Dig This: Mineral de Pozos

After spending the afternoon watching the parade and dance competitions in the ghost town of Mineral de Pozos, we had just enough daylight left to visit the one site we had actually planned: the abandoned Santa Brígida mine. The rain, clearly summoned by the relentless swirling and drum banging of […]

The Ghost Town That Wasn’t

We were in San Miguel de Allende, enjoying all the classic traits of a pretty Mexican town  – a gorgeous church dominating the skyline on the main plaza, colonial architecture with carved wooden doors and wrought-iron balconies, winding cobblestone streets, and quaint local markets where indigenous women sold traditional crafts. […]

From Tulum Trauma to San Miguel Magic

Our flight to Monterrey got cancelled again.  The first time, a year ago, we rebooked it for Mexico City, but this time airfare to León was cheap enough to make us consider going there… again. We had already taken the same flight a few years earlier and spent three wonderful […]

Mexican Chicago

Back in 2003, when I’d just arrived in Chicago, my first apartment was in Hermosa on the city’s northwest side. One evening, when I was in the back porch relaxing after a day of work, the street was suddenly filled with the sound of the revving engines. Motorcycles and cars […]

Go For Gözleme

The previous post about fish, bread, and never giving up on food dreams reminded me of something that happened two years ago, during a road trip from Izmir to Antalya in Türkiye. We left our Airbnb early in the morning, eager to start a long day of sightseeing, and skipped […]

Grenada Off The Beaten Track. Part I

By Victor / July 6, 2023

I must admit the title of this post is a little bit of an oxymoron. Considering we had to repeatedly explain to our friends and relatives that we were going to an island in the Caribbean and not to a city in southern Spain (spelled as Granada), writing about non-touristy […]

Julia and Victor and The Chocolate Factory

By Julia / June 28, 2023

We have been to a lot of coffee tours all around the world – Jamaica, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, and a fair share of brewery and distillery tours in Mexico and the U.S., but in Grenada, we got our first chance ever to tour a chocolate factory.  In fact, […]

The Miracle on the Beach

By Julia / June 22, 2023

We were on one of the most beautiful beaches in Grenada, sitting on a wooden picnic bench table, listening to the rhythmic sound of waves splashing against the shore.   We were not concerned with the breathtaking view of islands in the water or the empty stretch of beautiful white sand, […]

Liming in Grenada

By Julia / June 15, 2023

“Grenada, the island in the Caribbean, not Spain,” was how I kept answering inquiries about our next trip.  The whole thing reminded me a bit of the “Georgia, the country, not the state” fiasco from a few years ago.  And still, hardly anyone knew what I was talking about.  Somehow, […]

Cruising Down the Streets of Havana

By Victor / June 9, 2023

After writing nine posts about Cuba earlier this year, we thought we were done with our stories from the island.  But to be honest, it would be unfair not to describe the most touristy thing we did while there.  Learning about the U.S.-organized invasion at the Bay of Pigs or […]

In Search of Haggis – One Day in Scotland

By Julia / June 1, 2023

All the way back in 2009, we spent one day in Scotland, and I have wanted to go back ever since.  This was an impromptu trip to the U.K. brought about by a random airline price mistake – $250 for a nonstop roundtrip from Chicago to London in the spring.  […]

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