Here you will find destination guides. Each post has information on getting around, sightseeing and some surprises
Nicaragua
Tucked between Costa Rica’s mammoth ecotourism scene and Honduras’ dazzling displays of indigenous history, Nicaragua is all too often ignored by travelers. Their loss. The warm, inclusive pride of the Nicaraguan people suffuses the country with an intoxicating energy that captivates. For the cognoscenti, Nicaragua is inspiring landscapes, colonial beauty, weeklong parties, stunning wildlife, beautiful beaches, rollicking reggae and long nights spent with friends in the plaza-all rolled up in a neat little package that carries a discount price tag.
June to March, to avoid the dusty end of the dry season-or in the 13 th century, before the Aztecs arrived
Watching the moon rise over the cathedral in colonial Granada Climbing the volcanoes on lsla de Ometepe and cooling off by swimming in the Lago de Nicaraua Kicking back in a beach hummock in San Juan del Sur Spotting a quetzal at the Reserva Natural Miraflor Buying handicrafts at Masaya’s Mercado Viejo Enjoying perfect snorkeling off Little Corn lsland
Read Ruben Dario’s Stories and Poems-masterpieces by the founder of Spanish modernism; Salman Rushdie’s The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey-revealing personal experiences of a visit
Listen to Duo Guardabaranco’s Antologia of collected pop works; Los Mejia Godoy’s Loving in Times of War-legendary Nicaraguan brothers sing folk
Watch Nicaragua Was Our Home-a documentary about Miskito lndians and Sandinistas that purportedly influenced Reagan’s foreign policy; Alsino and the Condor-a boy’s struggle to escape the realities of his war-torn homeland
Eat baho-beet, yucca, plaintains and vegetables slowly simmered; sopa de albondiga-cornmeal-ball soup
Drink Flor de Cana rum; pinolio-dissolved ground corn (add sugar!)
Va pue’! (all right!)
Contras and Sandinistas; dusty farms and towns; rickety buses with chikens; earthquakes and hurricanes; US intervention in politics
Amazing biodiversity, there are no ruins, the unique, the Caribbean culture on the Atantic coast, the friendliest people in Central America
l’d spent my days being lectured by former Sandinista rebels and meeting three-year-old orphans, my nights getting loaded Flor de Cana rum and dancing with gorgeous
Nicaraguan men. lt was an overly romantic 23-year-old leftist’s dream come true.
-‘How l Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Nicaragua’, On the Road, www. Lonelyplanet.com
Portugal
Poland is a country of striking contrasts: contemporary city slickers fill the capital, Warsaw, while in the countryside horse-drawn carts negotiate peaceful lanes where the new millennium is just a rumour. Nestled in the heartland of Europe, Poland has been both a bridge and a front line between eastern and western Europe. Today the country has bounced back from the turmoil of the 20 th century and reinvented itself as a must-do fixture on every traveller’s map.
May to June (late spring ) and September to mid-October (autumn)-or the 16 th century, Poland’s golden age
Seeing Warsaw change before your eyes Exploring Krakow’s beautiful old town and staying late to hit the cellar bars Strolling around Gdansk’s historic streets then heading to the haunting sands of the Baltic coast Hiking and climbing the Tatras, home of Europe’s finest mountain scenery Visiting Auschwitz and prading that such tragedies never happen again
Read The Heart of Europe: A Short History of Poland by Norman Davies, a readable, fascinating insight into the development of the nation
Listen to krzyaztof Komeda’s jazz piano compositions, icons of Polish culture
Watch anything by Roman Poland’s most famous export-try Knife in the Water, his first feature film
Eat wadlka (vodka), the drink of choice-zubrowka (bison vodka) is flavoured with a blade of bison grass, a local wild herb
Na zdrowie! (cheers!)
Lech Walesa and striking shipbuilders; Pope John Paul ll; bleak Communist architecture; heroic goalkeepers and toasts of wodka to all of the above
The country has some of Europe’s best mountain, coastal and lake scenery; Poland is staunchly Catholic
Every hour the hejnal (bugle call) is played on a trumpet from the higher tower of St Mary’s Church in Krakow Market Square to the four quarters of the world in turn. Today a musical symbol of the city, this simple melody, based on five notes only, was played in medieval times as a warning call. lntriguingly, it breaks off mid-bar. Legend links it to the Tater invasions; when the watchman duty spotted the nenemy and sounded the alarm, a Tatar pierced his throat his throat mid-phase, the tune has stayed that way thereafter. Since 1927, the hejnal has been on Polish radio every at noon.
Kuwait
With the 1990-91 Gulf War a fading memory, Kuwait is once again the prototypical Persian Gulf oil state. Walking around Kuwait City, it is hard to imagine the destruction of just a decade ago. There has been an obsessive, meticulous re-creation of the country’s pre-invasion appearance. Liberation brought new kind of openness to Kuwaiti life and for those looking for a relaxed entry into the Muslim world, Kuwait offers opportunities to wander around sound, moswues and other sandy traces of bygone Bedouin days.
May (spring) or October (autumn)-or in the early 18 th century when Kuwait was nothing more than a few tents clustered around a fort
Taking in the views of the Sief Palace from the Kuwait Towers in Kuwait City Sampling lslamic art at the Tareq Museum in Kuwait City Buying Bedouin goods at Sadu House in Kuwait City Strolling through the public gardens in Al-Ahmadi Wandering among the archaeological ruins on Failaka lsland
Read Thomas Friedman’s From Beirut to Jerusalem, an excellent read for anyone wishing to more fully understand the causes and effects of the region’s strife
Listen to Stars of Kuwait, a complete taste of Kuwaiti music
Watch Fires of Kuwait by David Dougls-shot in Kuwait after the lraqi war. lt follows a number of teams who fought to extinguish the hundreds of buring oil wells
Eat fuul-broadbean paste madewith garlic, olive oil and lemon; falafel-spiced, fried chickpea balls; khobz-Arabic flat bread; hummus-chickpea paste with garlic and lemon
Drink coffee-served Arabic-style
Gowwa (hello, informal)
The oil industry; mosques; Kuwait Towers; Bedouin culture; colourful souks; cloth weaving; museums; coffeehouses; delicious Arab food; archaeological sites; the remarkably easygoing feel of Kuwait City
The temple and archaeological ruins on the island of Failaka lsland; informal gatherings (diwaniya), usually at someone’s home, where Kuwaitis gather to chat
The problem of land and, to a lesser extent, seaborne mines has pretty well put what used to be a bustling water-sports culture in Kuwait into the deep freeze. Mines have also put an end to organized desert safaris and ‘wadi bashing’.
