Remember when sea monsters were scary green dragon-like creatures that swallowed entire ships and saved the ravishing maiden for dessert? Times have changed. In this lake just about big enough to be a sea lives a legend that has morphed from its First Nation tale origins into a Disney-friendly smiling reptile that adorns everything from…
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 grew up in my brother’s clothes, literally. I’m the youngest of two and inherited everything that survived his slips, spills and falls. One thing…
Around these parts the border is porous and exactly where Portuguese villages become Spanish is lost among the cork tree forests (and in today’s Europe so is the point). Sometimes the little white houses are fringed with blue sometimes yellow but walk through the immense walls and past the Visigothic church and into a bar and the confusion ends.…
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. Once upon a time, long before the giant Shanghai Bazaars arrived with their low-cost, low-quality plasticy imitation rags, legend has it that Cacereños would drive…
You’ve been waiting for your summer vacation all year, dreaming at your desk of scenes straight out of a feel-good 80s movie. The day finally comes and the deep blue of lake Okanagan stretches out over 80 miles before you. But wait…where are you going to throw down that newly bought beach towel? Seems the…
Let’s face it, summers are rather hot in Spain… but where can you escape the heat if sand, elbow-to-elbow towels and the built-up coasts don’t appeal? Go West! Trace the spine of the central mountain system as far and deep as you can get before you turn Portuguese and you’ll find the answer. In the…
The bullet holes you see in the sculptures at El Torno are real and recent. It has been more than 70 years since the guns of the civil war officially fell silent and more than 30 since Spain’s brutal dictator died peacefully in his sleep. Even after so many years, tensions here lie close to 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. I was sitting in a bar in the Calle Moret having a midday caña (little beer) when I heard the news. One of the older…
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. It’s the time of year for cherries, little sailor suits, Playstations and travel agents with deals on trips to Euro Disney. I happened to be…
Take a drive from the shores of the world’s biggest lake called a sea, through rice paddies that wouldn’t be out of place in Southeast Asia, and end up in a Central Asian village in mist covered mountains? It’s not teleportation, but the trip to Masouleh might be the closest thing. Up from the Caspian, a…