Category: Uncategorized

Until now, my most terrifying flying experience was taking a small plane out of Palenque, Mexico to visit the Mayan ruins at Bonampak . The plane, and I use the term loosely, was more like a winged golf cart with six seats. As we strapped in, I learned the other two passengers were from Spain.…

Every spring, Seville stages a week-long fiesta that includes, among its many outlandish traditions, the wearing of skin-tight polka dot gowns with enormous ruffled flounces. Afterwards, there is endless talk about how gorgeous we all looked, and everyone pulls out phones to compare photos. When I showed this one to a group of women in…

When we’re abroad, Rich and I strive to adapt gracefully to whatever bizarre stuff the world throws at us. One of my most cherished photos shows him in India, squatting in front of cobras, madly playing a grimy flute. The snake charmer, evidently feeling the scene requires more drama, is draping a large yellow serpent…

​If you’ve ever doubted the practical virtues of a siesta, consider Winston Churchill. He picked up the habit as a young officer stationed in Cuba and later relied on naps to sustain him during some of Britain’s darkest hours. “You must sleep sometime between lunch and dinner, and no half-way measures. Take off your clothes…

Luke Waterson “I could never live abroad,” friends often tell me — and then go on to cite all sorts of reasons ranging from cost (although other countries are often far, far less expensive) to the fact they might not be able to buy their favorite brand of shampoo or peanut butter there (true). But…

​“Bleaughhh,” exclaimed Rich, spitting out the offending liquid. “That’s disgusting !” We were in Vichy, France, sampling the famous healing waters, and Rich was finding this one — from a sulfur-rich hot spring said to keep the digestive system in superlative shape — too vile to swallow. “My stomach is fine as it is,” he…

​An old Buddhist joke says, “Wherever you go, there you are. Your luggage is another matter.” Most Buddhists I’ve met, especially the holy men known as Rinpoches and Lamas, have an impish sense of humor. A Rinpoche I visited in Nepal asked one of my companions, “Who are you?” My friend gave his name, home…

When I was a child, the Wizard of Oz played on TV every Easter, and I’d gather with my whole family to watch it. The opening scenes, set in Kansas, are filmed in black and white. Then a tornado sends Dorothy’s house flying, and after it lands there’s this spectacular moment when she opens the…

საქართველოს რესპუბლიკის (Republic of Georgia) “დილა და როგორ გრძნობ თავს?” inquired our host, when Rich and I stumbled out of bed and down the stairs. We were in a farmhouse in the Republic of Georgia on the morning after a very long night involving wine, food, wine, dancing, wine, and more wine. Even if our…

“You can’t really understand foreigners until you are one,” Rich remarked to me today. Instantly my mind was flooded with memories from more than a dozen years ago when we were new residents of Spain. Like most transplants, we worked like dogs (or perros as I had to remember to call them) to come to…