An attractive piece of art welcomed us to the Jewish Quarter. Right away we noticed a difference: the area was more open & better maintained than any of the two previous sections we’d explored. An open plaza behind the Hurva synagogue attracted lots of families, & a small tour group explored the few Roman remnants of the Cardo:
Read More »jerusalem: jewish & armenian quarters
Our first full day in Israel! I’m not a particularly religious person, so I find it difficult to understand why I’ve always wanted to visit this controversial country. Perhaps it’s the history, maybe the conflict itself. Not sure. And to be honest I was more interested in Tel Aviv for its architecture, but Jerusalem was on the way. Turns out, the city was more amazing than I ever imagined.
Read More »jerusalem: muslim & christian quarters
I hadn’t originally planned to write about this day, but there were quite a few experiences & photos to share, so let’s go…
Read More »jordan to israel: in transit
Arrival to Petra took a few hours of driving from the Dead Sea —with stops in Mount Nebo & Madaba along the way— but no matter. Petra is Petra & worth it. The area just outside the entrance to the archaeological site is geared toward tourists while locals hang out a bit further uphill. Although we ventured out, in the end we decided to eat at the hotel & rest for a busy next day.
Read More »jordan: petra!
As someone who began his travels in Iberia —at one extreme of the Roman Empire— you can imagine how thrilled I was to see the other side. Darío had wanted to see Jordan for a long time, so celebrating the completion of his Ph.D. seemed like a great excuse to go. Although we cut Syria from the original plans (for obvious reasons), I was excited to visit another corner of the planet.
Read More »jordan: roman remnants
…and the tradition continues. I do this mainly for personal reasons, but you’re welcome to revisit the past year with me. White asterisks above show release dates for Endless Mile guides. Let’s look back…
Read More »year in review: 2013
First a little background…
Even as a child, I had a strong desire to travel. Interests in biology & chemistry pointed me to medical school… but that proved only to be a distraction in the long run. I remember wading through the foreign language section in Memphis libraries for albums in Russian (yeah, that long ago!), books in basic Hawaiian or whatever French material I could find. Yet at the age of 27, I’d only managed to go as far as the Bahamas, Canada & México. When my ex landed a job as Assistant Director for the University of Washington’s Spanish program in Cádiz, I was all for it. Finally an opportunity to go to Europe! The year was 1998, & I knew the experience would change my life.
Read More »cádiz: exorcising demons
What’s that? No blog update in over a year about our guides? Exactly where did the time go? Brief announcements are made regularly via Twitter, but this seems to be a better format to review all that’s happened in 2013… what a year!
Read More »business: 2013 review
First off, a disclaimer. I probably should have read this book in Spanish. I loved “Don Segundo Sombra” & “Radiografía de la Pampa” in their original versions, but after struggling with gaucho terminology & words that most Argentines today would not recognize, I decided to see if there was an English translation available. Not only did Amazon have it, but everyone raved about the translation. And it was annotated!! “A Visit to the Ranquel Indians” has been waiting patiently on the bookshelf since January…
Read More »argentine literature: una excursión a los indios ranqueles