@Jorge Armestar Think Venetian masks and then turn it into a B-rate horror film and you’ve got the fiercely independent Carnival in Montanchez, Extremadura, Spain. Writing for the Calgary Herald, click over for the deep dive into the fun.
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…
Bi Ali, Yemen In this week’s Camino a Ítaca a Christmas adventure on the southern edge of the Arabian Peninsula from several years back. Click over to read the original published in Spanish in el HOY or read the English translation below. (PDF en castellano abajo) Behind us, a blanket of blinding white sand drifted…
Las Puertas del Oeste en el Hoy Un viaje por el Campo Arañuelo y el Geoparque de las Villuercas mientras las aguas del Tajo están tan bajas (ehem, gracias Iberdrola). Mi primera doble página en un periódico español. El primero de una serie de seis artículos sobre viajes por la provincia de Cáceres. A journey…
Bir Ali, Yemen Different places, different times, different Christmases. This week’s Camino a Ítaca goes back to the beaches along the coast of Yemen in search of the Three Wisest of Men. Click over to the original piece in Spanish or read the English version below. Tambien se puede ver el original en castellano abajo…
Christ the king, Swiebodzin, Poland This week’s Camino a Ítaca reflects on giant Buddha’s and takes us to a frozen, muddy field in western Poland to see a Marvel-inspired Jesus. Read the original Spanish piece here or the English below. Tambien se puede ver el original en castellano abajo en PDF. I first caught a glimpse of…
This week’s stroll along the Camino a Ítaca circles back to Azerbaijan and beyond. Memories of images of Strong Men, Royalty and Dictators crying out to be loved and admired. Read the English version below or click over to the published version in Spanish. Even though it was against my better judgement, I just…
COVID has created our own Siberias. My next installement on the Camino de Ítaca travels from Vladivostok all the way to Extremadura. Click over to the original Spanish version or the English one below. We were somewhere around Chita on the blurry edges of Mongolia and China when the vodka really started flowing. I remember,…
My next installement in my op-ed column, Camino a Ítaca in el HOY. What it’s like to approach a new country from afar.
“Heading west again as you pass through Valencia de Alcántara, leaving the last remaining Spanish villages behind, a jagged dorsal fin rises out of the surrounding green patches that cluster around courses of water that feed into the river. Like some sort of prehistoric Border Wall, this granite fence signals that the border is near…”