The Tranquilo Traveler
The Tranquilo Traveler is a celebration of voluntourism, slow travel, and other interesting ways to see the world. Travel writer and award- winning Moon Handbooks author Joshua Berman created The Tranquilo Travel as a resource for world trippers and international volunteers, a window to the author’s travels in Nicaragua, Belize, and beyond, and an update of his books and articles.
I’m speaking about my Peace Corps service this Monday at CU Boulder
By Joshua | 
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Happy Peace Corps week, everybody! I’m proud to be participating in the big Peace Corps Palooza recruiting event this Monday evening in the Glenn Miller Ballroom. CU Boulder is the country’s number one Peace Corps Volunteer–producing university (two years in a row!), so it should be a fun event with many colors, sounds, and sights from around the world.
I’ll be giving a presentation, sometime after 6 p.m., about my Peace Corps service in Nicaragua (Environmental Education, 1998-2000) and how it has affected my life and career.
Event Description: “Peace Corps is actively seeking volunteers to serve across the globe. Come to the Peace Corps Palooza to learn about the organization, life overseas and meet with former volunteers. Also, explore volunteer opportunities in areas including: education, youth/community development, agriculture, health and HIV/AIDS, business development, environment and information technology. All CU students are welcome! Life is calling… how far will you go?”
Speaker in Denver: Misunderstanding the Maya Calendar and 2012
By Joshua | 2 Comments » 
I’m excited for Dr. Ed Barnhart’s talk at the Denver Art Museum on February 19, 2012, “Misunderstanding the Maya Calendar: 2012 & Why You Shouldn’t Worry.”
The esteemed Dr. Barnhart is the head of the Maya Exploration Center, the man behind the Palenque mapping project, and a featured expert in my book, Moon Maya 2012, where he discusses travel in the Mundo Maya, and offers other insights on Maya concept of time.
“Join archaeologist Dr. Ed Barnhart as he attempts to separate fact from fiction and calculation from conjecture in a lecture about the 2012 and the Maya calendar. This talk will discuss the foundations of the 2012 phenomena, the pseudo-science behind many of the claims, and how much of it has absolutely nothing to do with the Maya.” [LINK for DETAILS]
Ice-jumping video from the Continental Divide
By Joshua | No Comments » I love these guys:
Ice jumping video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IhU4UDOL5o
Colorado road tripping: hot pools and buff burgers in Idaho Springs
By Joshua | 1 Comment » 
A few days ago, a particularly fierce Rocky Mountain summer storm landed me in Idaho Springs, a narrow town in a narrow canyon, next to a very busy highway, Interstate 70. Idaho Springs is the kind of place I’ve driven through hundreds of times without ever wondering if there was more to it than coffee and gasoline, the only reasons I’ve ever stopped there. (more…)
Tea Time in Boulder: Dushanbe Prepares for 2011 Rocky Mountain Tea Festival
By Joshua | No Comments » 
Actually, I began tea time with an “orange blossom mojito” at the famous Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse, a unique Persian-style building which was a gift to the people of Boulder from our sister city in Tajikistan, and is Boulder’s top tourist attraction. Dushanbe is a restaurant and teahouse with a fascinating back story and an innovative team of chefs and tea-lovers preparing the menu. My wife and I had been there for a few weddings, but never for a proper afternoon tea. (more…)
My guest column in the Denver Post today
By Joshua | 1 Comment » 
Last Saturday, I saw two planes collide north of Boulder. Today, I published this short essay in the Denver Post:
“An eyewitness recalls the Boulder plane crash”
I wrote it late Sunday night, laying in bed…
Jubilate! Boulder Jalapa Friendship City Projects to Host Fundraiser Concert this Saturday in Boulder
By Joshua | No Comments » 
“Jubilate,” prounounced “hu-bi-LA-tay”, means “Shout For Joy”! It’s an appropriate name for the next Nica-Rado event, coming up this Saturday in Boulder, CO. It’s also the name of the musical group which will be performing that night: the Jubilate Sacred Singers, a Boulder-based choral group. Jalapa is the official Nicaraguan sister city of Boulder, CO, located in the northern highlands, along a remote stretch of the border with Honduras. In addition to supporting various small-scale development projects, the Boulder-Jalapa Friendship City Projects also sends annual delegations to Nicaragua. Come this weekend to find out more and enjoy some music.
Here’s the info:
June 13, 2009
First Christian Church Disciples of Christ,
950 28th St. Boulder, CO 80302
Tickets: $15 (or $10 for students)
Outward Bound: Denver Urban Center’s First Course
By Joshua | No Comments » 
Less than 48 hours after returning from Belize I found myself instructing an Outward Bound course—my first in over a year. Just like Puerto Rico in the Rockies last summer, this course was with Expeditionary Learning (EL) educators. I spent two days with the teachers and staff of AXL Academy, a school born out of a chance encounter on an Outward Bound course 22 years ago—and set to open in a couple of weeks. “EL” is an alternative style of education based on active education methods. Our job was to give AXL’s 20 staff members a “sense of crew” through various team-building initiatives and rock climbing. And … it was the first ever course run out of Outward Bound’s new Denver urban center! Makin’ history … [LINK to Flickr Set]
Boulder Funk: My article in Sunset magazine
By Joshua | 1 Comment » 
My article, “Bask in Boulder’s funkier side,” is now in the current (July 2008) issue of Sunset magazine, on newsstands and online. My suggested day-trip includes mead tasting at the Redstone Meadery, margarita sipping on the Rio’s new rooftop, Banjo Billy Bus touring through Boulder’s colorful past, and an uncrowded hike up Anenome Hill—all of which are accessible along the Boulder Creek Bike Path corridor.
What did I miss? Got your own funky Boulder suggestions? Let’s hear ‘em in the comments.
Boulder Gets its Freeze On: Pearl Street Flash Mob Among the Tulips
By Joshua | No Comments » 
Yesterday in Boulder, at 12:45 pm on the pedestrian mall in front of the courthouse, everything went quiet, a sudden silence which at first was more noticeable than the lack of movement. Then you realized that within this block-long mass of frozen people were a hundred mini-scenes, and you could walk through them and around them, like a museum. One couple kissed, one danced, another fought, one trio staged a purse-snatching, others looked ahead in mid-stride, biting apples, sipping sodas, talking on phones, giving high-fives. After five minutes, motion, applause, a few hundred smiles, then the crowd melted and the flow resumed.
The first Frozen Boulder was performed by a loose group of 150 people who’d never met, but who’d all received the same invitation to join a “mission” by newly formed Boulder Improv. Equally stirred by the Frozen Grand Central Station video in the e-mail invitation, they were here to make town history—or at least do their small part to keep Boulder weird.
Video and links:
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BY JOSHUA BERMAN
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