Archive for the ‘Latin America’ Category
Exploring the Galapagos
The Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador are one of the world’s natural wonders and are rightly famous for the part they played in helping Charles Darwin develop his theory of evolution. Carol Stogsdill recently visited several of the islands that make up the Galapagos and wrote about her experiences for the Los Angeles Times. The synonym [...]
Colombia attracts tourists once again
Not long ago, Colombia was mostly known for drug cartels, kidnappings and violence. These days, though, the violence has receded and tourists are once again making their way to this South American destination, as Grace Bastidas reported recently for the NY Times. It was Thursday evening in Medellin and the open-air bars and cafes along [...]
The food of Chiapas
One of the most interesting ways to experience a culture is through its food. For Chicago chef and tour guide Rick Bayless, the regional dishes of Chiapas are among the most interesting in Mexico. As noted in this travel story by Robin Mathers Jenkins: For Bayless, temperamentally still the curious graduate student he was when [...]
The Brazilian Riviera away from Rio
Everyone knows about the world famous beaches in the middle of Rio de Janeiro. But what most people don’t know is that equally magnificent beaches are a short drive away from the urban madness of Rio. Juliet Pennington recently wrote about her experiences at this Brazilian Riviera for the Boston Globe: When they heard that I [...]
Visiting the end of the world
Ushuaia, Argentina, is the southernmost city in the world, sitting at the tip of South America, just 700 miles from Argentina. Hence, the city gets a lot of tourist mileage out of its claim to be situated at “the end of the world.” The Los Angeles Times just ran a story on Ushuaia and its growing [...]
Buenos Aires becomes hip
It somtimes appears as if there’s a never-ending quest to find and label the new, hip international city. Paris in the 1920′s set the gold standard for this vision, which always includes cheap housing for expatriates, abundant cafes, a thriving arts scene and, of course, the newest incarnations of Hemingway and Fitzgerald chipping away at a literary masterpiece. [...]
Is Nicaragua the next Costa Rica?
Mention Nicaragua to most people and the first thoughts that will come to mind are the Sandinistas, a civil war, perhaps the Iran-contra scandal. But those events now belong to history and Nicaragua is slowly gaining cachet as a tourist destination. This article even described it as the “Next Costa Rica,” alluding to the popularity [...]
Seeing Mexico by public bus
The most recent Washington Post travel section carried a fun story by Ben Brazil about a journey he and his wife took through southern Mexico, entirely on their own and via public transportation. For nearly a week, my new wife, Laura, and I had been traveling Mexico’s Carretera Fronteriza del Sur — the Southern Border Highway [...]
Standing at the edge of the world
Ushuaia, Argentina, bills itself as the southernmost city in the world. It is virtually an island within an island, as it sits at the southern tip of Tierra del Fuego, trapped between the Andes Mountains and the sea. The Pan-American highway ends (or begins) here, at the edge of the South American continent, just 600-700 miles [...]
Journeying through Patagonia
I’ve been doing a bit of my own traveling the past couple of weeks. Lisa and I have been meaning to explore more of South America and so we decided to take a bit of time to see part of Argentina. It’s too big of a country to explore in one trip and so our [...]
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Bob Riel is a writer and a traveler. Go here to read more about Bob, his work and the Travels in the Riel World blog.
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