Catching a Break in El Salvador

Known as one of the world’s surfing Meccas, La Libertad is a small, uncrowded village located on the Pacific Ocean approximately 30 minutes west of El Salvador’s capital San Salvador. I was in the country last May visiting family when my husband and I had the opportunity to stay at a cool, new beachside hotel. We are always looking for interesting accommodations off the beaten track and, being avid travellers, we are always looking for a bargain. In Tekauni Kal, we were lucky enough to find both.
Meaning House of the Jaguar in Nauhat, Tekuani Kal is a small six-room hotel opened in the winter of 2006 with renovations and additions such as a Temescal (a traditional Aztec sauna), a bar, massage room and surf shop being added throughout 2007. All rooms provide guests with air-conditioning and cable TV. They are clean, comfortable and tastefully decorated with crafts created by Salvadoran artisans.

A small infinity pool and the hotel’s restaurant overlook the world famous beach break of Playa El Tunco. The thatched roof restaurant offers international fare such as chicken satay, ceviche, and seafood soup with coconut milk. The cook, Dora Alicia, also offers local specialities including the country’s gastronomic staple, pupusas. Another house speciality is a ceremonial chocolate drink made with pure cocoa beans that have been roasted and ground together with the ancient recipe’s original pre-columbian ingredients.

A paved path leads visitors directly from the back of the hotel and to a palapa-covered row of hammocks running across the black sand beach. Tekauni Kal as well as various surf shops along the beach offer surfboard rentals and lessons given by experienced locals. And if you happen to get thirsty between sets, the beach is dotted with a handful of outdoor restaurants that offer iced Supremas (the local cervesa) by the bucket.

Rooms at Tekauni Kal are $70 per night (double occupancy), which is a lot less than the popular Roca Sunzal Hotel located a half a mile up the beach. The Tekauni Kal staff is polite and helpful, the food is great and the accommodations are charming and affordable. I found it to be an ideal spot to spend three days of our two-week Salvadoran vacation. Reservations for Tekauni Kal can be made on their web site: www.tekaunikal.com. Additional information on surfing La Libertad can be found at: www.surflalibertad.com.

Written by Allison Neves

Click n’ Clack

I’ve been lucky recently with good guides. It is especially pleasant when you don’t want or need one, but they are being forced on you by regulations of the place you are visiting, like in Namibia’s Brandberg — home to some of the world’s most famous rock art dating as far back as two thousand years. Gwen, a local Damara girl and our assigned guide, was the only woman guide in Brandberg and, once I got her talking, told me all about how difficult it was to even apply for this job as a woman. The association wouldn’t let her take the guide’s exam (which she must have aced judging from her extensive knowledge of everything growing, crawling and flying around), but she stood her ground and got her way. Respect.

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=8137343146110393838&hl=en&fs=true

Gwen explaining the clicking sounds of the Damara language, and the
symbols that represent them

Written by Sarit Reizin

Fury Families

Africa’s furry and feathered ones remind me how good (and annoying) it feels to have mom watch over your every step, ready to burst into action when needed and to wreck havoc if she suspects her baby is in any danger. When we cross the street, my mother still instinctively goes for my hand, even if I’m already holding my husband’s. Once, I made the mistake of climbing out to the fire escape of my grandma’s fifth-floor apartment to clean a window and was brought back in by force uncharacteristic of a seventy year-old woman. My argument that I’d rappelled twenty story-high canyon walls made little impression.

Walking among penguins and baboons, I’m amazed by their human-like attitude toward their young. In Betty’s Bay I watch Ma and Pa penguins take their youngsters for a walk on the beach. The parents in their black and white formal wear follow chubby juveniles who seem overdressed, the way my grandma would overdress me on cold winter days in Kiev, their gray heads drowning in turtleneck vests of baby down. Those too small to venture outside the safety of a nest sit under a big flat wing of a parent. Curious of the outside world, the tiny ones all but slip between mom’s “fingers”, but she is ready for their tricks and for the prying two-legged intruders too. She’d snap their camera lenses with her strong beak without a second thought, if they came too close, never mind that another overprotective mother is staring back at her from it.

While penguins in their black tuxedos are a bit uptight, baboons at first seem very relaxed with their kids, but as you watch them for some time, you’ll see they do take parenthood and the well-being of their offspring seriously. Baby baboons play on dry branches sticking out of the ground under the watchful eye of the whole family, even that of the “teenagers” wrestling close by. As long as I stayed close to the ground, most went about their business as usual, only the one mama I was closest to held her baby’s tail firmly but gently, keeping it on a short leash. I kept my distance; if you saw them yawn you wouldn’t want to make any of these pink bummed mamas angry.

Written by Sarit Reizin

Chug Across Russia

TRAVEL IN STYLE ON A 6,000-MILE JOURNEY ACROSS RUSSIA ABOARD THE TRANS-SIBERIAN EXPRESS

MOSCOW, RUSSIA – If you’ve ever considered becoming a world traveler, consider the Trans-Siberian Express rail tour. Arguably the world’s greatest railway journey, it runs from Moscow over the Urals, across the magnificent Russian steppes and along the shores of Lake Baikal, the world’s largest freshwater lake.

By the time it arrives at the Pacific port of Vladivostok, on the Sea of Japan, it will have traveled more than 6,000 miles and passed through eight time zones. And it will have transported you one-third of the way around the world.

Begun in 1880 by Czar Alexander III and continued by his son Nicholas, the Trans-Siberian Railway was completed in 1905. It provided an essential link to Vladivostok, a major international trading port and headquarters of the Russian Pacific fleet.

Today’s journey may recall some of the luxury of the czars. Passage is via comfortable private train cars—classic Russian rolling stock. It’s a 14-day journey that operates in both directions and offers an incredible, rare perspective of this vast, beautiful country, taking passengers through Europe and Asia, crossing the storied Steppes and the vast taiga of Siberia, the world’s largest forest.

