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 … [Read more...]
Five Selfish Reasons to Add Volunteering to your Travels
Let’s face it; volunteering our time and effort to a worthy cause is a nice, feel-good thing to do. For many of us, however, the idea of doing work when we could otherwise be relaxing on a beach or exploring the jungle just sounds … crazy. We’re traveling to enjoy life, not to waste our precious time milking cows or digging ditches. Well, I’d like to help you see the light: not only can volunteering let you to contribute directly to a cause … [Read more...]
The Insanely-Tested Top Ten Travel Tips for Spring
Spring is the season hope is rekindled, when broken blades are renewed, and light washes the shadows. We can go barefoot in the grass, pluck the charms of flowers, whistle in the warming breeze, and hit the winding road. Jasper Bangs, who has been to 34 countries, with a spring in his step But, as with any venture, travel can have its pitfalls and pitsprings, if the traveler is not rightly attuned to or aware of warning signs. Many, and … [Read more...]
Honduras: When Conservation Goes Too Far
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 … [Read more...]
An Interview with Bruce Northam
John M. Edwards Liquors Up and Loosens the Tongue of Adventure Journalist Bruce Northam, the Guru of Globetrotter Dogma Award-winning travel journalist Bruce Northam has wandered freestyle in over 100 countries on seven continents, with experiences ranging from drifting with Burma’s sea gypsies, playing naked Frisbee with New Guinea natives, and beholding the beguiling shores of Antarctica. With three books under his equatorial belt and a … [Read more...]
Hidden Treasures of El Salvador
Hidden yet in plain sight is the poor but plentiful country of El Salvador in Central America. Bound on one side by the brilliant blue waters of the South Pacific Ocean, cornered by Honduras and Guatemala it is a country of many different facets each one shining light upon its varied attractions. Mountains, tropical rain forests, sugar plantations and the ever present pounding of surf on sandy beaches, add up to a traveller’s dream but … [Read more...]
Moon Maya 2012
Moon Maya 2012 by Joshua Berman In time for the end of the 5125 year cycle started by the Mayans in 3114 BC - Moon has released "Maya 2012" a guide to celebrations in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize & Honduras. This region is often referred to as the "mundo maya" - where most of the world's 10 million Mayans still live today. While some of the guide is geared towards touring in 2012, much is not and the book offers helpful advice in general on … [Read more...]
Volunteer Vacations
Volunteer Vacations by Bill McMillon, Doug Cutchins and Anne Geissinger This book (Eleventh Edition) is the definitive guide about specific volunteer organizations. It was originally published over 20 years ago and today highlights 150 charitable organizations in detail. Looking to help strawberry farmers in Azerbaijan, rehabilitate wounded elephants in India, build homes in Honduras or a variety of other volunteer opportunities - look no … [Read more...]
Colombia’s Coffee Boom
For inhabitants of Colombia, coffee production is an effective means for economic growth and prosperity. And the National Coffee Research Center (Cenicafe), located in Chinchiná and sponsored by the Colombian Coffee Grower's Federation, is working hard to highlight the influence of coffee on the economic development of the Cafe Triangle region in Colombia and countries like Guatemala and Honduras, says Fernando Gast, PhD, director of scientific … [Read more...]
Once in a Lifetime
What did I know about birds? Enough to feed spinach greens, not stale muffins, to the domestic ducks at Recreation Park in my hometown of Long Beach, CA. Enough to avoid annoying the thirty-pound swans in London's Hyde Park. Enough to understand that silence was golden while trailing knowledgeable birdwatchers in the woods near The House of the Doves at Uxmal. And once, at my grandmother's house in Los Angeles when I was ten, I learned the hard … [Read more...]