Articles by Robin Sparks: A List of Articles Written by Robin Sparks

Down In Ol' Belize - Expat Explorations and Back Country Research - "At our table, Wild Bill told me his story: He arrived in Placencia, he told me, a year earlier after driving around the U.S. in a motor home. On the word of two ladies he met in Colorado and his subsequent research, he began to believe that there was a village in Central America called Placencia, which had everything he was looking for: Favorable money exchange, fresh food, great diving, and a laid-back lifestyle, complete with thatched huts and wild animals." - More intrepid research from Robin Sparks Daugherty as she searches the world in pursuit of a perfect home.
East Meets West ~ In Thailand With Vietnam Vets ~ By Robin Sparks - Robin Sparks continues her odyssey in Asia. She is back in Thailand talking with some Americans that have decided to settle down and make a life for themselves in the Thai Kingdom. Robin takes us inside the marriage of a retired American soldier to his Thai wife. Also learn about some of the volunteer work that some of the ex-soldiers are involved in in Thailand. If you are sick of the tensions that most people are feeling right now in the U.S., then a life overseas in Asia might be the answer for you. April/03

Falling In Love With Kathmandu - by Robin Sparks - More On Nepal's Wild Expat Scene - I am in the garden one morning reading the Himalayan Times surrounded by flowers and vines just outside of the crimson doors which lead into the house which has been my home for the past four months. The doors are flung open to receive another day. The flowers in our garden: dahlias, geraniums, peonies, roses... A vine droops over the front doors, heavy with passion fruit. The papaya tree outside my bedroom window stands straight and strong, its newly pruned limbs sprouting tiny green leaves. A white grapes vine is growing over there, and a juniper bush here, bright pink chrysanthemums, marigolds, snapdragons, coral hibiscus, royal purple dahlias, yellow roses, mums, golden irises, squash vines, a mango tree, and a statue of Lord Shiva, with fresh cut flowers in his lap and petals scattered over his head. By 11 AM, Nepal is a kiln. June/02
Fear And Loathing In Fortaleza ~ Robin In Brazil's Northeast - by Robin Sparks - Maybe I’m just tired from having arrived at 2 AM only to be told that my hotel was full. Or maybe it’s the wind or the high-rise buildings, which appear to have been planted without any kind of architectural forethought. Dec./05
Female, In Search Of A Country - Find a country to live in - In Placencia, Belize, unlike Paris, I settled in for a nap every afternoon in an audio space saturated with the melodious songs of birds. On the other hand, the sand flies in my bed kept me twitching and slapping, preventing me from napping as assuredly as the landscapers in the Paris garden below. ~ The first in a series of articles by Robin Sparks Daugherty. Join her in our webZine as she interviews expatriates around the world and shares the individual tales of escape artists from Belize to Paris, to China and the Middle East, down to South America and beyond. You won't want to miss this series.

