Wait, is that nutcase still in power? Really? You’re kidding, right?
PEÑAS BLANCAS, NICARAGUA - Sometimes, to decide that a country is hopelessly screwed, you need only look into the window of a immigration office at the border.
That’s what I did the other day, and here’s what I saw: A garrish pink sign promoting the […]

 The Salvadoran opposition leader, who will probably the next president.
SAN SALVADOR - The signs. The slogans. The incessent TV commercials. It could be any other election in any other raging democracy. But take a closer look, and the similarities to the recently concluded American elections get too obvious to ignore.
For the last couple of decades, […]

SAN SALVADOR — That really does sum it up rather nicely.
All the kids did very well. Even the short kid, while prevented from winning anything because he couldn’t reach anything, did a great job where he could. And the kid whose ego we wanted taken down a notch didn’t do as well as he did […]

What do Jesus, Bob Vila and Peter Rice have in common?
We can all make you a table and chair set.
What am I doing here in rural Costa Rica? Spending time with Rural Costa Ricans, learning the ways of a new culture? Soaking up everything I can about this delightful land? Is my Spanish improving […]

A pack of teenagers from Providencia is heading to San Salvador in two weeks for a major regional climbing competition, and for some reason I’m their coach.We should start at the beginning, with Eric and Ying Allen. A commercial fisherman and beekeeper from the Yukon (which is somewhere north of the United States), they spend […]