Wanderlusting

For me, maps are little gold mines of information. I love to pour over them imagining what the place is like, or letting them remind me of my favorite parts of a trip to a specific area. As we spent our 9 months in the Spanish Speaking world the one souvenir we kept from every location was the local maps. I'm sure that in years to come these will be great for kickstarting our memories.

Historical Maps of Latin American Locations

I just read in a travel briefs article about an increase in robberies at Mexico City airport money exchange offices. I think this is really just a reminder that in Mexico CIty, as in any major megalopolis, you have to be street smart and watch your back.

Seattle Times article on Mexico City Airport

This story
just came to my attention and I wanted to post it here because the photos made me realize just how much of the world I have yet to explore. What a huge and wonderful world we live in!

From the article:

The Earth Observatory is a website run by NASA's Earth Observing System Project Science Office (EOSPSO). Bringing together imagery from many different satellites and astronaut missions, the website publishes fantastic images with highly detailed descriptions, feature articles and more. Gathered here are some standout photographs from the collections in the Earth Observatory over the past several years.

On our trip, Nikki and I were a bit concerned about coffee because we like the American style rich, strong, and somewhat sweet roasts. So, we brought along some coffee from the US but also found a couple of local places to get our beans for home brews (we also spent tons of time in the cafes of Argentina - it is known for its cafe culture, after all).

Primula 9 Cup Stove Top Coffee Maker

The Dutch seriously know how to start businesses abroad.

Ever since a trip to Central America two summers ago when we were introduced to our first favorite Dutch-pat enterprise, Via Via, we've sought out other DOBs (Dutch Owned Businesses).

Some Favorites:

Via Via, Copán, Honduras: A hostel and restaurant, this place is a hip travelers oasis. Our favorite was the great fresh food with plenty of our favorite Dutch options, which is to say flavorful food inspired by the cuisine of Dutch colonies Suriname and Indonesia.