War. What is it good for. Mostar Edition.
Any time we mentioned we were traveling to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the first question was always the same: “Isn’t that the place with the war?” Yes. But the war ended 30 years ago. It’s safe. Don’t worry! That answer was usually met with a head shake and a muttered comment […]
Bosnia and Herzegovina: One Country, Two Regions, Three Nations
What is a country? It’s a strange question, especially from someone who has traveled extensively. But the answer is not quite as simple as a glance at a political map might suggest. We have been to countries that no longer exist (Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, USSR), regions that used to be countries […]
Smuggling Molcajete
One of my most impractical dreams, born from years of travel, is this: I want to decorate each room in my house in the style of a different country. The bedroom would be designed like a chamber in an Indian palace with ornate fabrics, carved wood, and a hint of […]
Dancing with Chinelos
The old, battered bus was bouncing on the road with dusty Mexican countryside rolling outside the window. Google Maps on my phone was showing we were approaching our destination – Yautepec de Zaragoza. Before the trip, I could not even imagine that we would be trying to get to this […]
Rioting in Cuernavaca
We were enjoying a quiet breakfast of an omelet and sopes on an outdoor patio, taking in the beautiful view of the central plaza. Like so many town squares in Mexico, it featured all the familiar elements: a park, a gazebo, a historic church, and the oversized colorful letters spelling […]
Two Volcanoes and Too Many Surprises: Exploring Ometepe
I am going to start this post without multiple paragraphs praising the incomparable beauty of Ometepe (unless you are comparing it with much more expensive and overly touristy Bali) and without a single mention of just how unprepared we were to traverse Ometepe on scooters, as neither of us possessed […]
Getting Around Ometepe
If I had to explain in one word why we absolutely plan on visiting Nicaragua again, that word would be “Ometepe”. The first time I saw it in our itinerary, I thought it sounded spiritual and mysterious, with a note of an ancient ceremony, and a hint of volcanic eruptions. […]
The Coffee Robbery of the Century
If you order a cup of Nicaraguan coffee in your town, there is a good chance that the beans used in preparing your drink will be from one of the fincas around Jinotega or Matagalpa. After all, this is a premier region for renowned and much-sought shade-grown Nicaraguan coffee. We […]
The Shadowy Business of Nicaraguan Coffee
At breakfast, we planned to ask our host, Edgar, if he could give us a coffee tour of his El Soccorro finca or recommend any other coffee tours in the area. But it turned out, we did not even have to ask. Edgar was super enthusiastic and excited about these […]
Coffee: In Love and War
Several years ago, a coffee shop near my work had seasonal Nicaraguan coffee beans for sale. Coffee bags with big letters NICARAGUA had an image of a man in a blue shirt holding a basket of ripe coffee cherries. The name of the coffee was “Don Zeledon”, and the coffee […]
Somoto Canyon: The River Runs Through It
Start with Part I here In the last post, I left off just as we reached the bottom of the Somoto Canyon and, incidentally, the Nicaraguan border with Honduras. As it turns out, the Rio Coco River, which runs through Somoto Canyon, divides Honduras and Nicaragua along most of its […]