Below are seven quirky facts about countries in Central and South America. (Two of the entries were suggested by a Latin America Fanatico via Twitter). Venezuela adopted its own time zone in 2007. The time the country adheres to is 4.5 hours behind GMT. Before the change in 2007, Venezuela was 4 hours behind GMT. [...]
Posts under ‘Ecuador’
Ranking Government Corruption in Latin America
The anti-corruption group Transparency International annually publishes a “corruption perceptions index,” which measures the level of government corruption in each country. In the latest index, which was released in November, the majority of the 180 countries analyzed scored below five on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 10 (perceived to have [...]
Key to a Good 2010? Pack a Bag, Wear Red Undies
By Jennifer Lubrani I am not superstitious. I especially don’t follow all those silly New Year’s rituals that so many perform year after year. That is until one member from the Colombian side of my family turned me into a New Year’s superstition believer. You see, in Colombia, there’s a tradition that when the clock [...]
Lonely Planet, Ex-Writer Trade Blows on Travelojos
Two posts last week (here and here) mentioned some disparaging remarks the author of Lonely Planet’s guide to Colombia made about Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. The author, Jens Porup, made the unflattering characterizations of these countries in a speech in Bogota before Colombia’s minister of tourism and other highly ranked officials. His comments generated a [...]
Lonely Planet Writer Slams Peru, Other Countries
Yesterday’s post about Lonely Planet writer Jens Porup’s speech in Bogota mentioned some harsh comparisons he made between Colombia and Peru. He also characterized Ecuador and Venezuela as being generally unpleasant places to visit. I’ve never been to these countries, so it’s hard for me to gauge the validity of Porup’s assessments. But, I support [...]
Author of Grandaddy of South American Travel Guides Identifies Cheapest Places, Recent Tourism Trends
In this interview, Ben Box, author of the South American Handbook, notes the growing trends of volunteerism and community tourism in South America. He also points out the destinations offering the best values and the places that travelers best avoid. Follow the directions below to receive a 25 percent discount on any Footprint guide about [...]
Squidoo Offers Rose-Colored Lenses of Latin America
Do you Squidoo? Founded by marketing guru and super blogger Seth Godin, Squidoo offers a free Web platform on which people can create fan pages or “lenses” on virtually any subject. It’s also a worthwhile online resource for finding out about travel destinations in Latin America. There are almost 1 million lenses on a multitude [...]
