Chronicles of On The Road Travel

GOL flys to Peru

According to this article, GOL airlines, our favorite discount airline in Brazil, will begin flying routes to Peru and Chile. Although they haven't yet said when this will begin, the planned daily flights will add yet another option for travelers who want to visit several countries in the region.

GOl is now one of the primary airlines in Brazil (and might have been dominant if Varig hadn't been salvaged by investors from a debt-laden death), flying to 50 destinations in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. The main drawback for travelers is that you cannot book a flight online unless you have a Brazilian social security number. This makes advanced planning a bit of a pain (and generally means you'll miss out on the cheaper, first-come first-serve seats) but you can still walk in to a travel agent in Brazil and get a flight on short notice. Hopefully their expanded footprint will encourage the decision-makers to reconsider this policy.

Add to del.icio.us

Google Goes Native

As last week’s article in The Economist, Google it in Quechua noted, Google has launched a version in Quechua (www.google.com/intl/qu/), an ancient native language spoken mainly in the Andes of Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia.  Quechua was the official language of the Inka empire and still is the second official language of Peru and Bolivia.  In decline since the time of the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, an estimated 10 million people speak it today.

My first reaction when I read about Google’s inclusion of this native language in its repertoire was to wonder whether the intended users will actually have access to computers or if they will even care that search engines exists!  Google’s translation project claims to want to build a truly world wide web – all the power to them for being inclusive and hopefully along the way promoting the preservation of an ancient language.

As to the accessibility question, it seems Google is not the only one with an interest in this part of the world.  Earlier this year the Quechua version of Windows OS (“T’uqu”) and MSOffice applications were introduced in Peru and in Bolivia, part of Microsoft’s “digital inclusion” plan. Microsoft has taken on an initiative to reach 30% of the Quechua speaking population and as part of their program they would train 900 instructors in Bolivia alone. Click here for details (article is in Spanish). This doesn’t resolve the issue of people not having the means to buy software and hardware when their day-to-day preoccupations are around eating and having a roof over their heads, but the fact that Evo Morales, Bolivian president, is behind this initiative makes me think there must be an angle to this that aims to promote the race and culture of the people in question.

Linguistic project or nationalist initiative, I am all for the advancement and diffusion of technology and even more so in favour of preserving an ancient language, an icon of an ancient culture.  It will be interesting to see whether these projects are successful and, if they do take off, how they affect societies that up to now have been somewhat isolated from these advancements.  Hopefully having access to the web in their own language will bring to the Quechua speaking population all the benefits and efficiencies that technology can bring but not at the cost of loss of cultural values and traditions. 

We will have to learn a few phrases in Quechua and try them out on our next research trip to Peru this Fall so we can promote the preservation of this language!   

This article was posted by Veronica Montero

Add to del.icio.us

Seafood, Sand and the Search for Sunshine

San Francisco's summer fog has started to cramp our style, so we spent the weekend in search of the sun, both North and South of the city.

Saturday took us to the town of Bodega for the Seafood, Wine & Arts festival. I had envisioned a sunny day in a coastal town with great wine and food. Instead we arrived to an overcast farmer's field with country music serenading festival-goers who scrambled for a chance to sit on bales of hay and eat fish and chips. Unwilling to let this opportunity pass us by, we rounded up a selection of crab cakes, crab-stuffed mushrooms and some yummy caesar salads topped with cedar-plank grilled salmon, and found ourselves the perfect bale of hay.

Heeding the wise words of a fellow festival-goer behind us in line ("I'm usually good for about an hour at these things") we washed our seafood down with a Ben & Jerry's ice cream and hit the road. Our search for sunshine took us West towards the coast. We were well down the path to Dillon Beach when we noticed that the clouds were growing rather than retreating as we approached the ocean. Nonetheless, the sparsley populated beach tempted us and we set up camp for the afternoon, covered in blankets, listening to the waves hit the shore.

On our way home, we made a pit-stop in the town of Tomales. I couldn't resist this photo of the bank that's very clearly 'not a bank', according the the sign engraved on the building (you'll have to click on the photo to actually see what i'm talking about). We've passed it many times and I finally had my camera to capture it.

