Immersed in the World
In a recent post, I promised this photo essay. After viewing the pictures, my husband and I gained a new appreciation for our children’s sense of humor. But then we wondered, ”Is it a little warped?”
We were on Nicaragua’s volcanic island, Ometepe, and had just finished dinner. Brian and I wanted to relax with our caipirinhas. The kids were done sitting.
Forget DVD players, ipads, activity books, and games. When traveling, give your child the camera and they’ll be entertained for hours.
My camera didn’t cost thousands of dollars, and if you’re handing yours over to the children, yours probably shouldn’t either. Nonetheless, tell your child you’re entrusting them with a valuable piece of family equipment, and hopefully they’ll be empowered to take extra [...]
1. Feeling great pleasure ordering a beer at a cafe in France when I wasn’t of legal drinking age, only to later learn my “biere sans alcool” was non-alcoholic.
2. Attempting not to be trampled in a throng of shoppers in a Beijing department store on a Sunday.
3. Waking up in a tent in the middle of the [...]
Taking a paid, guided horseback ride in the northern mountains of Nicaragua is nothing like a guided horseback ride in the United States. For one, I can’t imagine an American operation thinking it a good idea for an inexperienced six year old to ride and control his own horse for six hours.
But the confidence of Jamie, our Nica guide, assured me. Or [...]
My idea of the perfect travel experience is to immerse in local culture. But when I enthusiastically proposed to my family a stay at Miraflor, a nature reserve that’s also a farmers’ cooperative in the northern mountains of Nicaragua, they all stared back at me with blank and unconvinced faces.
“A farrmm?” Simon said.
“How about the beach? I really [...]
Fishermen throw their nets out on the lake,
And they soon have their catch.
Women wash laundry on concrete tables set up in the water,
But the beach is not theirs alone.
Cooling off (and often bathing) is done in the lake,
And friendships are easily made [...]
We tried to order a mojito but there was no mint, we were told. We asked if they could make a naranjita, but there was no rum. A margarita? Nope, no tequila.
“What could you make?” Brian asked.
“We can make a caipirinha,” our waiter said confidently.
It had been a big day. We’d ridden a ferry across one of [...]
After an amazing stay at Miraflor, we were ready for a shower and a flushing toilet.
It took most of the day to get there, but as soon as we stepped into the courtyard of Casa San Francisco in Granada, we knew we’d be able to relax and renew ourselves.
We met “Baby Bird” and “Chips”,
and cooled [...]
Immersion is my favorite way to experience a new country. And you couldn’t wipe the smile from my face the days we spent at Miraflor Nature Reserve in Nicaragua. Not only were we deep in the heart of Nica countryside, we were also on a coffee farm.
Besides being a protected haven for flora and fauna, Miraflor hosts an agricultural cooperative [...]
It’s International Women’s Day and I’ve spent the day thinking of these two women.
“Mary” cleaned rooms, served meals, cooked and washed dishes at Petit Byahaut. She was a single mother of four daughters: two teenagers and two young school girls and when she wasn’t sleeping at Petit Byahaut, she lived at her mother’s house [...]
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