The Salar De Uyuni, one of our favorite parts of our 2008 trip in Bolivia, is now at risk of serious changes. It seems that 70% of the world's known reserves of lithium which is of course an important element for all of the lithium-ion batteries in the cellphones, ipods, cameras, and laptops that people take on their trips to the salt flats to document their trip.

We've posted a ton of photos of our trip to the Salar De Uyuni, here are some of the best. I post these at the request of the site Save the Salar who are also on twitter. They want the world to know about the beauty of the salar and the risks it faces.

After my first post on Mexican Spanish Slang I wanted to share this blog I just came across that is devoted to swearing in Mexico City.

• http://swearindf.blogspot.com/

It's a compilation of some very slangy curse words that made me laugh and laugh. The author provides mini-dialogues with translations to really give you the idea. Very good stuff.

I frequently am asked "when going abroad, do I need a converter or an adapter or both?"

What is a power converter?

A converter takes energy from the wall in one format and turns it into another. So, in Argentina the power is 220-240v, 50 Hz, AC. That means the voltage is 220 to 240 and it comes in 50 alternating cycles per second. For comparison the United States of America is 120 volts at 60hz. You can see different standard power measure from around the world at http://www.kropla.com/electric2.htm

Now, will that work for you? Most electrical products should say in tiny little writing something like

Input: 100-240v, 50-60hz.
Output: 6.5-18.5v, 4.6A max.

One of the new trends in travel is tours of the ghettos and slums to get an idea of how large portions of the developing world really live. There were several tours offered in Time Out Buenos Aires to visit the villas de miseria or more politically correctly: villas de emergencia in the outskirts of town.

San Cristóbal de las Casas is a charming colonial town nestled into the green mountains of Mexico's southern state Chiapas. Home of the Zapatista uprising of 1994, the feeling in town these days is much more refined than revolucionario. A few things to check out: