Sometimes I feel like a broken record talking about my recent backpacking trip in Central America and South America, because I’ve written so much about it on my own blog. But here I am on a brand new website, with a brand new audience, and I guess I’d better start from the beginning. I had this grand plan to spend a year backpacking from Mexico City to Santiago de Chile, completely by bus, boat, train, car; anything except from flying. This was for a few reasons. The first being that […]

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Choosing a wedding venue is never an easy task! We looked at venues in our local area of Fort Lauderdale, Miami, all the way to the Caribbean islands, and many beach resorts in Costa Rica prior to choosing The Springs Resort & Spa at Arenal, Costa Rica. Today I’ll share with you what led to this decision and why we feel like this is one of the most unique weddings ever crafted. About The Springs Resort in Costa Rica The Springs Resort and Spa is like no other property we’ve […]

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Leisure travel and tourism news from the City by Nature Minneapolis – Not content to sit back and chill after one, big, football game, Minneapolis keeps building momentum and enticing more visitors with new hotels, restaurants and major sports news in 2019. In this Meet Minneapolis leisure travel round-up, here’s more of what to look for in the coming year with our Top 9 for 2019. Minneapolis hosts the 2019 NCAA Men’s Final Four: U.S. Bank Stadium will be featured in the follow up to March Madness as the top […]

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The new Santa Maria Hotel & Golf Resort is a welcome addition to Panama City’s hotel landscape. Panama City is Central America’s most cosmopolitan capital and a fast-growing vacation destination. If you like luxury hotels with authentic local touches, you’ve struck gold. A Hotel With Indigenous Flair The hotel’s common areas are adorned with bold masks and colorful paintings made by indigenous artists. The 182 uncluttered rooms features Panamanian-made items including the Guna Yala traditional Mola blankets adorning the beds, hand-woven baskets made in the Embera community and furnishings constructed […]

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Last year I lived and worked in Belize for six months. It’s a beautiful country with an incredible culture, but to be honest one of my favorite things about living in Belize was the incredible exotic produce. These are my ten favorite Belizean fruits and vegetables: 1. Jippi Jappa Jippi Jappa is a woody palm-like plant that is most famously used to make baskets and hats. I have tried my damnedest and cannot find any real information about jippi jappa as a food online. I’m not sure whether this is […]

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Most people know Costa Rica for its biodiversity, adventure tours, and beautiful beaches. But its landscape and various terrains doesn’t make it any different from neighboring countries such as Nicaragua or Guatemala. So do you REALLY know Costa Rica? Here’s a list of 10 things you probably don’t know, but should. It’s Not Cheap Visitors tend to think that because Costa Rica is located in Central America, it must be cheap–Wrong. There are reasons behind the high cost of living in Costa Rica, and it’s directly related to why people […]

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Exploring coffee cultures around the world. Follow two caffeine junkie-backpackers searching for the world’s best coffee! The quality of a cup of coffee is determined by a complex combination of factors, both environmental and method of preparation. Since altitude, soil quality and climate are influential factors,  the bean origin influences coffee quality. These were our favorite coffees around the world. South East Asia Coffee culture here varies between nothing and top quality around here. Coffee culture in Indonesia Indonesia is a big player, the fourth biggest coffee producer in the […]

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At 9, I thought it was crazy. My dad was going to squeeze Mom and all six of us kids into a boxy, top heavy, narrow Volvo station wagon, and we were going to drive for three months from our home in Paraguay to Kansas where my father grew up. This trip had been his dream since coming to Paraguay in 1951 to found and manage a Mennonite leprosy mission. “Is there really a road that goes all the way from Paraguay to the States?” I asked. Dad pulled out […]

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Belize is all the buzz these days for expats looking to downsize their expenses, live the simple life and retire in a picturesque setting sure to be the envy of their friends and family. So you’ve got the itch to pack your bags, but maybe you’re not ready to hang your hat or your nest egg isn’t quite ready to hatch? If you’re considering the good life in Belize and wondering what it takes to start a business, here’s some advice from 4 expats that took the plunge and brought […]

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A Whole World to Travel – Where to go First? The answer to this question will often be dictated by your budget and where in the world you live. It also depends largely on your confidence. My first genuine travel experience was to the US which was an ideal introduction to becoming a backpacker. My destination was a summer camp where I would spend three months adjusting to the American culture and lifestyle. It was the perfect springboard for further travel around that country and the world. So if you […]

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Before visiting Nicaragua for the first time, I had really low expectations on this country. I didn’t know many people who had been there before, and anyways none of them appeared to be particularly impressed with it. It was not meant to be the highlight of my trip through Central America, but I quickly fell in love with it – so much so that after my first visit I went back two more times. As I quickly learned once there, Nicaragua actually offers a lot to people who visit it: beautiful colonial […]

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I am sitting on the edge of Lago De Coatepeque in El Salvador on an early morning – wakened early by the suns first rays hitting my face from my cozy spot on the floor, wedged between two sofas. Last night I vaguely remembered stumbling in around 2am. Lacking in the sleep department and heavy in the alcohol recovery, I feel surprisingly well for just a few hours of sleep. Last night was a blur, it was my cousin’s wedding and it was epic. The ceremony overlooked the aforementioned lake, […]

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John M. Edwards succumbs to the lures and snares of Costa Rica’s Caribbean “ecotourism,” instead of “narcissism,” in a relatively wealthy country translating literally as “Rich Coast.” I stood in a state of stupefaction, eavesdropping on a few randomundocumented locals who looked like they were engaging in a slapping fight—except with warm smiles of nonrecognition on their faces, maybe ganja buzzes. “Hey, mon, wha’appen!” “Wa’appen, wha’appen!” “Murder she wrote, nanana, murder she wrote!” “Wha’appen! Whaaaaa’appen!” I decided here on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica (“Rich Coast”), everyone said what […]

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Honduras is like the monkey who locked up the zookeeper. This little tropical realm has put away the constrained thinking that keeps others stuck in unproductive routines, and allowed its wildness to escape the margins. ~Richard Bangs Because it’s faithful to our childlike imaginations of wilderness, our youthful notions of life authentic and unadulterated, Honduras remains a true, original adventure. Far from the strictures of gentlemanly routines, here we can remember what makes life rip-roaring and breathtaking. We can test our mettle, hear our hearts race, and even encounter a […]

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I made the mistake of trying to go south towards the Sawtelle district (craving Ramen) around 5pm on a weekday. Barrington was backed up as far as I could see in the northbound direction – after turning around at some point, it took me 30 minutes to go 1/3 of a mile on surface streets and then on Sunset before pulling into the Luxe Hotel entance. Traffic is so intense in this part of town (combined with the major 405 construction project here) that humans replace stop lights during rush […]

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