Imagine living on a Caribbean beach, complete with white sand and turquoise water… Your job: running a small bar that serves food (from local restaurants). In between serving drinks, you chill out with the customers and, during/after a gorgeous sunset (which occurs pretty much every night), you dance in the sand. Meet ‘El Caribeño,’ a man who’s…
Category Archives: Locals
2 Colombian Cowboys…6 Bottles of Beer (Photo of the Day)
Salento, a town in Colombia’s coffee country, is frozen in time. They even have a sign that says so. And as you can see, it has its share of characters–cowboys included. Here are two I spotted sitting at a bar in the town plaza. I loved the looks on their faces and, of course, the…
Playing Pharmacist With an Argentine Soap Opera Actress (Random Travel Moment 14)
When I checked in at the beachfront hotel in Palomino, Colombia, I immediately noticed how much Maria, the manager, smiled. She looked beautiful and happy…radiant, in fact. “I used to be an actress on a soap opera in Argentina,” she told me proudly when we had our first conversation. “Really? A sweet character or a…
Watermelon Vendor Cooling Off in Front of Cafe, Cartagena, Colombia (Photo of the Day)
I saw this watermelon vendor, sitting in front of Café Havana on Calle Media Luna in Cartagena, several times day while there recently. Both he and his watermelon looked sweet, and I looked forward to buying some and getting to know him. He was only there during the day, when the cafe was closed. He…
The Cool Colombian Cop Who Made My Day (Random Travel Moment 13)
Where/When: El Dorado International Airport, Bogotá It was barely 5 am when my plane landed in Bogotá and I was exhausted. Once I passed through Customs/Immigration, I had two things on my mind: getting a cup of coffee and buying a SIM for my phone. First I got the coffee; then I looked for a…
The Boy They Call ‘Dummy’ and Why I Want to Change That #Jamaica #deaf #children #specialneeds #tbex
I’d chatted with the neighborhood kids several times during my recent stay in Billy’s Bay, Jamaica–a village with a population of about 150–and there were plenty of smiles and laughs each time. Connecting with them was one of those simple pleasures that make travel so special. One day, another kid, who looked as sweet as…
Patois Lesson on a Porch…in Rural #Jamaica (Random #Travel Moment 12) #ttot #tbex
Patois, aka Jamaican Creole, is what most Jamaicans prefer to speak and if you know a little, it goes a long way. That’s why I tried to learn as much as I could on my trip a few weeks ago. And I was lucky to have my own private lesson…on a porch…taught by two vendors,…
Sweet Jamaican Vendor Holding Her Basket of Coconut Goodies (Photo of the Day)
My Jamaican minibus–from Black River to Billy’s Bay in Treasure Beach–was running late yesterday and I was in the mood for a snack. So I was glad when this particular vendor stopped by to offer me some of the goodies in her basket. She had regular cookies, which she said were made of coconut, and…
Blindfolded and Force-fed Baby Food in Mexico! (Random Travel Moment #9)
How It Began… “Want to go to a Mexican baby shower?” asked Jeanne, a woman I’d just met hours before. We were at a bar in La Paz, Baja Sur, and she was a friend of a friend–someone I’d met randomly on a shuttle bus (click here for that story). The mother-to-be was her (Jeanne’s)…
Kuna Woman in Traditional Clothes Holding Bird in San Blas, Panama (Photo of the Day)
This photo is of a Kuna Yala woman, a resident of Carti Island, in traditional clothing. The colorful part right above her skirt is a mola, which means ‘shirt’ or ‘clothing’ in Dulegaya, the language spoken by the Kuna. The ring in the woman’s nose is called an olasu. The arm beads are known as…
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