I spent a few days in Guatemala’s capital city to get a sense of the local culture before I continued on to Antigua, after my sister, Tracy, arrived. Guatemala City left a comfortable impression on me, though other than the archaeological museum that I visited, and random wanderings around my neighborhood, I wasn’t able to get a real sense of the history or people. What I was able to perceive was genuine kindness from the locals. People greeted me with warm smiles, and eye contact and were happy to endure my Spanish as I asked questions and for recommendations. I also caught a glimpse of Maya culture which is still very prevalent today as Guatemala City itself sits atop multiple archaeological sites and burial grounds that the Mayans built. I spent three hours on a Sunday afternoon fascinated by the technologies that they developed — building materials, aqueducts, agriculture, roads, and even a fascinating number system.
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Another month and a half were spent enjoying the enigmatic charm of Bogotá. This time, I had the pleasure of hosting family and friends and becoming an ambassador of sorts for a city that can be a challenge to appreciate. However, once you learn to enjoy Bogotá’s unique character, it becomes an entirely different experience. Navigating the city’s complexities is no small feat, with its notorious traffic, unpredictable downpours, and hidden gems. Yet, I take pride in my ability to unveil Bogotá’s special qualities while circumventing its less appealing aspects. On this visit, I had the opportunity to stay in the upscale Parque 93 neighborhood for the first time. While it’s undoubtedly one of the city’s most desirable areas, I often strive to avoid such comforts and conveniences. Embracing these luxuries can be a slippery slope, as they quickly become indispensable. I’ve even caught myself splurging on priority seating for flights to expedite my passage through immigration lines. It’s crucial to remain vigilant, as these indulgences can quickly consume any budget! Despite my love for Bogotá, I inevitably find a reason to depart its embrace. Yet, the city’s allure never fails to draw me back, time and time again.
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My Spanish teacher, Sebastián, invited me to visit his hometown — Manizales, Colombia. He had told me about the yearly feria (“fair”) in Manizales which is the largest in Colombia and a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I only caught the last night of it during my visit, as I had been in Pasto prior to my arrival. The feria that I did experience has me excited to return next year — Manizales was a welcomed departure from the war zone of carioca and talco in Pasto. My three days in Manizales were guided by Sebastián – he showed me huge cathedral in the center of town (the third tallest in Latin America) and took me to eat so many local foods like Kumis, dedos (bread sticks filled with melted cheese and bocadillo) and arepas de choclo. We went bowling with the family and even to hot springs outside of the city, at night. We also visited some towns outside of Manizales, collectively known as the Coffee region of Colombia, where I saw the world’s largest cup of coffee in Chinchiná. Apparently once they actually served coffee out of it to a crowd over 1,000 people. It sure seems like they […]
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The Negro y Blanco Carnaval is celebrated in the beginning of January every year in Pasto, Colombia. The carnaval is a historic and cultural tradition going back hundreds of years to when slaves existed in Colombia. The festival lasts a week but the two most important days are Black day and White day when people cover eachother’s faces in black paint, white foam and talcum powder. I’m not really sure the original intentions still hold up in the modern interpretation of these traditions, but the idea was to celebrate the ethnic diversity of Colombia by equalizing everyone’s race (if for one day a year) by taking on the guise of black and white. The Carnaval itself is the second largest in Colombia after Barranquilla’s Carnaval in February and has been on my bucket list ever since I first heard about it a few years ago. Pasto is the capital of the southern department (or state) of Colombia called Nariño, which I had never visited before. Like Bogotá, it is at a high elevation of over 8,000 feet (2500 m) and so the weather is considered cold, often cloudy, and often wet. The culture of Pasto and Nariño is similar to […]
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I met my sister, brother-in-law and three sobrinos in Caragena, Colombia for New Year’s. It was my first time visiting and as expected it was really hot and there were a lot of tourists. I didn’t venture outside of the city but enjoyed my time there looking around and taking photos, like all the other white people. Next time I plan on renting a boat and cruising to the surrounding islands and less-accessible beaches outside the city.
