2012 Deadly Awakening: Crackling story set in Mérida and Chichen Itza

December 12th, 2011 | By Joshua | No Comments »

I met writer Beryl Gorbman over a taco lunch in the Chichen Itza Salon in the conference center in Mérida, Mexico, and I admit, I was skeptical when she handed me a copy of her mystery novel, 2012 Deadly Awakening (Intelligent Life, 2010). I’d just completed a self-guided crash course on Maya studies, plowing through a pile of non-fiction books, most fairly fascinating, regarding 2012 and Maya time-keeping, but also fairly dry and dense. There are hundreds of such titles out there, but never had I seen a fictional treatment.

When I finally cracked open 2012 Deadly Awakening a few months later, I was drawn in and swept back to the Yucatan. “The scene in Merida is chaotic and tense,” reads the description. “People think that the world is about to end, as it is the end of the Maya long-count calendar. Other people think humanity will evolve to a higher form of consciousness. You wouldn’t think these are ideals people would kill to protect, but they do. Thousands of spiritual tourists have descended upon this once-peaceful city, creating chaos. People die, and die very badly.”

Enter a New York City detective (more…)

Upbeat World Music CD takes kids to the Caribbean, Latin America, and South Africa

November 8th, 2011 | By Joshua | No Comments »

I am a complete sucker for pretty much everything produced by Putumayo Kids, the children’s and educational division of the renowned music label Putumayo World Music (for which I am an equally eager sucker). In addition to their new Kids World Party CD, Putumayo Kids has launched a collection of sticker and coloring books. I LOVE the Latin America book — it is oversized with an alluring travel scene on the cover and big, simple drawings of animals and cultural landscapes inside.

“That looks like the Banjo Billy bus,” said my four-year-old when she saw the cover. She was referring to the funky, decked-out tour bus that we often see lumbering around the streets of Boulder, Colorado.

“That’s called a ‘chicken bus,’” I explained, loving this sudden teachable opportunity the book had given me before I’d even opened it. (more…)

Science says 2012 date is important, but it is NOT The End: book review of David Stuart’s The Order of Days

November 6th, 2011 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

Few Mayanist scholars command the experience and authority of David Stuart, a professor of Mesoamerican studies at the University of Austin who literally grew up amid Maya archaeological sites (his parents were also archaeologists) and who began his prodigal Maya studies career at the age of 8. Over the last few decades, Stuart has been responsible for some of the biggest breakthroughs in the decipherment of Maya iconography and hieroglyphics and he has authored numerous books on the subject. In his newest, The Order of Days: The Maya World and the Truth about 2012 (Harmony Books, New York, 2011), Stuart explains basic Maya ideas of time and calendrics while also addressing misconceptions about 2012. For, as one reviewer put it, 2012 is “an embarrassing situation to serious scholars,” many of whom have felt compelled to publish similar explanations. Still, I’m glad the 2012 hub-bub spurred Stuart to write The Order of Days, one of the most grounded, fact-based, academic-yet-readable books I’ve read on the subject.

I’m a newbie Mayaphile with many questions and in this book, Stuart clarified many things I’d been wondering about. Like, for instance, the difference between the Aztec calendar round and Maya calendars (and why they are so often confused); or a big-picture explanation of the Maya’s “deep time” inscriptions and what they mean for the bak’tun ending in 2012. I loved the mini-lectures about each of the most famous Maya stelae, vases, inscriptions, and murals — objects I’d seen before, but never accompanied by such concise explanations. (more…)

Travel Memoir to write home about: Two big thumbs up for Julian Smith’s ‘Crossing the Heart of Africa’

June 26th, 2011 | By Joshua | 3 Comments »

I first picked up Crossing the Heart of Africa: An Odyssey of Love and Adventure by Julian Smith not so much for the author’s recent route across a continent in the footsteps of some old explorer, but more for Smith’s journey from the guidebook shelves to the more exclusive “Travel Literature” shelf, that holy mish-mash of memoir, adventure-logue, and other curious bits of travel-related nonfiction.

As a writer who spends way too much of his time fact-checking hotel prices and bus departure times for my four guidebook titles — while my own book-length narrative percolates on the back burner — I sympathize with Smith’s journey from guidebook jockey to storyteller. I understand why, after penning successful Moon guides to Ecuador and the US southwest, he gave it all up to try his hand at a narrative tale. In Crossing the Heart of Africa, he succeeds brilliantly. (more…)

2012 Book Focuses on the Living Maya’s Ancient Wisdom

March 8th, 2011 | By Joshua | 2 Comments »

The quantity of 2012 literature out there is mind-boggling. There are hundreds of books about the Maya calendar cycle ending on December 21, 2012, but few give a rational, researched, big picture of the 2012 phenomenon and its related aspects.

Fewer still focus on the eight million living Maya and how they look at 2012, and are written by such a respected and experienced author as Robert Sitler, PhD, a professor and Director of the Latin American Studies Program at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida.

Sitler began his career studying Maya culture 40 years ago while traveling in the rainforests and ruins of Chiapas, Mexico. He continues to draw lessons from his decades among the Maya, and his latest book, The Living Maya: Ancient Wisdom in the Era of 2012 (North Atlantic Books, 2010) is a fine example of how he does this—and also a refreshingly grounded approach to the history and implications of 2012. For these reasons, if you haven’t read anything about this subject, The Living Maya is a great place to start, especially for anyone planning a trip to any of the Mundo Maya countries: Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, or Honduras.