It is offered by The Great Canadian Travel Company, North America’s foremost experts in travel to some of the world’s least-traveled regions and a specialist in travel to northern destinations. This two-week adventure, which includes all meals and tours, is priced from $10,995 per person. Prices are based on double occupancy and offer first-class or deluxe travel. Included are accommodations aboard the train, most meals and drinks, services of a tour manager throughout, English-speaking Russian interpreters, porterage services, a comprehensive off-train sightseeing program and all gratuities.

You’ll be met at Moscow airport and transferred to a five-star hotel, where you’ll enjoy a welcome reception and dinner. A city tour includes a visit to Red Square and the Kremlin. In the late afternoon of your second day, you’ll board the Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian Express private train and have time to settle into your modern, stylish cabin. Then you’ll enjoy dinner on the train, in one of its beautifully designed restaurants cars.

There’s a half-day to discover Kazan, the picturesque capital of Tatarstan on the Volga River. One of the highlights there is a visit to the Kremlin Fortress, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, containing a stunning mosque and Russian orthodox cathedral.

Next comes Yekaterinburg, capital of the Urals, founded in 1721 by Catherine the Great (and a unique photo op at the monument to the Europe/Asia divide, where you can stand with one foot in each continent). In Novosibirsk, a modern “Soviet” city, you’ll see the world’s largest Opera House and visit Lenin Square.

Traveling deeper into Siberia, the train takes you to Irkutsk, dubbed “Paris of Siberia”, where you’ll see the classic wooden architecture for which the area is renowned. You’ll also be treated to a private concert at a museum dedicated to the memory of the exiled aristocrats who were forced to make this remote outpost their home after a failed revolution in 1825.

Traveling the shoreline of Lake Baikal you’ll pass fabulous scenery with a backdrop of snow-covered mountains. Stopping at one of the bays, you’ll join a barbecue on the beach (weather permitting)—with the option of a swim (strictly for the bold).

From here, the journey continues close to the Chinese border through Siberia’s remote and desolate wilderness to the beautiful Russian Far East. Vast distances combine with a forbidding climate and daunting geography to make this an awesome trip—but one that you truly will appreciate experiencing from the comfort of a private rail car.

Part of the journey takes you into Mongolia, with a visit to the capital, Ulaan Baatar. You’ll experience local hospitality and entertainment at its best as you eat in a Ger (Yurt) restaurant. A Ger is a traditional tent dwelling for approximately one-third of this nomadic nation.

At Vladivostok your journey is complete. You will tour this formerly closed city and stay overnight at the four-star Hotel Hyundai before your flight home.

Departures in 2009 (some with itineraries operated in reverse) are February 15, May 3, 17 & 31, June 12 & 30, July 12 & 26, August 7 & 23 and September 4.

Reservations and additional information are available from the Great Canadian Travel Company, 333 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 712, Chicago, Illinois 60601, 800-661-3830, www.greatcanadiantravel.com.

Written by ITKT Media

The Wow of Lucca

I know better, I really do! Although I’ve never quite understood the European practice of validating tickets immediately after purchase, I am aware of the requirement. This time however, I was feeling complacent because, in my last six train rides in Italy, no one had asked for my ticket, validated or not. A glance at my watch that told me my train from Pisa to Lucca was leaving in less than five minutes.

As a result, I neglected to validate my ticket at one of the yellow machines that are strategically placed (or so they say) throughout the train station. “Consider yourself lucky,” the man across the aisle told me, as he watched the conductor write out a voucher for my 10€ fine. “I got hit with a 50€ penalty last week for the same thing.”

My fine seemed stiff enough, considering the round trip fare was less than 8€. I won’t make that mistake again, time crunch or not. That fine was the only negative in a day of positives as I toured the Tuscan city of Lucca. This medieval town is surrounded by 2½ miles of tree-shaded ramparts that rise above street level. I could have rented a bicycle at one of the many shops that offer them, but I wanted to devote all my attention to the grand views of the city. So, I opted for a leisurely stroll.

Since I am directionally challenged, walking the circumference of the city helped me get my bearings, while enjoying the sight of red-tiled roofs and stately brick towers. These torres are Lucca’s own version of “Keeping up with the Jones’.” One family would add on to their structure to make it higher than the neighbor’s tower, only to be outdone by someone else. While architecturally impressive, the towers are logistically impractical. I would not want the top floor bedroom.

Probably the most photographed tower is Torre dei Guinigi, with its grove of oak trees growing at the top, giving it the appearance of a cartoon character who stuck his finger in an electrical socket.

Perbacco is my favorite Italian word. It translates to Wow. It’s an accurate and succinct description of Lucca. It’s also the name of the restaurant where I ate one of the best meals of the trip. High praise indeed considering Italian cuisine is among the finest in the world. I sat in the center of the Antifeatro Romano, which was, as the name implies, once a Roman amphitheater. Today it sports – no pun intended – many outdoor restaurants, including Perbacco. I sipped my wine, savored flavorful pasta and pictured beasts and gladiators fighting around me. Alas, I had time for only one meal in Lucca – so many restaurants, so little time.

Lucca is calm to Florence’s frantic. I strolled through narrow streets, ducking in and out of tiny shops. There are several cathedrals worthy of a visit, San Martino being the best known. The cathedral itself dates from the 13th century. Its bell tower was built in 1060 as a defensive lookout. These building are OLD! St. Martin, himself, is depicted on the stone façade, cutting his cloak in half to share with a needy beggar.

If there had been a Trevi fountain in one of Lucca’s piazzas, I would have tossed in a Euro or two. I definitely want to return.

Written by Susan Tornga

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