Eating guinea pig,“cuy,” is not what I thought I would be doing a few weeks after I visited Machu Picchu, but anyone who has spent much time in Peru knows all Peruvians agree that “cuy es rico” (guinea pig is rich or fantastic). My 23-year-old daughter and I had already been in Cusco for over two months, doing volunteer work and taking Spanish lessons.  It was time to try cuy. Read more>>

At the start of my PhD in Neuroscience at Newcastle University I resolved to lose weight and was drawn by chance to a Muay Thai class at a local community centre. I was hooked from day one, experiencing, for the first time, the rewarding surge of endorphins induced by exercise. I was intrigued by the cultural aspects of the sport such as the wearing of the ‘mongkon’ on the head for protection in the ring and the performing of the ‘wai kru’ dance to pay respect to one’s teachers. Read more>>

Though the Worldwide Economic Crisis seems to have the world in a tizzy of worry and despair, Gringos are still coming to Mexico. I remember last year at this time unprecedented numbers of Gringos were walking the streets of my adopted Mexican home of Guanajuato.The city of Guanajuato, that bears the same name as the state, Guanajuato, had swarms of Gringos that extended from late Spring into early Fall even while gloom and doom spread all over the planet. Read more>>

I decide to move to Roatan, Honduras, an island floating in the midst of Caribbean blue waters and extensive coral reefs that attracts an expatriate population filled with eccentric lifestyles and discontent for the norm. Being a vast contradiction to my fast paced, materialistic existence of New York, my peers and especially my family question my choice of destination as well as my ability to adapt to a minimalist lifestyle. Read more>>

Many Americans don’t know this, but author Mark Twain once spent a year studying at the university in Heidelberg, Germany. While there, he wrote an article entitled “On the Awful German Language.” I found the article humorous, as it explored a lot of the same frustrations I experienced, studying at a German university about fifty miles away. Read more>>