Destination: South America
In Patagonia, In Patagonia
by Tim Patterson | 05.09.08 | 10:00 AM ET
Photo by Tim Patterson Tim Patterson packs his fleece and long underwear, and enters the Twilight Zone where corporate branding meets the multilayered reality of place.
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Yahoo! BuzzDengue Epidemic Hits Tourism in Rio
by Jim Benning | 04.17.08 | 11:19 AM ET
Since January, more than 70,000 people have been infected with dengue fever in the Brazilian state of Rio. At least 80 people have died. Now, the growing health crisis is “taking a toll on tourism,” reports the International Herald Tribune. A number of foreign embassies have warned citizens about the outbreak, including the U.S. Embassy.
Peru to Yale University: Dude, Give Us Back Our Machu Picchu Artifacts!
by Jim Benning | 04.16.08 | 1:36 PM ET
Where in the World Are You, Carl Hoffman?
by World Hum | 04.10.08 | 6:07 PM ET
The subject of our latest nearly up-to-the-minute interview with a traveler somewhere in the world: writer Carl Hoffman, a contributing editor to Wired and National Geographic Traveler. His response landed in our inbox minutes ago.
Where in the world are you?
I Plan to Take My 9-Year-Old Daughter to Ecuador. Is it Safe? Any Tips?
by Rolf Potts | 04.08.08 | 11:55 AM ET
Vagabonding traveler Rolf Potts answers your questions about travel
Doing the Shoddy-Journalism-Charge Tango*
by Jim Benning | 04.02.08 | 11:00 AM ET
The Argentine Post details similarities between a March 16 New York Times story about Buenos Aires’ expat scene and a Jan. 15, 2007 Newsweek piece.
* Updated, 11:52 a.m. ET: We should note that a Times editor has responded, saying there was “no plagiarism at work” while acknowledging problems with the article.
Adventures in Colombia: Cocaine! And Hey, ‘The FARC Are Nearby? Cool!’
by Jim Benning | 04.01.08 | 11:35 AM ET
We’ve been writing for some time about the resurgence of tourism in Colombia, thanks largely to a drop in drug-related violence and crime. Even the New York Times jumped on the cheerleading bandwagon. This week, while acknowledging the trend, the Guardian reports on the small but “growing minority” of backpackers and travelers who are more interested in sampling the other Colombia. Namely, the Colombia made infamous by its cocaine trade and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas.
Exploring Slum Tourism
by Jim Benning | 03.11.08 | 1:33 PM ET
The New York Times is the latest publication to contemplate the phenomenon.
Related on World Hum:
* Illuminating ‘Dark Travel’
* Welcome to Khmer Rouge Land!
* In Brazil, Favela Tourism Rising
* Poverty Tourism: Exploration or Exploitation?
Just Another Day in ‘Bolivarian Paradise’
by Michael Yessis | 02.05.08 | 5:27 PM ET
Dark Days on Galapagos
by Julia Ross | 02.04.08 | 10:33 AM ET
Unsettling news out of the Galapagos Islands: The BBC reports on the mysterious killing of 53 sea lions in the islands’ nature reserve. While poachers have been known to target the animals for their skin and teeth—prized ingredients in Chinese medicine—that doesn’t seem to be the case here, and park officials are at a loss to explain the slaughter. The tragedy hits the Galapagos at an uncertain time, with green groups warning that the islands’ unique ecosystem is suffering under a sharp increase in tourism.
Drunken Bullfighting in Colombia: Don’t Try This at Home
by Joanna Kakissis | 01.30.08 | 12:28 PM ET
What happens to the untrained and often inebriated matadors involved in corraleja, Colombia’s amateur form of bullfighting, when they take on pissed-off bulls? New York Times writer Simon Romero likened their wounds to those in a Hieronymus Bosch painting: “intestines peeking out of a belly, bone protruding from a fractured shin, blood spurting from a gash in the buttocks.” Yeouch.
Related on World Hum:
* Is Colombia the New New Zealand?
Surfing the Eisbach: California Culture in Bavaria
by Jim Benning | 01.14.08 | 10:33 AM ET
You don’t have to be near Mavericks, or even an ocean, to enjoy some wild surfing action. Surfers have been riding waves in rivers for years—the Amazon’s Pororoca in Brazil just might be the most dramatic example. But there are options in Europe, too. The Atlantic magazine recently covered surfing Munich’s Eisbach, a tributary of the Isar River where a standing wave has “created an enclave of borrowed California culture in the heart of Bavaria.”
Year Off to a Rocky Start for Travelers
by Jim Benning | 01.02.08 | 10:57 AM ET
Headline of the Day: ‘Brazilian Santa Escapes Gunfire’
by Jim Benning | 12.18.07 | 4:20 PM ET
Seriously. Matt Groening, are you taking notes?
R.I.P. 64 Journalists
by Jim Benning | 12.18.07 | 4:00 PM ET
That’s the number of journalists killed around the globe this year—the most in over a decade. Not surprisingly, Iraq claimed more lives than any other country, 31, nearly all of them Iraqi. “Somalia was ranked the second deadliest country with seven journalists deaths in 2007,” Reuters reports. “Sri Lanka and Pakistan each recorded five journalists deaths, and Afghanistan and Eritrea each had two deaths.” One positive note: For the first time in more than a decade, there wasn’t a single reporter murdered in Colombia. Could it be further evidence of this?