A moment in virtual travel: Nicaragua 2.0

November 20th, 2010 | By Joshua | No Comments »

I just clicked “follow” on a northern rural tourism cooperative in Nicaragua, after announcing my Granada book release party, and then favorite-ing my friends’ new video, “La Cumbia Chapiolla” by Los Mokuanes, a party band in Nicaragua. (They were also my neighbors for the two years I lived in La Trinidad, Estelí, before the Internet age hit the campo.)

Tranquilo Travel Gear Review: The pre-trip hum of packing with my new luggage scale

November 13th, 2010 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

I bought my first luggage scale yesterday, a digital hand-held scale by REI. As someone who has tried to balance unwieldy duffle bags atop bathroom scales, I love this. I avoid maxing out baggage requirements whenever possible. (In fact, I generally prefer to travel as lightly as I can: a day-pack and a camera bag, nothing more, is ideal. One day, I’d like to take the Rolf Potts No-Baggage Round-the-World Challenge.) Sometimes however, I must schlepp a montón of books onto the plane. On this upcoming trip to Nicaragua, for example, I’m taking well over 100 copies of my two new titles: MOON NICARAGUA and LIVING ABROAD IN NICARAGUA. At a pound apiece, that adds up.

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Journey of a Vaccine through Nicaragua: from Managua to Pantasma

November 9th, 2010 | By Joshua | No Comments »

I worked as the fixer on the production of this video for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It is part of their Living Proof campaign to change the discussion of global health to one of success stories and positivity. The introduction of the rotavirus vaccine in Nicaragua is a tear-jerking success story. The vaccine protects children from lethal bouts of diarrhea and vomiting. “Rotavirus kills 2 million children per year worldwide. Its impact hit Nicaraguan children hard. But in 2006, a vaccine came to the villages. And the results are remarkable.” (more…)

Living Abroad in Nicaragua: Is it the right move for you?

November 4th, 2010 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

From our introduction to MOON LIVING ABROAD IN NICARAGUA (Avalon Travel Publishing, 2nd edition 2010, by Randall Wood & Joshua Berman):

Is Nicaragua right for you? The first thing to consider is that, despite the recent hype, an extended or permanent stay in Nicaragua is a bold and major lifestyle change. It would be wrong—and seriously misguided—to expect living in Nicaragua to be remotely similar to settling in a more traditional warm-weather retreat, like Florida or Costa Rica, for example, and the process of determining whether Nicaragua is your cup of tea should not be taken lightly.

The first question you should ask is: “Why am I moving to Nicaragua?” If your answer has to do with something you read in a real estate brochure, flashy magazine article, or get-rich-quick scheme you found online, then you’ve got some more research to do. If your answer has to do with curiosity, adventure, learning Spanish, starting a long-term business, or retiring to a more relaxed lifestyle, you’re on the right track.

This book does not purport to “sell” you on living in Nicaragua and it does not turn a blind eye to reality. (more…)

¡Nica-rado ya está en la casa! Live music and burrito dinner to benefit school for Nicaragua street children: This Sunday in Boulder

November 4th, 2010 | By Joshua | No Comments »

Coloradans uniting to support Nicaragua! I love it! Please join me and other local Nicaphiles this Sunday evening:

WHAT: The Boulder-based Americas Association for the Care of Children (AACC) is hosting a Children Benefit Concert, Live Auction & Burrito Dinner. There will be live and silent auctions with many great prizes (win autographed copies of my new Nicaragua guidebooks).

MUSICA! Come for the AMAZING entertainment, featuring El Grupo Tlaloc Danza Azteca and Rojos Calientes (bluegrass en español!).

WHEN: Sunday, Nov.7th 2010, starting at 5:30 p.m.

HOW MUCH: Tickets are $15, and they will be available at the door.

WHERE: Naropa University Nalanda event center, at 63rd and Arapahoe

All proceeds will be used to hire local carpenters in the city of Jalapa, Nicaragua to build school furniture, and complete a dental and medical health clinic within the recently opened school there. Come one, come all to support AACC in order to provide for the children of Jalapa, the Sister City of Boulder. MORE INFO.

Hot off the presses: MOON LIVING ABROAD IN NICARAGUA!

October 17th, 2010 | By Joshua | 2 Comments »

Dreamers, expats, development workers, investors, volunteers, Spanish students, and retirees thinking about (or already living in) Nicaragua—this book is for you! Randy Wood and I are proud to announce the 2nd edition of MOON LIVING ABROAD IN NICARAGUA, our guidebook for longterm travelers in Central America’s largest, most vibrant, and least visited nation.

Randy and I first visited and learned about Nicaragua as Peace Corps trainees in the late 1990s. We both stayed on, in different capacities, and this book is based on our combined 24 years of experience there. For this edition, we surveyed hundreds of foreign expatriates living in Nicaragua to present our readers with a broad spectrum of experiences and opinions. (more…)

LOS MOKUANES: The hardest working fiesta band in Nicaragua

August 12th, 2010 | By Joshua | No Comments »

MO-KUAN-ES! MO-KUAN-ES! MO-KUAN-ES!

Every show begins with this deep-voiced recorded announcement, as the smoke machines are turned on and the crowd gathers. At the fairgrounds in Managua last week (Microfer 2010), thousands started walking toward the stage when they heard the cue, chanting along and preparing to dance. (more…)

Travel Writer Julian Smith follows Mark Twain’s path across Nicaragua—in today’s Washington Post

August 7th, 2010 | By Joshua | No Comments »

Like Mark Twain? Like Nicaragua? Here’s a story you probably did not know:

“I’ve arrived 100 years after the great American writer’s death to retrace one of his lesser-known journeys. In 1866, Twain crossed Nicaragua on his way from California to New York. He was fresh off his first lecture tour, and his writing career was just starting to take off…. Today, the route he took runs through a country not in revolution, but in evolution. Tourism is growing faster in Nicaragua than anywhere else in Central America; safety-wise, it’s second only to its tourist-magnet neighbor, Costa Rica.”

In Nicaragua, following in Twain’s footsteps - and his dreams

On assignment in Nicaragua, first stop: León

August 4th, 2010 | By Joshua | No Comments »

Hola amigos! I’ll be blogging about my trip to Nicaragua this week from the official author blog at my publisher’s website: MOON.COM.

Also, when possible, I’ll be tweeting from @tranquilotravel–>

See you in the heat….!

MOON.COM: AUTHOR BLOG JOSHUA BERMAN

Prime-Time Nicaragua: loud, proud, and still rough around the edges

July 23rd, 2010 | By Joshua | 3 Comments »

The CBS hit show Survivor is currently filming two seasons of their reality show in southwest Nicaragua, the first of which will premiere on September 15, 2010. I’ve never watched Survivor; I have no idea how important the actual setting is behind the drama and Darwinian democracy. I suspect not so much, besides providing viewers with wild, dripping greenery and providing Survivor’s producers with the opportunity to attach their brand to such a gritty-sounding place-name as “Nicaragua.”

Originally a Nahuatl word alluding to majestic waters, “Nicaragua” has a different connotation for most of the modern world, a picture best captured, I believe, by Dave Eggers: “Nicaragua sounded dangerous … like some kind of spider. There it goes, under the table—Nicaragua!” (more…)