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I was so happy during the two weeks that I stayed in an apartment in the neighborhood of Meireles in Fortaleza, in the state of Ceara Brazil. I was a block from the beach and half a block from a beautiful, boutique gym. This is the type of gym that has personal trainers scattered everywhere waiting to intercept your last reps on the bench press (even when you’d prefer they don’t), eager to offer advice (when none is solicited), and generally hoping to be needed. That was all part of the premium price I paid for a gym so conveniently located near where I was staying (and no other options existed). I made friends with Giordano, one of these trainers, and though he doesn’t speak English we managed to communicate through grunts and gestures and smiles and laughs. I like to think that Giordano saw real potential in me compared to his other gym clients who seemed to phone it in a couple of times a week. I may have been a welcome distraction for the two weeks I was in attendance – diligently appearing each day to get the cost-per-visit I paid as low as possible. So Giordiano took […]
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I’ve barely scratched the surface of Brazil – having only visited Rio de Janeiro on a couple of occasions and Sao Paulo for six weeks earlier this year. This time around I wanted to explore Ceará, one of Brazil’s 26 states and is situated in the northeast corner of the country with beautiful beaches and a lot of wind that makes for great kitesurfing and windsurfing. Twenty years ago, Jericoacoara was an off-the-map place for beach bums and kite surfers to visit, 4 hour drive from Fortaleza, Brazil. These days it’s developing at a quick pace to match the tourist demand, but for me very much retains a rustic and simple charm. Jeri is more of an adventure destination than a beach destination — the surrounding wind-swept sand dunes abutting the ocean support the local tourist industry bringing money to the locals. Adventure outfitters and tour operators are everywhere – making the 4×4 wheel drive cars that are necessary to navigate in all directions more accessible to the rest of us. I spent two days riding one of these open-air 4×4 wheel dune buggy, sort of like a horse, standing on the back end of it gripping a handle behind […]
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I used the opportunity of Thanksgiving to escape to Seychelles for a week’s vacation. I prefer to save up years’ worth of credit card loyalty points in order to spend them on vacation excursions to places that I wouldn’t normally visit. The timing worked well to coincide with Thanksgiving and direct flights from Johannesburg, South Africa. The stay was spread across two Seychelles islands: Mahe and Prasiln – I ended up visiting a third island, Curieuse Island on a day excursion with a tour company. Curieuse is home to hundreds of wild giant tortoises which I had a lot of fun photographing and petting. Additional fun discoveries included the Coco de mer, or double coconut which is endemic to the island of Praslin. Owing to its protected status and relative obscurity, it is forbidden to take these coconuts from Seychelles. Another delightful discovery were the giant golden orb weaver spiders that are very common throughout the islands. They grow to the size of a human hand and the silk they produce is as strong as any spider. Fascinating to see so many, everywhere. In the Seychelles there is a wonderful, accessible mix of beaches where you can relax and swim, […]
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Like Gabarone, Durban was a destination that I was curious to visit. I had already been to Cape Town and Johannesburg, so South Africa’s third-largest city seemed like the logical next destination. I made it a two-week reconnaissance trip, always curious and excited to scout a new destination. My apartment was in a convenient location on Florida Street – a hip restaurant lined with bars and restaurants. In the same building on the ground floor was a biltong store where I got in the habit of eating 400 grams of freshly-cut biltong each day after my gym session. And what a gym I found there in Durban — Cambell’s Gym. Replete with bodybuilding posters from the 1980s, and equipment from the 1950s, as well as large, very strong men, Campbell’s Gym, became my favorite place to spend my time in Durban. I never really made it to Durban’s beaches. I visited once in order to eat lunch, but I preferred taking my camera and wandering around different neighborhoods I found myself in, stopping to have a coffee, seeing a monkey in a tree — that sort of tourism. A highlight from my time in Durban was the annual Bonsai show […]
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From Johannesburg, I flew to Gabarone (“Gabs”), the capital city of Botswana to meet up with a new friend, Thabi, whom I had met through a classmate of mine when I was on campus at UC Berkeley earlier in April. Thabi is a serial; entrepreneur living and working in Gabarone. I stayed in a small one-bedroom apartment on the outskirts of town and had a rental car to get me from place to place, which was necessary because Uber and taxis aren’t really a thing around Gabarone. I found a nearby gym a 7-minute drive from where I was staying called Jack’s Gym, and though I don’t have photos, working out there each morning for a week was one of the highlights owing to old-school equipment and really strong men repping double my squat max without breaking a sweat. Work was slow during my visit so I managed to explore some sites around Gabarone including Mokolodi Game Reserve where I saw a cheetah and a family of white rhinoceros during a 90-minute excursion riding in a four-wheel truck. It wasn’t exactly a safari, but it reminded me of the safaris I did in Sri Lanka a couple of years ago. […]
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