexico endured last [...]
Resolve to Be Serious About Play in 2010
Most of us have heard of the six stages or grief or the 12 steps to overcoming addiction. It seems like part of the attraction for these theories is that they break the suffering down into manageable pieces. When I was mourning the loss of a close friend a few years ago I often wondered [...]
