Destination: South America

World Travel Watch: Demonstrations in Venezuela, Clashes in Namibia and More

Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news

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World Travel Watch: Protests in Nepal, Tensions in Nicaragua and More

Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news

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Photo You Must See: Flag-Waving in Montevideo, Uruguay

REUTERS/Andres Stapff

Suporters of Uruguayan party Frente Amplio fill the streets for a campaign rally in the capital, Montevideo.


What Does 66 Cents Buy You in Peru?

Over at Uncornered Market, Daniel and Audrey are contemplating value and relativity—by rounding up several 66-cent purchases.


Interview With Nicholas Kristof: Traveling and Tweeting Under ‘Half the Sky’

Nicholas Kristof Photo by Fred R. Conrad

David Frey asks the author about his dream vacation, Twitter, travel to hellholes and the trip that changed his life

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Video You Must See: Biking Bolivia’s ‘Death Road’

Bolivia’s notorious Death Road from La Paz to Coroico has become popular with mountain bikers and other adventurous travelers since being named “the world’s most dangerous road” by the Inter American Development Bank back in the mid-90s. Here’s a taste.

0:24—First good look at the drop-off
0:54—Sneaking past a truck
1:20—Biking through waterfalls


Did Airport Security Ruin Chicago’s Olympic Bid?

Did Airport Security Ruin Chicago’s Olympic Bid? Photo by David Paul Ohmer via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by David Paul Ohmer via Flickr (Creative Commons)

Michelle Higgins ponders the impact of U.S. border control policies on Chicago’s failed bid for the 2016 Summer Games. For my part, I suppose that could have been a factor—remember the visitor shortfall in Beijing after China tightened its visa restrictions—but beyond any specific considerations, I’m just not sure about the assumption that 2016 was Chicago’s to lose. After all, the United States has already hosted the Olympics eight times, while Rio’s winning bid will mean the first Games ever on South American soil. It’s about time, isn’t it?


Travel Song of the Day: ‘Changes’ by Seu Jorge


Gangs and the New Yorker in Rio’s Favelas

Jon Lee Anderson’s story Gangland from the latest issue of the New Yorker isn’t online, but the magazine did post a stunning audio slideshow with photos by Joao Pina.

We posted Rob Verger’s slideshow about tourism in Rio’s favelas last June.


The Rise of America as Culinary Destination

Just a few decades ago, America was a culinary wasteland. Now, it’s foodie central. Why? Jerry Weinberger points to, among other things, the Great Woman theory of history:

The first wedding gift my wife and I received, in 1965, was a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, by Julia Child (with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle). It still sits on a shelf in our kitchen, bound now by tape, with almost every page earmarked and blotched. Published in 1961, Child’s book brought the techniques of French haute cuisine to the American kitchen, teaching us how to soak and sauté sweetbreads, how to make soufflé au Grand Marnier, how to cut up a duck—all within the limits of the American supermarket of the period. But it was Child’s later TV show, Boston PBS’s The French Chef, that really changed things. It was unintimidating French cooking: the chef was a goofy-talking giant who dumped in the butter and occasionally spilled things and whacked stuff with mallets and sometimes burned the sauce.

But Julia taught us how to master French cooking, not American. American food had to be invented before it could be mastered. And the inventor was another Great Woman, this one on the opposite coast. In 1971, Alice Waters opened Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. This was the great transformative event in American culinary history. Chez Panisse grew out of Waters’s experience not with the butter and fat of Parisian haute cuisine, but with the foods of Mediterranean Provence (based on olive oil, the fresh fruits of the earth and sea, and the general habit of going to the market with a string bag every day). The principle of Chez Panisse was that food—both animal and vegetable—should be absolutely fresh, and that meant absolutely local. So it’s not quite right to say that Waters had to invent American food; what she did was rediscover and then elaborate on pre-canned, pre-supermarket, pre-tomatoes-all-year-round regional American food.


Flags of the World—Made From Food

These ads for the Sydney International Food Festival are stunning. Right now, this one is my favorite:

(Via Coudal)


Turn Up the Tunes, Break Out Your Phrasebooks

Elyse Franko wonders: Is the United States at the beginning of a linguistic musical revolution?

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Travel Song of the Day: ‘Borges y Paraguay’ by Bajofondo


Interview With Charles Runnette: ‘Confessions of a Travel Writer’

Interview With Charles Runnette: ‘Confessions of a Travel Writer’ Alejandro Cerda, ProChile

Michael Yessis asks the host of a new Travel Channel show about travel writing, strip searches and whether he really has a dream job

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The Alpaca Weavers of Ccaccaccollo

Lola Akinmade chronicles a Peruvian village's traditional craft

See the full photo slideshow »