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What to do in Guanajuato: Festival Cervantino

Festivals and Holidays, Mexico, North America

What to Do in Guanajuato: Festival Cervantino! When I left for Guanajuato, I had a bus ticket, a place to stay and a belly full of butterflies. I was returning to the Festival Cervantino (El Cervantino as it's affectionately known) after 18 years. Trips can have a...

The Chicken Bus, the Best Ride in Central America

Central America, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua

What is the Chicken Bus? For international backpackers, the term, “chicken bus” is synonymous with Central America. During six months of traveling through the region, I even heard a few locals use the term. Structurally they are former yellow school buses from the...

How to Drink Yerba Mate: Uruguay and Argentina

Argentina, Food and Drink, South America, Uruguay

What is Mate, Maté and Yerba Mate in Uruguay and Argentina? Mate and maté are a difference in language. In English, maté has an accent mark to signal it's a foreign word and has two syllables in its pronunciation. This distinguishes it from the one-syllable word,...

Flores, Guatemala to Tikal

Central America, Guatemala

Flores, Guatemala to Tikal Most tourists run in and out of Flores, Guatemala, an Island-town located in the northeastern Guatemalan state, El Petén. That they go from Flores, Guatemala to Tikal directly is respectable. No judgment here. (Though I’m going to make a...

Day of the Dead Costumes, Altars, Traditions, Decorations Dismantled

Festivals and Holidays, Mexico, North America

The Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos) Events and Art and Culture Festivals I Visited (referenced in this article) Festival Internacional Cervantino in Guanajuato, Guanajuato named after Cervantes is one of the world's largest and most important arts and cultural...

What are Pupusas and How to Make Pupusas

Central America, El Salvador, Food and Drink

Stuffed Corn-Masa Cakes El Salvador is synonymous with pupusas, the lightly-charred, corn-masa cakes filled with soft, savory ingredients. In appearance, they're similar to the Mexican gordita, the Venezuelan arape and the Guatemalan doblado. With the exception of the...