We finally found sun on Sunday as we made our way down to Woodside for some cycling. It was a beautiful, sunny ride around the Portola loop. Later that afternoon we returned to the beach, this time down South at Pescadero for a friend's birthday party. Unfortunately the sun had done its job for the day, and we spent yet another chilly afternoon at the beach. 

Looking forward to the fall when the fog rolls back out again and we don't have to adventure too far to find the sun.

El Al airlines in Israel seems to have it all figured out. Despite terrorism on the ground, no El Al airline has been struck by terrorists in over three decades. This article from the Boston Globe describes how they do it. It's not by x-raying shoes and confiscating water bottles. In fact, the majority of the screening takes place before passengers step foot in the terminal. Body language and behaviour are examined by 'profilers' at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport to determine whether a passenger is likely to be a threat, not the objects they carry with them.

Although it is not a perfect science, and an untarnished record only serves as a greater challenge to some, it seems to be a much more efficient system than the one we have here in North America. The September issue of Conde Naste Traveler reports that the Transportation Security Administration (in the US) is now quietly testing a program whereby passengers are profiled by their behaviours, similar to the system used in Isreal. The program, currently in place at Boston's Logan Airport, has been somewhat altered in consideration of North America's intolerance of ethnic profiling. Jeff Jacoby, author of the above-mentioned Globe article notes: "Countless hours have been spent patting down elderly women in wheelchairs, toddlers with pacifiers, even former US vice presidents -- time that could have been used instead to concentrate on passengers with a greater likelihood of being terrorists."

Lake Atitlan -10 Months Later

Traces of Hurricane Stan's presence begin to appear as you approach the long windy road down to Panajachel, the largest town on the shores of Lake Atitlan. Road repairs are still in the works and it is painfully obvious where rivers overflowed their banks and mud slid down the steep hills, taking with it homes, crops and the livelihoods of many Guatemalans.

Over 1,400 Guatemalans were reported dead and 5,000 left homeless after the heavy rains and mudslides brought on by last October’s hurricane. While parts of Panajachel were spared, many homes built on the flood plain were whisked away along with key access bridges and roads. Other areas were hit even harder. Panabaj, a town on the outskirts of Santiago just across the lake from Panajachel, was engulfed by a half-mile wide river of rock, mud and vegetation flowing down the face of a nearby volcano. The entire town was buried and declared a mass grave site. Today a new ‘tourist attraction’ is marketed as you disembark the water-taxis to Santiago – trips to see the hurricane destruction.

While Panabaj and many other towns were severely impacted- and are still reeling from the disaster- life in the more touristy areas has been restored to normal. The region’s dependence on tourism prompted officials to work quickly after Hurricane Stan to restore access to popular destinations. All of our On The Road Travel recommended accomodations are back in business, having made major or minor damage repairs, and are starting to relax after a very busy summer season. According to one owner, "things at the hotel are looking better than ever."

Despite this progress, with a good two months to go before the rainy season ends, locals are still apprehensive. Remote villages continue to await repairs, and some refugees are still living in temporary housing in anticipation of government assistance. This season’s unusually heavy spring rains caused rivers to flood yet again, blocking access to roads and reversing progress that had been made to restore bridges. However, this won't have much, if any, of an effect on tourists, since temporary bridges have been erected. But many Guatemalans will have to continue to wait for life to return to normal.

This article was written by Sarah Schwaller, our editor in Guatemala, who recently traveled to Lake Atitlan. Click here to read more of our articles on Guatemala.

 

Add to del.icio.us

Here's a post from Veronica exploring the local finds North of the border...

Indian Food in Toronto – a Gem We Hope is Here to Stay

Leave it to me to talk about food…yet again!  I was thinking back to my choice of meals last week – Thai on Tuesday, Indian food on Wednesday, Thursday was Sushi, and on Friday we discovered a fantastic new local French restaurant (in Chinatown).  Yes, I do cook sometimes, but I like indulging in the abundance of flavours that Toronto has to offer at very reasonable prices, a sign of a mature North American city, in my opinion.  And there are some foods that are just best left for the experts to prepare, Indian food being at the top of this list for me. 

One of my favourite finds in Toronto this past year has been Lahore Tikka House.  Leading the pack of a long line of restaurants in ‘Little India’ on Gerrard St., it brings back memories of Brick Lane in London, the overwhelming choice and the scents hitting you as you walk along.  Once you’ve made your find you tend to stick to it, the risk of a bad dahl being incentive enough to make you a devoted customer.  In Little India in Toronto my chosen find is definitely Lahore Tikka House. 

