Castillo de Montánchez Longform read published in the February issue of Perceptive Travel Magazine. (click over) A family trip to a curious festival where the blessed are not the meek, but in fact their modes of transport. “The sweep before us was more than 180 degrees. The savannah, some 1300 feet below, rolled off into…
Jurramacho carnival in Montanchez In this week’s Camino a Ítaca it’s carnival time in the mountaintop village of Montanchez here in Extremadura. Up among your hanging Jamóns it’s not your average parade though. Click over to read the original version published in Spanish in el HOY or read the English version below. (PDF en castellano…
Daily Garden Gnome left by my neighbors Writing in the local paper. Local Issues with a global take. I never translate literally and the editor trims at will to make it fit. Here’s my version, then theirs. I must have missed the email. Or perhaps the message came via SMS, like the ones Donald can now send out…
Writing in the local paper. Local Issues with a global take. I never translate literally and the editor trims at will to make it fit. Here’s my version, then theirs. While it seems that summer doesn’t quite want to let go, it’s that time of year again. The time of year when the croaking of storks, ringing…
video Jorge Rey Writing in the local paper. Local Issues with a global take. I never translate literally and the editor trims at will to make it fit. Here’s my version, then theirs. I’ve been fortunate enough to play at some of the most famous festivals around the world. From Vancouver to New York, I have seen the…
Writing in the local paper. Local issues with a global take. I never translate literally and the editor trims at will to make it fit. Here’s my version, then theirs. Sunday afternoon in the Calle Moret in this everlasting climate-change-denyer’s indian summer. At first glance everything looks the same. Graffiti splatters the shuttered shop windows…
Writing in the local paper. Local issues with a global take. I never translate literally and the editor trims at will to make it fit. Here’s my version, then theirs. Long before San (saint) Obama’s time and the recent thaws, I recall sitting at a café in one of the posher neighbourhoods of northern Tehran. Heavy snow still sat…
Early spring and an entire valley looks to the sky and prays. However this isn’t one of the many religious festivals in Spain, but a delicate dance between the weather and the calendar. Snowcapped mountains descend into green terracing where two million trees await their cue from Mother Nature before exploding into one of nature’s…
Cold seems to be relative. The way you experience it depends on…well depends on more than your jacket. A relative you know is coming to stay, but can’t seem to say no to. I bloody hate the cold. Could be an entire childhood faced with frozen hair on dark mornings that lasted forever and then…
The music has died down and faded away, the stage has been packed up, the tourists have gone home and the artists are playing somewhere else. WOMAD 2009 has come and gone, but something hasn’t left…and it’s here to stay for awhile…a LONG while. On Saturday night alone as people danced to the likes of…