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 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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]