Keep this way the heck out of reach of children.
The 19-hour San Jose-San Salvador bus trip was getting kind of old. The movies they play on buses always seem to fall short of the mark, and the seats are only comfortable for an hour or two, if you’re lucky.
But then one of my fellow […]

Of all the things Spanish learners must get used to, the rules surrounding when to use the formal “usted” and when to use the informal “tu” are among the most vexing.
In some ways, we’re actually dealing with two languages, and they’re mostly the same, but you must size up a person and then decide which […]

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 […]

Going ape over cell phones 
 
Welcome to Providencia de Dota, Costa Rica. Population: Around 300.
Where I have recently landed is about as rural as it gets. Accessible only via 4-wheel drive over steep dirt roads, this hamlet sits in the middle of a river valley about two hours southeast of San Jose, the Costa Rican […]

We’re hittin it, baby.
 
THE MORAL OF THIS MOVE is that everyone harbors some fear of other countries.
“Whoa, you don’t want to go to Central America,” said my pal Alex, a shopkeeper in Zamora. “There’s so much poverty there.”
What do you think they say about Mexico? I thought.
My fruit vendor warned me that everyone in […]

It’s for you.
JUST ABOUT EVERY DAY, someone will knock on the door of Judith Rios Duarte’s house in Northwest Zamora and ask to use the phone. But upon entering the house, they don’t use the normal phone. Instead, they use a pay phone.
Why is a pay phone in somebody’s house, complete with an official-looking […]