Nicaragua Trip Coach on BudgetTravel.com Tuesday at Noon EST

August 3rd, 2008 | By Joshua | 2 Comments »

I’ll be serving as a Trip Coach for BudgetTravel.com, answering questions about traveling in Nicaragua in a live chat on Tuesday, August 5, 2008. Readers can already login on here and submit questions. Then, beginning at noon Eastern Time until 1 p.m., I’ll answer the questions live, wearing nothing but … oh wait, wrong chat. There’s nothing I love talking about more than traveling in Nicaragua — see you out there. 

[TRANSCRIPT OF CHAT ARCHIVED HERE]

Other articles for BudgetTravel.com:  “Learn Spanish in a Land of Volcanoes”

My Review of Bruce Barcott’s new Belize book in July, 2008, issue of Mountain Gazette

July 31st, 2008 | By Joshua | 3 Comments »

My first article in the venerable, crusty, old Mountain Gazette magazine is a book review of Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw by Bruce Barcott (Random House, 2008). The July issue of MG is on stands now, or you can download a PDF of my piece here: “Birds of Paradise.”

The book is about an eco-battle royale against the construction of the Chalillo Dam in Belize. It’s a superbly crafted story: “Barcott puts all the pieces in order, frequently taking a few generous steps back to give the reader an ample, global context for each chapter. Brief, sharp histories of hydroelectric power, Belizean demographics, endangered species lists, environmental law, and post-colonial politics pepper the storyline. Between these contextual tangents the author strings a narrative of dramatic episodes and dialogue, resulting is a sweeping snapshot of a country as it makes its awkward debut in the new global economy.”

[READ my Mountain Gazette article]

[BUY the book]

[NY Times review of Macaw]

[Grist interview with Barcott]

When given cameras, what do kids capture? Gorgeous slide show from Empowerment International

July 28th, 2008 | By Joshua | No Comments »

This is what happened when Colorado-based Nicaraguaphile Kathy Adams decided to pass out cameras in the village where she’d been working near Granada. Kathy founded Empowerment International, a grassroots development project for children which can always use your help. Enjoy the slideshow then consider donating to a worthy cause.

Über–Tranquilo Travelers Depart on Slow, Ephemerratic Round-the-World Quest: TheArtDontStop and LBoogie are Eastward Bound

July 28th, 2008 | By Joshua | No Comments »

The happy departing couple (a.k.a. Todd Berman and Lauren Girardin, a.k.a. my brother and sister-in-law) was last seen in Phillie, hop-skipping across the country before launching overseas for a year. They began in San Francisco with goodbye grafitti on the wall of an old police station in the Mission. They proceeded eastward and have been posting a slow flurry of cheesesteaks and sculpture gardens, warmin’ up the keys of their (momentarily) state-of-the-art microcomputer as they travel through exotic Midwestern cultures.

Their humble Quest?

“… To meet strangers and strange people … To eat wildy and locally. To tell you stories and show you artwork.”

For one year. Todd is mostly a sketch-pad and canvas kind of a guy while Lauren is more of a photog/website ninja. The resulting clash of wanderlusting, creative getupandgo is Ephemerratic.com—which I recommend bookmarking right … about … now.

First stop: Morocco.

Belize by Helicopter: Beautiful Video

July 25th, 2008 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

Incredible helicopter video tour of Belize brought to you by Astrum helicopters, Belize’s only chopper service. Watching this video gives even the most jaded Belize traveler a fascinating perspective of Belize’s reefs, cayes, forests, rivers, and ruins—and it’s much cheaper than the $1000/hour it would cost to acdtually fly in one of Astrum’s two birds. Enjoy. [LINK]

Outward Bound: Denver Urban Center’s First Course

July 23rd, 2008 | 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]

Guatemala featured in debut episode of “BBtv World”

July 22nd, 2008 | By Joshua | No Comments »

BoingBoing.net, a.k.a. “A Directory of Wonderful Things,” a.k.a the most popular blog in the world, just launched a round-the-world video series featuring “first-person glimpses of life around the world, told … through the people in these places, their own stories, their own way. When we can, we want to place the camera directly in the hands—literally—of the people whose lives, cultures, and lands we’re visiting.” This short clip, called “El Molinero,” is by Xeni Jardin and is about grinding corn masa for tortillas. “We’re kicking this off with an episode I shot during a recent visit in a K’iche Maya village in the highlands of Guatemala….” [LINK]

Belize with a Baby: Shanti Bonus Pix!

July 19th, 2008 | By Joshua | No Comments »

Shanti in a Mennonite cart!

A hammock!

With more Belizeans!

Making chocolate with the Maya!

I posted a new Belize with a Baby Flickr set with all this and more. Enjoy.

Down Belize’s Golden Stream: The Tranquilo Traveler Meets the Krazy African

July 16th, 2008 | By Joshua | No Comments »

On this day, I left my family on the beach and ventured farther into southern Belize. The rivers, as I’ve mentioned, are up—way up—brown swollen snakes pushing swiftly through vast carpets of forest, savanah, and swamp. I saw it all from above, skimming a mere 800 feet above the canopy as I flew from Placencia to a private airstrip called Rio Dorado. I was there for a 24-hour tour of the vast Belize Lodge & Excursions property and so, apparently, were fellow slow travelers Paul “The Krazy African” Zway and Angelica. After our “Dr. Livingston, I presume” moment in the main lodge at Indian Creek (we’d been hearing about each other for days, as we each made our rounds of south Belizean properties), the pair showed me a 1979 Land Rover named Elsie which they’d bought and outfitted in San Jose for their Central American expedition. Zway runs a luxury safari tent company based in his homeland of South Africa and was here to inspect his products on Moho Caye, located four miles offshore in the Port of Honduras Marine Reserve. But first, we had to travel down Golden Stream, whose high waters floated us dangerously close to “tiger’s claw” vines and exotic spiders. (more…)

Tranquilo Photo of the Week: Gecko at Nature’s Way

July 15th, 2008 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

I was doing a quick site inspection of PG’s long-time backpacker haven, the Nature’s Way Guesthouse (about US$12 per person for funky wooden bunk rooms with shared bath), walking through the common room and talking to the proprietor, Chet Schmidt, when I spotted this gecko doing push-ups on an east-facing pane of glass: