June 2020 UPDATE: The Brazilian state of Amazonas has been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic – with the capital, Manaus, having the only intensive care beds in the state. Read more about how ...
June 21, 2020
Go Abroad!
Go Abroad!
Manaus, Brazil: quick and cheap across the Meeting of Waters
The road to Cádiz, Spain
Sometimes an adventure shifts your perspective and uproots your priorities. For me, that adventure was a road trip through Portugal and Spain in September. The story begins in Lisbon, Portugal: My friends picked up me ...
February 2, 2020
El Bolsón and the Andes refugio system
My third trip to Patagonia was tremendous, great weather for all but one day and my best survey of the acclaimed mountain hostels that now number 15 in all. Once sleepy <a hreEl Bolson, fabled ...
January 21, 2020
Portugal’s Atlantic Coast: rich history meets seaside serenity
Portugal has a long, rich history that colors everything from its language, food and architecture. It was settled by homo sapiens 35,000 years ago and retains traces of a non–Indo European language and even DNA. ...
October 25, 2019
Panama City: since I was in the area...
A relatively short distance from San Diego (just a few small countries south of Mexico) lies Panama, the final Central American nation before you hit South America. Yet, for a tiny country, the capital, Panama ...
September 29, 2019
Wild Peninsula Valdez, Argentina
I first became aware of this enormous peninsula years ago when I heard about the burgeoning whale-watching attraction there. A thousand miles south of Buenos Aires on the south Atlantic coast, this region lies at ...
June 30, 2019
Ancient Wroclaw, Poland
I visited Wroclaw, Poland, during an interesting time in history: it was the 100th anniversary of Poland’s independence, the 100th anniversary of the Armistice and the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht. As for Wroclaw itself, it ...
May 11, 2019
Changing Colombia
Colombia: cartels and cocaine... rebel groups and terrorism... violent gangs and kidnappings. Those are some of the stereotypes, right? Well, although these problems haven't completely vanished, things have definitely improved to the point where most ...
April 16, 2019
Reykjavik: less like a tourist, more like a local
Though it was not my first time in Iceland, it was my first time single and, for most of the time, without any travel companion. It turned out to be a fine thing. You can ...
February 24, 2019
Cabo Polonio, bona fide best of Uruguay
There may well be other places like this, a scruffy village of dwellings on a cape which seems like it’s from another time, but I haven’t seen any. Most locations remind you of some other ...
February 4, 2019
Paris and back again
After a couple cups of vino and an 11-hour flight, we land just outside Paris. Yael and I head out to catch the RER Train into the city center. It's about 10 euros each, and ...
December 30, 2018
Life (and the party) go on in Rio
After months of continuous Olympic coverage two years ago, the questions still being asked about Rio de Janeiro likely include: "Wow! Rio looks incredible - is it really that beautiful?" And: "Wow! Is Rio really ...
November 26, 2018
Salento, cream of Colombia's coffee country
Salento is an historic colonial town high in the mountains of the department of Quindio, situated 250 kilometers due south of Medellin. It used to be on the main route between Bogota and Popoyan even ...
November 18, 2018
Fascinating Kinmen, Taiwan
A convenient weekend break from the noise and bustle of Taipei is a one-hour flight to the island of Kinmen. Although Kinmen is controlled by Taiwan, it lies only eight kilometers from the Chinese mainland ...
October 14, 2018
Escape to Minca, Colombia
It’s not the kind of place that comes to mind when thinking about Colombia, but a little mountain village called Minca gets my vote for best of honors. A slow 17 kilometers up and out ...
September 9, 2018