Category: Mindful Travel
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Returning to El Mirador: Amazing Maya Ruin Still Buried in Guatemala’s Jungle
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It seems like only yesterday I was taking this same trip, riding in a 6 person helicopter for an hour over the farms and treetops, finally arriving at El Mirador, a remote Maya ruin buried in Guatemala’s Petén region. But nearly 8 years had passed. I still felt the same…
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Introducing the Aufguss: A Traditional Purification Ritual Catching on Worldwide
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Sweating naked amid a roomful of strangers is not everyone’s cup of tea, but this curious custom is gaining popularity for its purification and calming, and I was lucky enough to experience several while staying at the Adler Spa Resort DOLOMITI and their sister location in Sicily, the Adler Spa…
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Spectacular Stay at the Adler Spa Resort DOLOMITI
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When one spends as many nights in hotels as I do, it’s rare to stay in a place that has every last detail done right, even better when that stay is in a UNESCO-listed area where breathtaking views are visible from every window (even from the plane!). The Adler Spa…
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Happy Halloween: How to Visit Yucatán’s Incredible Bat Tornado (Volcano).
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It’s Halloween, Day of the Dead, and (tomorrow) Día de los Muertos. All over Mexico (and even many other parts of the world), Catrinas (those delightful white skull faces, often elaborately colored and bejeweled) appear, the candy baskets are filled, costumes are worn. In so many ways Halloween is my…
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Tikal’s Sunrise Tour: Is it Worth It? Know Before You Go.
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Tikal, the incredible Maya city buried deep in central Guatemala is almost as shrouded in mystery today as it was when it was first rediscovered after being reclaimed by the jungle centuries after it was abandoned by the enigmatic culture who lived there: the Maya. Why they left, why their…
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Palapas Ventana: Another Superlative Stay
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Of the many random encounters I’ve had on my many voyages, few were as good fortune as running into the proprietor of Palapas Ventana during one of my visits to La Paz, the largest city in southern Baja. He was going out some place that I was going in, and…
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Reasons to Buy, not Barter
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Tourists often worry that they will be ripped off the moment they arrive somewhere. Scammed. Taken for a ride. For the sole reason that they’re terrified of being a “gullible” tourist. They proceed to haggle at any and all opportunities, regardless of whether the store or vendor has set prices,…
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The Value of Being Friendly
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It doesn’t take a lot to be nice to the people around you, yet somehow many of us find it easier to be otherwise. Here’s a story of how my friendliness actually saved me from a pretty scary situation, and I think it’s a great lesson for travelers: Treat those…
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Orangutans in Borneo (Kalimantan)
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Camp Leakey and the Rimba Lodge Everyone remembers where they were when Covid hit. In my case, I was in the forests of Borneo, the Indonesian section, known as Kalimantan. I’d wanted to go there since college, when I read Eric Hansen’s fascinating account, Stranger in the Forest: On Foot…
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Dancing with Dragons: A Visit to Komodo Island
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Few things in my childhood filled me with awe as the Komodo dragon, the largest lizard on the planet. While it does not breathe fire, its bite is so fetid that the animal’s primary hunting method is just to waylay its prey, bite it, and wait for it to die…