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Holidays in Foreign Lands

ByTim Leffel 12/23/201212/23/2012

This Christmas and New Year’s Day I’m home with my immediate family, no traveling, just a normal holiday time. For us, “normal” this year is lighting a menorah one week and then putting up a Christmas tree the next. Then going to a restaurant overlooking Clearwater Beach for brunch on Christmas day. But compared…

The State Fair, Mexican Style

ByTim Leffel 10/10/2011

5 Comments

I was writing about Mexico a lot while I was living there for a year, so I gave it a break for a bit. But I’ve been holding on to these photos ever since attending the Feria de Leon in the state of Guanajuato’s largest city – Leon. This is supposedly the second-biggest state…

My Year of Trying to Not Suck at Spanish

ByTim Leffel 07/20/201112/20/2017

7 Comments

I feel like I’ve been studying Spanish for a very long time. This year I finally got some real traction. You see, I started studying almost-worthless French in high school because I liked the way it sounded. I stuck with it after year one because I liked the people in my class. In nearly…

“That place was surreal” (for real)

ByTim Leffel 06/28/201107/03/2011

3 Comments

Many travel destinations are described as “surreal,” especially when people have trouble putting what they have seen into words, but then there are places that really deserve the term. Like where I was two days ago: Las Pozas in the jungle of nowhere, Mexico. I’m going to just put a little taste of this…

Italy Before Tomatoes, Ireland Before Potatoes, and Thailand Before Chilies

ByTim Leffel 01/14/201101/12/2011

4 Comments

“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” But what was going on in the Americas before that? If you know much at all about that time, much of what you have probably been taught is wrong. That’s the core point of this fascinating book, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, by Charles…

Zacatecas: Just another incredible Mexican city with almost no foreign tourists

ByTim Leffel 01/06/201104/10/2021

7 Comments

I’ve said many times that as far as tourism goes, there are really two Mexicos: the American resort Mexico and the other Mexico. They’re night and day in terms of prices, atmosphere, history, and culture. While the beach resort areas often present American prices and crowds, in a place like Zacatecas you’ll find travel…