If Mexican cuisine ranks as one of the world’s great cuisines (it was the first cuisine to receive UNESCO culinary heritage status), it’s certainly aided in part by what goes on in the kitchens of Oaxaca. Oaxacan food: roasted, subtle, rich, layered. Moles, chocolate, tiny avocados that taste faintly like licorice, giant balls of quesillo cheese ribbons, … [Read more...]
North America Travel Articles, Photos and Panoramas
It Happened In Monterey (Or, How We Met)
This is a story about finding love just when you'd sworn off looking for it.In early September, Audrey and I co-presented at a conference in Monterey, California. Monterey just also happens to be the place where we'd first met almost exactly 15 years before, where our joint approach to life on the road got its start.In the driveway, the exact spot where our … [Read more...]
Speaking at Conferences, Hiding in Yurts: An Update
This is a story about crisscrossing North America, speaking to audiences in Vancouver, Miami and Denver, recharging in a defunct hippie commune outside of Seattle, preparing to speak to 1,000 people in Portland, and apologizing for withholding a few pages of our story from you over the last couple of weeks. … [Read more...]
A Turtle Liberation: A Sad Story with a Happy Ending
This is a story about a baby turtle and how we helped to set him free. It's also a tale of working together and conservation gone right. … [Read more...]
Panorama of the Week: Mayan Ruins of Palenque, Mexico
Tucked into the folds of the jungle in Mexico's Chiapas region stands the mostly buried and only very partially exposed Mayan ruins of Palenque. If you haven't already experienced this place or you've come to feel ruin fatigue in this part of the world, consider a visit. For us, it's become one of our favorites. … [Read more...]
An Amazing Scene We Were Forbidden to Record: An Indigenous Easter Celebration in Chiapas
Have you ever experienced something exceptional you’d hoped to capture and share, but you were forbidden to photograph or record it? That was the Easter celebration in the village of San Juan Chamula in the Chiapas region of Mexico.This was no ordinary Catholic church, nor was this an Easter celebration like any we’d ever seen. … [Read more...]
Panorama of the Week: Mazunte Beach, Mexico’s Pacific Coast
When you imagine your ideal beach, what do you see?Ours might feature an open stretch of coast, no crowds and a few small establishments -- the type of place where if you wake up early you may even have the entire beach to yourself.And this is what we found in the laid back town of Mazunte along Mexico's Pacific Coast last week. Open the panorama to see for … [Read more...]
A Long Weekend on the Riviera Maya: 14 Memories
Mexico has ruins, Mexico has beaches. But the only place in the country where you'll find them both? That's the Riviera Maya.Our visit to Riviera Maya was short -- only five days – but it was chock full, not only of beaches and ruins, but of tasty local cuisine, lush jungle, psychedelic jellyfish, and even some afternoon karaoke. When I think back, here are … [Read more...]
Panorama of the Week: Natural Springs at Hierve el Agua – Oaxaca, Mexico
Just when you've been spending too much time on your laptop, you catch a ride down the road, up a series of switchbacks, and you land at a place like this: the natural springs at Hierve el Agua.A place that feels wide open with blue skies, ripples and cascades that all say "jump in."Then you do. … [Read more...]
When the Walls Danced: Living Through an Earthquake in Mexico
I remember earthquakes from when I lived in San Francisco. Fortunately, they were relatively infrequent and insignificant. Yesterday, I experienced a real one. … [Read more...]