The first time I visited this establishment, I was surprised that a place in this condition would have a license in a city as proper as Toronto.  It essentially consisted of a few trailers joined together, with food emerging from a kitchen hidden away in, one assumed, another trailer?  My husband and I, doubtful, decided to go along for the ride. We ordered our food at the front (lentil dahl, chicken tikka, chana masala, rice and naan to stick to the basics on our first visit), took our number, and the food magically started showing up at our table.  Greasy and bursting with flavour, we were converts at first bite!  There is something so decadent about shutting down your defences and just enjoying a good Indian feast with no regard to the calorie count.  The best part was getting our bill - $20 for a full meal for two. Curry comma already setting in, we knew this had to be one of the best deals in town.  We didn’t so much mind the smell of our impregnated jackets days later when we remembered the unforgettable meal we had enjoyed. 

We understood the scene a bit better when we later learned that the trailers were a temporary solution while the owner expanded the restaurant.  As this article in Now magazine mentions the owner is currently busy trying to keep up with the demand from locals.  The construction is almost finished, a large patio has now opened where the parking lot used to sit and the trailers will give way to a sizeable restaurant.  I’m glad to hear of the success of this restaurant, I just hope that this expansion doesn’t suffer the fate of so many gems that choose to grow to serve their customers better or when a good business opportunity seems at hand.  Sometimes part of the trick of staying a gem and keeping people coming back is making something difficult to attain, even if it means lining up to get your food, being subjected to a bit of chaos and smelling like an Indian restaurant for days after.  One hint of hope in this regard is the owner’s comment in the Now article when asked if he would capitalize on his success: "Life's too short to be all about money". 

We hope that our hotel and restaurant recommendations are run in the same spirit and that they can be successful while preserving their unique appeal. 

Add to del.icio.us

LA Times - Special Issue on South America

The LA Times this past weekend featured a special travel issue on South America with great articles on both Buenos Aires and Bahia, Brazil. If you are looking for other, similar articles, we track them all on the Relevant Readings section of OTR.

Add to del.icio.us

A Guide for Non-Guidebooks

Today I came across Salon.com's Literary Guide to the World. Although the guidebooks (and OTR of course!) can be helpful for navigating your way through foreign territory, destination literature, whether fact or fiction, can be a great way of gaining a deeper understanding of a new culture. The site has a fancy map that allows you to click through to your destination of interest and find the books that they recommend for that country. Unfortunately they do not have much to recommend for Latin America.

On The Road Travelers are typically those who travel to learn more about new cultures. As such, we have our own recommendations for books to read if you are going to Brazil, Argentina or Guatemala. Keep in mind that it is often difficult to find these books while you are on the road (you are generally limited to the penguin classics and whatever you can trade at your pousada), so we recommend that you buy them before you go.

Add to del.icio.us

Seat Sale - South & Central America

While trans-Atlantic flight remain in chaos, with routes being cut and carry-on privileges removed, the airlines are busy adding routes to Latin America and promoting them so you can get out and discover this booming region.

American Airlines this week announced its fall sale on flights to South and Central America. You can fly from LA to Lima for US$399, Miami to Guatemala for US$420 and New York to Buenos Aires for US$857 (but you might want to check first with LAN which just launched a direct NYC - BsAs flight with even lower promotional fares!).

Check out our travel suggestions for Buenos Aires and Antigua, Guatemala, and be sure to book early. The American Airlines seat sale ends August 25th, 2006 and is valid for outbound travel between September 2, 2006 through December 8, 2006 and January 8, 2007 through March 27, 2007.

Add to del.icio.us

Favela Rising... Again

Yep... this is my second post about this movie, but it was so good I want to make sure that you all get a chance to see it. Favela Rising will be playing again through Thursday at the Roxie in San Francisco. This documentary follow's Anderson Sá's journey from drug-dealer to founder of AfroReggae, a music and dance organization that served to provide an alternative to gang life in Rio's favelas. It is a great story that made the short list for this year's Academy Award for Best Documentary.

The film plays through Thursday, August 17th.