More on “China’s complicity in the Darfur slaughter”

By Joshua | August 18th, 2008 | No Comments »

Not to be an Olympic party pooper, but this message resonates: “Think for a moment about all the time, money and effort that has been spent to stage the Beijing Games. Now think about the time, money and effort that has been spent, over the same time period, to help the people of Darfur…. Now that China’s complicity in the Darfur slaughter is known to all the world, we invite you to help us keep the pressure on China to bring security to Darfur.” [LINK to the  Darfur Olympics]

And from AJWS’s website: “You may know that NBC plans to devote an unprecedented 1,400 broadcast hours to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, but did you know that NBC has spent less than seven hours focusing on the genocide in Darfur since the conflict broke out in 2003?” [LINK]

CNN article: “Dalai Lama: China causing ‘cultural genocide’” in Tibet

The Darfur Olympics: AJWS’s Darfur Action Campaign

By Joshua | August 12th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

From American Jewish World Service’s Darfur Action page: “Today the world spotlight is on China, whose economic and political support for Sudan continues to underwrite the violence in Darfur. AJWS, along with partners in the anti-genocide movement, is using the Beijing Olympic Games as a window of opportunity to raise awareness about the links between China and the government of Sudan, and to increase the pressure on those who have a role to play in ending the violence, including the U.S. government, U.N. Security Council members and mutual funds, as well as corporate sponsors of the Olympics such as NBC and Coca-Cola.”

Find out what you can do by visiting the link above: tell NBC to cover the China-Sudan story and watch the Darfur Olympics, “webcasting a daily report by Mia Farrow from a Darfur refugee camp from August 9 to 16, 2008.”

Matador Volunteer Offers Ten Ways to Volunteer Abroad

By Joshua | August 9th, 2008 | No Comments »

Though there are a few obvious ones here—like Peace Corps and WWOOF (Willing Workers on Organic Farms)—I definitely learned a few things as well; I’d never heard of Sudan Volunteer Programme, Turtle Teams, or Help Exchange, for example. There is also something about volunteering for the United Nations that looks intriguing. Matador Volunteer is based on recommendations of Matador Travel users (a social networking site); the site seeks to promote work “by grass-roots organizations and NGOs worldwide, and to connect you with volunteer programs and opportunities that make travel matter.” [LINK]

Transitions Abroad 10-Year Archive Available Online

By Joshua | August 9th, 2008 | No Comments »

Transitions Abroad founder and senior editor Clay Hubbs created the magazine in 1977 to promote travel as “real interaction with other cultures.” After thirty years of pursuing this vision, Clay passed away in 2007 and the following year, the magazine printed its final issue before being resurrected online as the Transitions Abroad Webzine. Clay’s son, Gregory Hubbs, took the operation online in 2004 and is constantly working to improve the site to make it the absolute number one web portal for responsible and alternative travel. You can now access 10 years of back issues on their site in between browsing new material. [LINK: http://www.transitionsabroad.com]

Moon Nicaragua Tres Ya Está! Pre-Order a Copy Now

By Joshua | August 5th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

My co-author, Randy Wood, and I are happy to announce the froggy Third Edition of Moon Handbooks Nicaragua! Our goal from the beginning was to create the guidebook we wished we’d had when we first arrived in Nicaragua. That was in 1998, when there was not a single decent guidebook on Central America’s largest, least visited nation. Things have changed a bit since then—in some areas, anyway. The rest of the country is enormous, rarely visited, and always full of surprises. You can pre-order the book with Amazon above, or you can buy an autographed copy fair-trade-direct from the author.

More info at GoToNicaragua.com.

Nicaragua Trip Coach on BudgetTravel.com Tuesday at Noon EST

By Joshua | August 3rd, 2008 | 2 Comments »

I’ll be serving as a Trip Coach for BudgetTravel.com, answering questions about traveling in Nicaragua in a live chat on Tuesday, August 5, 2008. Readers can already login on here and submit questions. Then, beginning at noon Eastern Time until 1 p.m., I’ll answer the questions live, wearing nothing but … oh wait, wrong chat. There’s nothing I love talking about more than traveling in Nicaragua — see you out there. 

[TRANSCRIPT OF CHAT ARCHIVED HERE]

Other articles for BudgetTravel.com:  “Learn Spanish in a Land of Volcanoes”

My Review of Bruce Barcott’s new Belize book in July, 2008, issue of Mountain Gazette

By Joshua | July 31st, 2008 | 3 Comments »

My first article in the venerable, crusty, old Mountain Gazette magazine is a book review of Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw by Bruce Barcott (Random House, 2008). The July issue of MG is on stands now, or you can download a PDF of my piece here: “Birds of Paradise.”

The book is about an eco-battle royale against the construction of the Chalillo Dam in Belize. It’s a superbly crafted story: “Barcott puts all the pieces in order, frequently taking a few generous steps back to give the reader an ample, global context for each chapter. Brief, sharp histories of hydroelectric power, Belizean demographics, endangered species lists, environmental law, and post-colonial politics pepper the storyline. Between these contextual tangents the author strings a narrative of dramatic episodes and dialogue, resulting is a sweeping snapshot of a country as it makes its awkward debut in the new global economy.”

[READ my Mountain Gazette article]

[BUY the book]

[NY Times review of Macaw]

[Grist interview with Barcott]

When given cameras, what do kids capture? Gorgeous slide show from Empowerment International

By Joshua | July 28th, 2008 | No Comments »

This is what happened when Colorado-based Nicaraguaphile Kathy Adams decided to pass out cameras in the village where she’d been working near Granada. Kathy founded Empowerment International, a grassroots development project for children which can always use your help. Enjoy the slideshow then consider donating to a worthy cause.

Über–Tranquilo Travelers Depart on Slow, Ephemerratic Round-the-World Quest: TheArtDontStop and LBoogie are Eastward Bound

By Joshua | July 28th, 2008 | No Comments »

The happy departing couple (a.k.a. Todd Berman and Lauren Girardin, a.k.a. my brother and sister-in-law) was last seen in Phillie, hop-skipping across the country before launching overseas for a year. They began in San Francisco with goodbye grafitti on the wall of an old police station in the Mission. They proceeded eastward and have been posting a slow flurry of cheesesteaks and sculpture gardens, warmin’ up the keys of their (momentarily) state-of-the-art microcomputer as they travel through exotic Midwestern cultures.

Their humble Quest?

“… To meet strangers and strange people … To eat wildy and locally. To tell you stories and show you artwork.”

For one year. Todd is mostly a sketch-pad and canvas kind of a guy while Lauren is more of a photog/website ninja. The resulting clash of wanderlusting, creative getupandgo is Ephemerratic.com—which I recommend bookmarking right … about … now.

First stop: Morocco.

Belize by Helicopter: Beautiful Video

By Joshua | July 25th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Incredible helicopter video tour of Belize brought to you by Astrum helicopters, Belize’s only chopper service. Watching this video gives even the most jaded Belize traveler a fascinating perspective of Belize’s reefs, cayes, forests, rivers, and ruins—and it’s much cheaper than the $1000/hour it would cost to acdtually fly in one of Astrum’s two birds. Enjoy. [LINK]