HEALTHCARE ~ GLOBAL OPTIONS ~ by Robin Sparks - Robin is a long time contributor to Escapeartist and a great writer. In this article she explores healthcare around the globe. If you are interested in looking for medical care overseas, then you should read the above article. It deals primarily with healthcare options in Thailand, but touches on some other areas of the world as well. Like anything, you need to research and discover what kind of healthcare is best for you. Nov./03
In Brazil ~ Life Is A Beach ~ by Robin Sparks - I am at Tartaruga Beach, one of twenty beaches on the Buzios peninsula. In Brazil, going to the beach is the raison d' etre - everything is planned around it - and so when in Rome... The long curved sliver of sand is lined with chaises, umbrellas, and vendors who stand with their wares waiting for today's tourists to be unloaded from the boats pulling into the cove. Nov./04
"Je Ne Parle Pas" In Paradise - Robin Sparks Gets Culture Shocked - You move into a flat in the St. Germain des Près and you sip a Kir Royal under a vermilion awning at the Buci Café and you think, 'things don't get much better than this.' But the fact that you don't speak French begins to make things interesting. You have to plot how to get from here to there after you figure out where there is. And that means learning how to use Europe's oldest subway system, the Métro. You need to make a phone call, but first you must find out where to buy phone cards, and then where to use them. Where is the laundromat and how do you use it once you get there?
Kathmandu, Nepal - Expat Haven Or Paradise Lost? Part One - Photos & Essay by Robin Sparks Reporting on the Expat scene in Kathmandu - In I've been to plenty of third world countries, but nothing prepared me for Kathmandu. Many of those who went in the 60's and 70's, stayed put in Kathmandu's mystical mountain-bowl setting. There was the legality of hashish (now illegal), the incredulously low cost of living (one can live on as little as $500 a month in a palatial home with servants), spiritual mysticism, a welcome attitude towards foreigners, and the quaint, innocent ambience of a country that was until the early 50's shut off from the rest of the world. May/02.
Let It Go And Let Bali - Robin Sparks Looks At The Expat Scene In Bali - Being In Bali ~ The rhythmic clanging of hammers hitting the bamboo shafts in the kul kul tower pull us in. Women in tight sarongs and lacey tops stride regally under three foot towers of offerings on their heads. Like the ladies back home bringing food to the church potluck, they are bringing food to the gods, which they will share with others. We kneel on bare earth before a shrine. Made places the offering of food and flowers she has brought on the ground and lights a stick of incense. We hold out open hands to receive holy water sprinkled from a flower petal by the old pumanku, a priest's assistant, and tuck flower petals behind our ears - even two year old Lode knows the routine. "What should I pray for?" I ask Made. "Whatever you want. No problem!" she says. Sept/02.
Notes From The Road - Robin In Argentina ~ by Robin Sparks - It's been a year since I temporarily set aside my search for a country to return to San Francisco. When I left Asia this time last year, I decided to stay put in my home in San Francisco for one year. I still had slight misgivings about my desire t o live abroad. Was I running from something? If I put in consistent time in San Francisco would I find my purpose here? I would give the States one last chance. March/04
Paradise Found? - The Expatriate Scene In Xcalak, Mexico - We sat around a table under a palapa with Darrell, his fishing guide, Mike from Minnesota, and Stephen, an American expatriate from Sweden, who vacations here once a year for “the quiet and solitude.” Miguel popped open five Sols behind the open-air bar. I looked around and thought, “Is this real?” - The cerulean Caribbean lapped at the scalloped edges of a bleached-white beach, dotted with inward leaning palm trees, and best of all, no people. There in the middle of paradise, the hours ambled by. Stories were told. Palm fronds crackled in the breeze, pelicans landed on the pier and took off again, and the smell of the hamburgers Miguel was grilling filled the air.

