My family has always loved road trips. Up and down our home state of California we’d drive, or on towards the golden cornfields of Nebraska or the wide blue skies of New Mexico, racking up the miles on childhood summer vacations. Nestled in the back of our green ford windstar mini van alongside my sister … [Read more…]
Our feet glide across the blue cobblestone streets of Old San Juan as we follow Natalia, a guide with Flavors of San Juan Food and Culture Tours, on an afternoon deep-dive into Puerto Rico’s history and cuisine. Smiles form across the faces of all members of my family as we reach our first stop and … [Read more…]
Long before visiting Puerto Rico, the concept of the island came into my consciousness when I was a fourth grader at Guadalupe Elementary School in California’s Bay Area. The year was 1998 and the island, a territorial commonwealth of the United States, held the third referendum in its history to vote on its political status. … [Read more…]
As our aircraft reached the island I listed back and forth in my seat, brimming with excitement about flying to Cuba, glued to the window, peering out from behind the tempered glass at the land below, so lusciously green and largely undeveloped below. In the distance the sea shimmered in that crystal-aqua tone that you … [Read more…]
A biting wind sweeps through the desert, kicking up clouds of sand that swarm around me. A single grain of earth may not hold much power, but, flung in unity, the course grains slash against my exposed skin, cutting with a force that I imagine mimics shards of glass. My legs sting. As the wind comes to … [Read more…]
The languid ripples of Laguna Cejar tiptoe to shore and gently retreat, leaving in their wake wisps of salty foam that rest on the sand like piles of cotton candy, frothy and white. Caramel waters ebb into turquoise and then a deeper blue, colors made more brilliant by the pearly strand of earth that circles the lake and … [Read more…]
I remember the first time I visited three countries in one day, back when I lived in Europe and spent a long weekend racing through the Benelux countries. I began the day with a brisk walk through the city of Luxembourg, traveled through Belgium by rail taking a pit stop in Brussels to see the … [Read more…]
After a week of 3:30 a.m. wake ups and late nights during a whirlwind trip to South America I couldn’t summon the energy to rise again at this hour to do what most people do when they visit San Pedro de Atacama – take a sunrise tour of the El Tatio Geysers. The dama who owns … [Read more…]
The force of Iguazu Falls is omnipresent. It’s in the air, misty air that drenches my face, my hair, my clothes. It’s in the sound, the thundering drum roll of falling water that blocks out nearly all else. And of course it’s in the momentous curtains of water that bucket down over rocky edges, full … [Read more…]
I was hired for my current job in Los Angeles at 1 p.m. on a Friday the day after I flew back to the states after finishing my 18-month contract in the rainforest of Costa Rica. At 9 p.m. that very night I flew to Santiago, Chile. Praying this position, my “dream job” in travel … [Read more…]