SEARCH
April 26, 2010 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic For most people, there are really only three reasons for going to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: The first is to transit to some other, ‘nice’, part of the country. The second is for sex tourism, which is in incalculable abundance here for both men and women.
April 22, 2010 Vilcabamba, Ecuador There must be something in the water down here. They call this place the “Valley of Longevity” because it’s not uncommon for people to live well past the century mark… and it’s true. Driving around the town last night and this morning, I couldn’t help but notice so
April 21, 2010 Cuenca, Ecuador Last night I ate at one of the fanciest restaurants in Cuenca. Everything except for the Chilean wine was locally grown and absolutely delicious, right down to the banana flan for dessert. The total bill for my beautiful companion and I rang in at $40.02, including 3 courses
April 20, 2010 Cuenca, Ecuador Ecuador is not one of those places on everyone’s radar. In fact, when I recently announced that I would be returning to Ecuador, I received a handful of subscriber emails like this one: “Why are you wasting your time in that communist money pit? [SB: strange choice of
April 16, 2010 Medellin, Colombia Yesterday I celebrated tax day by charging up my AMEX card on one of the IRS’s official payment websites. There’s nothing like earning travel points for keeping the flames of bureaucracy burning. And speaking of travel, I should be headed to Ecuador this weekend where I plan on
April 15, 2010 Medellin, Colombia Each year, the junior class at West Point must take a compulsory class in International Relations. Cadets call it “Sosh,” and the major milestone of the class is a mini thesis that ties together current events and irrelevant IR theories. If memory serves, the deadline is right around
April 14, 2010 Medellin, Colombia In yesterday’s letter, I told you why Medellin, Colombia might just be the greatest city in the world for some people. Well, today I had to send my assistant flowers because she got bombarded with so many subscriber emails questioning my sanity– “You must be kidding! Medellin is
April 13, 2010 Medellin, Colombia Just about anyone who has been to Medellin, Colombia in the past 5 years will tell you that the city is about as perfect as it gets. I’m one of them. Travel there yourself and you’ll find that it’s no understatement. Medellin is one of Colombia’s largest cities,
April 12, 2010 Medellin, Colombia As tectonic plates slowly drift over millions of years, an occasional fissure opens up in the earth’s surface. We call them volcanoes, and they provide a means for the earth to release some of the intense pressure that builds up over time. Volcanic eruptions are typically harmless… the
April 9, 2010 Panama City, Panama My time is winding up here in Panama and I’m trying to sort out my travel for the next few weeks. I need to be in the US for two conferences by April 26th, so that gives me about 2-weeks to kill. I’m thinking about heading to
April 8, 2010 Panama City, Panama Do you remember that really awkward phase we all went through as adolescents? Growth spurts, voice changes, menstruation, and yes, pimples– in the end, while we all came out of it more mature and grown up, there was a difficult and sometimes painful transition period in which
April 7, 2010 Darien, Panama My Panamanian boat captain looked at me like I was crazy. “Amigo, you shouldn’t jump in over here… the waves are very dangerous.” I agreed. But we had been trolling for sailfish for a couple of hours with absolutely no success, and I really felt like livening up
April 2, 2010 Panama City, Panama It’s been a great week so far in Panama. Each time I come back to this country I become even more sure in my conviction that Panama has a bright future. For the next few days, though, I am going to set aside market forecasts and expatriation
April 1, 2010 Panama City, Panama No place is perfect. There’s not a single country on the planet that is a total paradise, so prospective expats need to be willing to make compromises and trade-offs. Naturally, it’s much better to be well-informed in advance about the challenges and limitations about a particular country…
March 31, 2010 Panama City, Panama It appears that not all is amiss with sovereign debt: Panama may be one of the only bright spots, at least in the western hemisphere… the country recently had its debt rating upgraded by Fitch to ‘investment grade’ with a positive outlook. Now, I have been quite