Passion Play In Paris - By Robin Sparks - I set out to “know” Paris in my favorite way -- by blending in and pretending to be one of its residents. I negotiated Paris via the Metro. I sipped kirs at Les Deux Maggots (OK, so I did hit one or two tourist spots). At en plein aire cafés I stared unabashedly with the rest of the audience at the street theatre as it strolled past. I learned quickly to pick out the Frenchmen from other European males by the similarity of their narrow noses and lips, wire rimmed glasses, receding hairlines, and thousand dollar suits. I shopped daily at the patisseries and the boucheries and the tabacs and the outdoor markets. I paraded down the Champs-Elysées adapting the I-Love-Being-A-Woman attitude that French women wear so well.
Real Estate In Salvador de Bahia - The Soul Of Brazil - Great photographs and insights into what it takes to find real estate in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil - "Brazilian property owners and agents pray nightly that Americans and Europeans will arrive, because they know that buyers from these countries are most likely to jump on an “excellent deal!” in fear that someone else will come along and snatch it up before they do. The real estate bubble hasn’t drifted all that far south from North America yet. - - The beaches, the music, the culture and most importantly the people are the main reasons that some expats have moved here. Life is also more relaxed. One expat with a family says that living here as a family has many positives. Cost of medical and dental care is much lower and very good. Food and staple commodities are lower, everything in fact, except for gasoline. Help is much more affordable. And there is a very good Pan-American school for kids." - By Robin Sparks
Robin Sparks In Bali - Looking At The Expat Scene In Bali - I move into a house in the midst of the rice paddies above the old artist village of Bali called Penestanan. It is like moving into a zoo, so full of creatures that I must wear earplugs at night to sleep. The house is a large traditional Balinese home open to the outdoors complete with a lush garden and lotus pond stocked with fat goldfish. Like most homes in Bali, it comes with a "helper" or pembante. The cost of my magnificent home in paradise? One million five hundred rupiahs, which at this writing equals about $175 a month. August/02.
Robin Sparks Looks At The Expat Scene In Bangkok - One woman says that although she came here for her job, she has grown to love Bangkok. "This weekend I ate in the best restaurants, partied in some excellent clubs, took a new dress design to my tailor who will work from my sketches, ate durian, and cruised the klongs in a water taxi on Sunday with friends. We found a temple and offered up our wishes on wax tablets. Where else can you get all that?" July/02
Running Away To Home - Robin Sparks in Paris - Looking For A Place To Call Home - The place is filling now with an interesting crowd. People are buzzing around, moving into the main room. The techno music has changed to jazz and the volume has been turned up a notch. Tres interessant, and here I sit pecking away. A blonde man leans over my table and begins speaking to me in French. I take off my glasses, look him in the eye, and say, "Je ne parle pas beaucoup Francais. Parle vous Anglais?" "Un petite peu,"? he says.
Shark Attack ~ Swimming In Brazil ~ by Robin Sparks - Stefano, who once tooled around Miami in a long yellow Cadillac, played professional tennis in France, frequented the international party circuit between Uruguay, Marabella, and Paris, and now hides out in Buzios from who knows who, is a victim of Argentina's recent economic crisis. But he is also my angelfish. Stefano shows me where the ATM machine is, he drops me off at the Casa de Paz Meditation Center (and tells me I'll find him meditating on a bar stool), he introduces me to his Argentine friends at a private party, and he changes my flat tire three times! Jan/05
The Buying Game - Buying Real Estate In Brazil - About a one and one-half hour drive into the mountains west of Rio de Janeiro is the town of Teresopolis. Jim and Debbie wrote me to tell me about their $30,000 purchase of an estate consisting of four buildings, a 2 bedroom main house, a spring fed swimming pool, a vegetable garden, an enclosed tennis court, and over a dozen varieties of fruit trees. This I had to see for myself. Jim wasn't exaggerating. Teresopolis was idyllic and he and Debbie had purchased a gorgeous estate for the price of a tool shed back home. By Robin Sparks

The Writing Women Of Bangkok - A Women's Writing Club In Bangkok ~ By Robin Sparks - Robin Sparks is back in Asia and has been spending the last few weeks getting to know a group of women writers based in Bangkok. She talks with the women and finds out how each made their way to Bangkok and what are the motivations behind their writings. Robin has also been interviewing Vietnam Vets in Thailand for her next article which will appear in our next issue. March/03
Torn Between Two Lovers - Thoughts On San Francisco And Bali ~ By Robin Sparks - Robin Sparks writes about some of her experiences in Bali and what it felt like to return to the US after the bombings in Indonesia. She talks about some of the changes that have taken place in the U.S. since she left and what life might be like in Bali and San Francisco. She talks with some expats about what someone should expect when they relocate overseas: how will the conflicting demands of wanting things from home cross with the new enviroment of living overseas. Feb/03
Walk Like A Brazilian - Robin In Brazil ~ by Robin Sparks - I'd been to every country on my list except for one, Brazil. The Brazil in my head was passion, romance, the samba, fresh fruit, tropical beaches, and the bossanova. When I heard that in Brazil it's rude to show up on time for social engagements, I thought that this just might be the place for me. How could I not love a country where I'd always be on time? There was also the hope that in Brazil, I could blend in more easily than in Bali, my other favorite place on the planet. There¹s no way I'll ever be Balinese, but maybe I could be Brazilian. May/04
Which Way To Heaven? - The story of one couple’s perilous journey from New England to Belize - by Robin Sparks - Through Hell, High Water, and a Hurricane: the story of one couple’s perilous journey from New England to Belize - "The 2500-mile journey symbolized for the couple the end of 20 years of dreaming and the beginning of a two-year trial run in the charter sailboat business. What they didn’t know was that the biggest storm to hit the Caribbean in 500 years would rearrange their plans -- it would kill one of their dearest friends, nearly destroy their catamaran, and cause months-long delays and financial depletion. No one said moving to a third world country would be easy..."

For some years Robin Sparks was looking for a country to call home. She has found a home both in Bali and also in Istanbul, and in both spots she presents popular writing workshops. For information, and to see what Robin is doing, visit her at home -