Living La Vida Loca

A Global Adventure

Travel

  • All Aboard! The Cruise Begins and Montevideo

    Setting Sail The transition onto the Silversea ship (Silver Whisper) could not have gone better. The cruise line has this down to a well-oiled machine – from transferring bags directly to your onboard suite, to registering you via passport, to distributing your ship access card. We’d booked a deluxe veranda (that was the only option… Read more

  • Back to Buenos Aires: Theatre, Old Friend & Jewish Roots

    The flight back from Iguazu to Buenos Aires was short and uneventful, and we were glad to have another afternoon and almost full day to explore Buenos Aires. The one thing we had been able to do before heading to Iguazu was a visit to El Ateneo Grand Splendid – an incredible bookstore and cafe… Read more

  • Exploring South America: Buenos Aires and Iguazú Falls

    Combining a brief land tour and a few days post-cruise, this entire trip will be nearly a month long, but we’re packing a lot of sightseeing into it. In the past. we’ve explored a few countries in South America – Colombia and Ecuador along with the Galapagos islands off of Ecuador. This will be our… Read more

  • On to Paro…Then the Long Way Home

    We had wonderful weather with incredible views of the snowcapped mountains beyond the valley that we wound our way through as we headed to Paro. Paro is where Bhutan’s only international airport is, and the district has many sacred sites worth visiting. Our first stop was Ta Dzong, originally built as watchtower, it now houses… Read more

  • Beyond Thimphu: Bhutan’s Countryside

    I thought that some personal observations might be in order now that we’d had a bit of time in Bhutan… This is a very beautiful, picturesque and well-maintained country. The streets and highways are well-maintained and clean (juxtapose Kathmandu), and the strict control over tourism volume definitely has allowed the government to establish clear guidelines… Read more

  • Thimphu: Where Administration and Religion Unite

    Thimphu, the capital city of Bhutan, clearly reflects all key aspects of fairly uniform daily life through literature, religious practices and customs, national dress code, monastic practices, music, dance, and media. Buddhism is the state religion of Bhutan and the vast majority of the country’s population practices Buddhism. The state religion has long been supported financially by the government… Read more

  • The Vulture Restaurant & Elephant Conservation

    “Until we extend our circle of compassion to all living things, we will not ourselves find peace.” – Albert Schweitzer Today was our day to learn – up close – what some of the animal conservation challenges are in Nepal, and how some people are working hard to reverse negative impacts of “man meets nature”. We set… Read more

  • Into the Wild: Sauraha and Chitwan National Park

    The next stage of our Nepal journey was very different and equally memorable to our time in Kathmandu. We traveled to a lovely town called Sauraha that sits on the border of Chitwan National Park. Sauraha is the main entry point to Chitwan National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for incredible biodiversity and… Read more

  • Monkeys, Monkeys, and More Monkeys!

    This is a bit more in depth on the Monkey Temple mentioned in an earlier post. One of many memorable moments on this Nepalese adventure was to Swayambhunath – also called the “Monkey Temple”. Let me explain. Swayambhunath is an ancient religious site built on a hill overlooking the Kathmandu Valley with incredible views (on… Read more

  • A Day Filled with Buddhist & Hindu Learning

    After a good night’s sleep of more hours than I’d had in a while, I thought I’d try my hand at early morning meditation. On the rooftop of the guest house as I sat on my yoga mat, I found myself very frustrated that I could not quiet what’s been called the “monkey mind”. It’s… Read more