Here’s the second instalment of my brief Latin American food guide – this time L-Z. It has been a bit more challenging to come up with a food for every letter here and I allowed myself some liberty. I’ve enjoyed compiling the guide, I hope you enjoy reading. Lechón: It’s hard to beat roast pork, […]
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Wake up each day and there is that need to put something in your stomach. In three years travelling/living in the Americas I filled up on all of the below and much, much more. I probably ate on the streets too much and am sure that I picked up a range of unwanted gut flora. […]
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The well preserved colonial streets of Trinidad are a photographer’s paradise. Unfortunately, because of a misadventure in Havana (long story), I arrived in Trinidad without a camera. Cuba is not the easiest place to buy a new camera. Prior to arriving I spent a couple of days looking for one to no avail. After asking […]
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Tonight I watched Peruvian film ‘La Teta Asustada’ which translates literally as ‘The Frightened Teat’. The film is called ‘The Milk of Sorrow’ in English. Here is my short review. Peru, as far as I am aware at least, is not a country that is known for cinema. Machu Picchu, the Andes Mountains, Paddington Bear […]
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I mentioned Chilean band Los Tres in the post I did last week of the Soda Stereo translation. I enjoy completing translations of songs. Often I learn a new Spanish word or two or three. So this week we will head west from Argentina to the elongated narrow limb that is Chile. The version of […]
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Time for another song translation. Soda Stereo are rock en español royalty. I lived in Patagonian Chile in 1997 as an exchange student and Soda Stereo along with the Chilean band Los Tres quickly became favourites. Sadly, the lead singer Gustavo Cerati has been in a coma for over three years since suffering a stroke […]
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Chihuahua is Mexico’s largest state and currently, due to the ongoing drug wars, one of its most maligned. The state is also home to Mexico’s canyon country and while the Copper Canyon is the best known ,the region boasts many other fantastic, less-visited canyon experiences. Barranca de Urique (Urique Canyon) is the deepest of all […]
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I was lucky to see this creature basking in the sun at Copan Ruins in Honduras. Incidentally lagartija (lizard) is one of my favourite words in Spanish – has a great sound to it. Actually there are other creatures from the natural world with great sounding names in Spanish. Murciélago (bat) and luciérnaga (firefly) are […]
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Santa Clara, Cuba is the adopted city of Cuban revolutionary hero Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara. It was also the site of a decisive battle in the revolutionary struggle against Batista. As such the city is full of monuments to the revolution and to Che including this homage to some of his most famous words. While […]
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An accidental adventure. Serendipitous and rewarding. However many times during the ascent, on the peak and the descent I would have given anything to be anywhere other than on that mongrel mountain in the southeast of Venezuela. Mount Roraima is a tepui, or table mountain, that rises to an imposing 2,810 metres above sea […]
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LATIN AMERICA FOCUS 