Last week I visited San Miguel de Allende, in Guanajuato state, for a bridge tournament. I wish there had been time to see more of the city, but I saw (and tasted) enough to know I can’t wait to go back. Unfortunately, a hotel on the outskirts of town hosted our bridge tournament. But we took…
To be fair, Cartagena and the other parts of the Caribbean coast I visited were very pretty. But I did suffer from the heat, humidity, and hungry mosquitoes. I didn’t blog about the my time in Palomino and on the Río Don Diego. There wasn’t much to say, and the internet was slow and unreliable…
Guatapé is a cute, colorful town. There’s a big rock nearby. And there’s a lake, well actually a human-made reservoir. We climbed the rock. Then we walked around the town. We went to a replica of another town that was flooded when they created the reservoir. And we took and evening dinner cruise on the lake.…
I’m not going to write a whole lot about Medellín. It’s actually not a very pretty city. In spite of being surrounded by hills, Medellín doesn’t have an attractive cityscape. I enjoyed a few aspects of the city anyway, so I’ll focus on those, and leave the rest for you to discover in my photo…
Quindío is the second smallest department in Colombia. It is in the center of a triangle formed by Colombia’s three largest cities: Bogotá, Medellín, and Cali. And it is in the heart of the country’s most important coffee producing region. I spent two full days here, enjoying the scenery, watching birds, learning about coffee production,…
Two days in Bogotá were barely enough to scratch the surface. Mornings were sunny, afternoons were rainy. The highlights were visits to two museums: Museo del Oro and Botero Museo. In addition, I sampled some interesting flavors at Mercado Paloquemao, walked around (when it wasn’t pouring rain) to see some of the interesting buildings in…
Today I took an excursion to Gomboa and Gatún Lake to commune with nature and see some of the birds and wildlife of Panama. There’s really not a lot to write about. It’s all about the visual. Words can’t begin to capture it. And the photos I took with my phone, even though I have…
Deep in the Panamanian jungle along the Chagres River is the Emberá Drúa village, with about 123 residents. After an hour drive north from Panama City, my guide, Miguel, and I arrived at a landing point at the point where the river empties into Lake Alajuela. There we boarded a motorized dugout canoe for a…
I arrived in Panama City yesterday morning, and now have had the better part of two days to see the city. Yesterday I wandered around the old city, Casco Viejo, on my own. Today I had a private tour by car and got to see some other parts of the city, and also visited the…
My first adventure of 2023, a visit to Panama and Colombia, is just over a week away. I had planned to visit Colombia as part of my trip to Machu Picchu and the Galápagos last year. Overseas Adventure Travel had an optional post-trip extension to Colombia for that tour, and I signed up for it. But…
The food in the Caucasus was a joy for me. I am an adventurous eater. There are few things I won’t try. And the the Caucasus offered many opportunities to try some delicious (and not-so-delicious-but-still-interesting) foods. I was often surprised and sometimes delighted by my food adventures in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. This post doesn’t…
The history of religion in the Caucasus is long and complicated. I saw many mosques, churches, monasteries, and monuments, but it would take a lot of study to understand the complex stories about how religious beliefs have shaped the politics and cultures of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. I am not offering much detail here. Just…