26 September, 2006

Why You Should Visit Granada, Nicaragua

From time to time Associated Content solicits articles touching on a specific theme. When I saw a call for travel stories along the veins of "Why You Should Visit ______", this was the article I wrote. Granada was one of the more enjoyable stops on my Central America trip last year, made all the more memorable since we spent Christmas there. The town itself is colorfully painted, the people are friendly and haven't become jaded by tourism yet, and there are a ton of activities in the surrounding area that beckon to the traveller.

Read the full story.

14 September, 2006

Baffled by Bidets

That's the headline straight out of MSNBC. And I thought it was only me! I still recall my first brush with the bidet in Lucerne, Switzerland, and the ensuing lively debate my friend Greg and I had on how to operate this peculiar piece of porcelain. "What is it for?". "How do we position our extremities to use it?". Suffice it to say that on the return flight out of Zurich my mind was still pre-occupied with the image of this contraption.

Years later, my second encounter with the bidet in Cuzco, Peru proved no less mystifying, coupled with my bemusement at encountering it in Latin America, of all places. Never did bother to figure out how to use the bidet that time either.

Here is the full article from MSNBC.