The Story of a Red Dress in Cuba
It was the kind of dress I’d always wanted to own– a form fitting red bandage dress with a plunging v-neck. Sleek, vibrant, with ribbed strips of fabric that cling…
It was the kind of dress I’d always wanted to own– a form fitting red bandage dress with a plunging v-neck. Sleek, vibrant, with ribbed strips of fabric that cling…
Standing atop a damp crag of a rock, peaking over the edge of Montezuma Falls as a stream of water swiftly plummets downward, violently kicking off the jagged cliff side and…
With only one day to spend in Santa Teresa and miles of beaches to explore, my Tico travel buddy and I knew we needed a way to cover a lot…
Bright pink hues of the rising sun filter through the verdant treetops and softly land at the base of my bed, before melting into a bright yellow. It is dawn…
It’s hard to believe that we are some how two weeks into the New Year -- 2016 is already well underway! How are you doing with those New Year's Resolutions?…
Today I'm headed back to the United States to spend Christmas with my family in Maryland and ring in the New Year with a few of my travel buddies from…
One of the main reasons why I love traveling so much is because it allows me to learn about the world in a way that is deep, meaningful and personal.…
If there’s one defining symbol of Costa Rican culture, it has to be the oxcart (ok, apart from football jerseys, coffee and cerveza Imperial, that is).
The importance of the oxcart, or carreta, dates back to the mid-nineteenth century. The elaborate, hand-painted carts were first used as a means to transport coffee beans.
While coffee is now Costa Rica’s sixth largest export to the tune of $362 million annually, the crop is actually not native to the country; the Arabica coffee plant was introduced in the 1700s. The fertile soil, high altitude and cool climate of Costa Rica’s Central Valley, made it the ideal environment for the crop to flourish.
In 1829 coffee became one of Costa Rica’s top exports, surpassing tobacco, sugar and cacao. The capital city of San Jose boomed as wealthy coffee barons and traders made the city their base in the Central Valley.
With no railroad built until 1890, coffee producers were faced with the challenge of transporting beans from the Central Valley over steep and winding mountains to the port of Puntarenas on the Pacific Coast. Ticos solved this challenge with the use of oxcarts.
In the soft heat of a Havana morning, I trot up the steps at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba. As I reach the top stoop, the doors gently breeze open…
Last week I reached a huge personal milestone and visited my 40th country – Cuba! Before my more informational posts roll in, I'm taking some space to reflect on what this means to me.