Posts Tagged ‘culture’

My wife and I were having dinner at a restaurant in Monteverde, Costa Rica that looked like it was offering just the sort of experience we were looking for.  It wasn’t a typical restaurant –it was more like a tree house–because it was suspended by a huge Ficus tree. Our table on the second floor [...]

When the typical Norte Americano says the first thing that pops into his or her mind about Colombia, chances are they’ll use words like “cocaine” and “kidnapping.” After all, most movies set there depict the nation as a complete narco-terrorism war zone. Photo by Daquella Manera But the country is beginning to shed its terrifying [...]

To…endure the betrayal of false friends…This is to have succeeded–Ralph Waldo Emerson. To most English speakers, Spanish can seem like an accessible language. Many times finding the right word is as easy is adding an “o” or an “a” at the end of an English word. Take: banco (bank), música (music), and telefono (telephone). But [...]

By Nora Walsh Nora begins the first installment of this two-part guest post by mapping out how to navigate your way to adventure and romance with a Latino lover. Latin America. It is an all-encompassing region of colorful landscapes, rich culture, and most notably, where the famed (or infamous) passionate Latino (known for his romancing [...]

The first time it occurred to me that people eat iguanas was when I heard Wall of Voodoo’s 1980s pop classic Mexican Radio. The relevant portion of the song says: “I wish I was in Tiajuana, eating barbequed iguana…” Wikipedia notes that “until recently” iguana was an important meat in the culinary traditions of the [...]

When I was reading up on Costa Rica a couple of years ago, I was surprised to learn that many places lack addresses in San Jose, the country’s capital. What passed for the “address” of the bed and breakfast we stayed at was something like “off the main road near the Coca Cola bottling plant [...]

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. [...]

There was a plantation strike in a town in Colombia. Around 12 o’clock, more than 3,000 people workers, women, children, had spilled out into the open space in front of the station and were pressing into the neighboring streets, which the army had closed off with rows of machine guns. The crowd remained in the [...]

The preceding post in this series described the Slow Food Movement and its focus on Mexico. In this post,  food historian Rachel Laudan says why she thinks the movement is a poor fit for Mexico. She also offers tips on how to learn about and enjoy local agriculture there. Laudan also explains why she believes [...]

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 [...]