The book begins with the Yukatek Maya greeting, “Bix a bel?” which means, “How is your road?” And that’s right where the author puts us—in the vivid landscapes of the Guatemalan highlands and southern Mexican villages, traveling through misty, surreal scenery and interacting with modern-day Mayans of all types. (more…)

Travel Writing 2.0: Tim Leffel’s book breaks down the market, features 52 successful travel writers

October 5th, 2010 | By Joshua | No Comments »

So you want to be a travel writer? Want to explore new lands, be wined and dined by resort owners, then get paid to describe what you saw and experienced?

Tim Leffel discusses the ups and downs of being a travel writer in his new book TRAVEL WRITING 2.0: Earning Money from your Travels in the New Media Landscape. The book, says Tim, is mostly a “handbook for the business and marketing side of things.”

Though Travel Writing 2.0 is filled with sober reality checks, Tim admits the fame-and-glory parts are possible. Sometimes. I agree. In the process of researching my guidebooks, I’ve crawled through caves in Belize with the country’s top archeologist; I’ve flown in helicopters and bush planes, skimming over jungles and reefs; I’ve ash-surfed the inside of an active volcano crater; I’ve picked beans with campesino families during the Nicaragua coffee harvest; and I’ve grown mustaches.

I’ve also laid sick and alone in cockroach-ridden hostels (more…)

The magic of place: Silvio Sirias’s expansive portrayal of Nicaragua in Bernardo and the Virgin

June 13th, 2010 | By Joshua | 21 Comments »

The Tranquilo Traveler is proud to host Silvio Sirias’s book tour today. FREE GIFT: Leave a comment below and you’ll be entered to win crafts by Panamanian Kuna artisans [[gift is closed, congratulations monica!]]
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The first book I ever read about Nicaragua was Blood of Brothers, by Stephen Kinzer. It was 1997 and I’d just received my invitation from the U.S. Peace Corps to work in Nicaragua as a forestry volunteer. All I knew about Nicaragua was that it was in Central America, it sounded exotic, and I would be living there for the next two-and-a-half years, little else.

Kinzer gave a sharp, alluring portrait of a country during its hottest hours (the Sandinista revolution of 1979 and subsequent social experiment and civil war that lasted till 1990); but I was looking for more. The second book I read about Nicaragua was also non-fiction, by a Nicaraguan this time, also about the war. And the third. You get the picture. It took some digging to find other periods of Nicaraguan history, and still I found few descriptions in the literature about the life in store for me, about modern-day, small-town Nicaragua. (more…)

Eric Volz’s memoir hits the shelves, Nicaragua murder debate rekindled

May 31st, 2010 | By Joshua | No Comments »

Eric Volz’s memoir, Gringo Nightmare: A Young American Framed for Murder in Nicaragua, was released this month from Macmillan. The tag-line reads, “In the spirit of Midnight Express and Not Without My Daughter comes the harrowing true story of an American held in a Nicaraguan prison for a murder he didn’t commit.”

I have not read the book yet, but since people continue to discuss the issue (i.e. scream at each other) in the comments section of this post from 2007 (SERIOUSLY, read these comments, they are damn entertaining), I thought I would add another update. There is a lot of wild speculation flying around the case, and passion obscures facts more often than not, so I’m glad Volz has a chance to tell his unique story in book form. I look forward to reading it and posting a more complete review, hopefully for my summer reading list. In the meantime, for information on Eric Volz’s book tour, visit his site: Friends of Eric Volz

Original post: April 26, 2007

New guide lists 700 Places to Volunteer Before You Die

May 29th, 2010 | By Joshua | No Comments »

Are you deciding where to go next? Voluntourism guru Nola Lee Kelsey’s collection of alternative travel opportunities, 700 Places to Volunteer Before You Die: A Traveler’s Guide (Dog’s Eye View Media, 2010), is a remarkable resource for travelers looking for a different kind of trip. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a complete, detail-filled listing which spans the entire globe. The book includes 11 opportunities in Nicaragua and 5 in Belize, and of course, hundreds of others around the world (there are actually 758 listings).

700 Places to Volunteer Before You Die also features an introduction with advice by “industry experts,” including yours truly (Kelsey’s interview with the Tranquilo Traveler begins on pp. 23), making it even easier to recommend. My only criticism of the book is that its organization is a bit tricky, especially since there is no index. But it’s still fun to browse the pages, looking for your next trip to pop out at you.
Check out Nola Lee Kelsey’s blog and podcast to learn more about volunteering abroad.

Nicaragua and Belize make “the world’s 14 top retirement havens” in new book HOW TO RETIRE OVERSEAS

April 9th, 2010 | By Joshua | 2 Comments »

Three Central American countries (Nicaragua, Belize, and Panama) are among “The world’s fourteen top retirement havens,” as listed in HOW TO RETIRE OVERSEAS: Everything You Need to Know to Live Well (for Less) Abroad, by the long-time editor and publisher of International Living (until 2007 when she started another venture, Live and Invest Overseas), Kathleen Peddicord.

The sections on each country are short, but they are concise, practical, and packed with helpful statistics. For example, the book includes information on the new law in Nicaragua to benefit retirees, which was just passed in June, 2009, and estimates the monthly cost of living in a city like León at about US$1200.

(more…)