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“There’s a sense of community here,” one expat told me. “Colombians are the warmest and most welcoming people I’ve encountered in the 26 countries I’ve been to. They don’t have much money, but they’d give you the shirt off their back if you needed it.” Same question, a different expat’s answer: “What does Colombia have? You mean, apart from the affordability, and the perfect climate?
Europe’s beaches are as diverse as the continent itself, which makes it puzzling that the overwhelming majority of visitors to Europe choose the established beachside resorts of Spain’s Costa del Sol, Italy’s Amalfi Coast, or the primped and pampered sands of the French Riviera as their beach destination...
"It's a crazed, high-energy life in the U.S.," David Bohn says, from the comfort of his Spanish Colonial-styled living room in the Southern Zone of Costa Rica. That's not the case where David now resides. If Costa Rica is one of the world's most relaxed countries, the Southern Zone is its version of Hawaii—the calm, unspoiled region that even Costa Ricans consider...
"I just got sick of living for vacations, you know?" says Connecticut native Rebekah Bottone. "Counting down the days to those two weeks where you get to be who you really are? Here, I get to be me all the time." Rebekah doesn't have to live for vacations anymore. Not since moving to Tamarindo—a surf town on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.
I had the perfect place in Cuenca to interview expats. The only problem was getting away from it. While I loved the grassy lawns and wooden boardwalks of the Remigió Crespo museum café, leaving it meant descending to the Tomebamba River walk, heading upriver for a block, and then ascending a lengthy set of steps to the street above...
I’m traveling south from Quito toward Ambato, and the straggling residential overflow from the capital city persists until the road branches off eastward into the Pastaza valley. That’s where the town of Baños de Agua Santa sits, snug in a hollow between snowcapped peaks. You have to remind yourself to look up...
Marc Cofer definitely doesn’t look 56. We’d arranged to meet at Noppharat Thara beach, at the north end of the Andaman Sea resort of Ao Nang, Thailand. We figured that we’d recognize each other. In the event, it’s Marc who recognizes me, with my winter-white face, dog-eared notebook, and battered camera.
On this occasion, my destination was the mountainous spine of Ecuador, also known as the Avenue of the Volcanoes. It’s a route that follows the high Andes south from the capital city, Quito, down to the subtropical valleys of Vilcabamba at the bottom of the country...
Jeff’s first stop in Thailand was in the north of the country, in Udon Ratchathani province, just across a river from Laos. “It was like the Wild West up there, very traditional, very family-oriented, and very different from here in Ao Nang. Ultimately, it wasn’t for me. I’m a beach guy. But I met Sue there, and we got together...
A word of warning about traveling in Thailand: unless you are very lucky indeed, you will end up having to listen to someone telling you, at length, about how much nicer it was 10, 20, or even 30 years ago. Those stories should be taken with the proverbial grain of salt.