The Latin America Travel Blog
I read books for pleasure on a fairly consistent basis. My taste generally runs toward nonfiction. Since starting Travelojos in late December, I’ve read several books that involve some aspect of Latin America. One exception was this summer when I read Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking. But even there, I was pleasantly surprised [...]
If you’re expecting to read the Mexico version of best-seller Eat, Pray, Love, Stephanie Elizondo Griest’s latest book Mexican Enough probably has more serious social commentary than you’ve bargained for. But if you’re interested in some true tales that will illuminate many of the issues that are driving the recent upheaval in Mexico, this is [...]
Obesity is a problem of epic proportions around the globe. That is the main message of Barry Popkin’s book The World is Fat: The Fads, Trends, Policies, and Products that are Fattening the Human Race. Unfortunately, Mexico and other Latin American countries are experiencing this troubling trend. Too much unhealthy food has replaced starvation as [...]
In this guest post, my friend Rob Freedman explains why Oaxaca, Mexico occupies a special place for Rush fans. Some of the most evocative travel writing about Latin America comes from what has to be one of the most unlikely sources you could think of: Neil Peart of Rush. If you’re not a progressive metal [...]
Long commutes, weekdays spent inside an office, driving kids around on the weekends, and doing chores at home–it’s enough to make a mature adult think about how to escape from it all. It’s no wonder my curiosity was piqued when I saw Roseanne Knorr’s book The Grown-Up’s Guide to Running Away From Home: Making a [...]
Within the first sentences of God’s Middle Finger we find the nonfiction book’s author Richard Grant pressed up against the bark of a pine tree as a group of men hunt for him at night in a small town in Durango, Mexico. Besides the imminent threat to Grant’s life, what makes the scene so compelling is [...]
On Mexican Time by Tony Cohan is a must read for anyone who dreams of relocating to Mexico or other destinations in Latin America. Published in 2000, the book describes how Cohan and his wife, Masako, leave behind their life in Los Angeles to become permanent residents of San Miguel de Allende in central Mexico. [...]
Photo by Marina Avila A significant cultural difference between the U.S. and Mexico is the formality with which people address their superiors. In the U.S., the common practice is to call your boss by his or her first name. But professional relationships in Mexico are more hierarchical. One way this manifests itself in Mexico is [...]
A recent episode (Jan. 5) of the Food Network show No Reservations features Mexico and its cuisine. Those in the U.S. who missed it can download it from iTunes, blogger Mexile says The book upon which the show is based– Anthony Bourdain’s travel-foodie classic A Cook’s Tour–includes a chapter entitled “Where Cooks Come From.” Bourdain [...]
When I first heard about Peter Greenberg’s new book Don’t Go There! , I was curious to see what the travel writer and editor for NBC’s Today show had to say about Latin American destinations. As the title suggests, Greenberg takes the opposite approach of most travel books. Instead of highlighting the benefits of a [...]
