A year and a few months after hurricanes Irma and Maria ravaged Puerto Rico, I wondered if the time was right to visit. I knew my tourist dollars would go toward a good cause and help with recovery, but questions about safety, electricity and accessibility made me hesitant to book what is one of the easiest Caribbean islands to travel to. With a little bit of research, I gathered that most of the capital, San…
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If you’re a Mark Twain enthusiast and up for an adventure, visit Hartford, Connecticut. It may not be the riverside town of Hannibal, Missouri, where he grew up, or the storied California gold country, but it was his home from 1874 to 1891 – and you can say you’ve stepped foot in the place where he penned “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Guests are not allowed into Samuel Clemens’s home…
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Seeking an adventure somewhere that wouldn’t be overwhelmingly packed on a holiday weekend, I settled on Costa Rica’s northerly neighbor, Nicaragua. I figured it was close enough to the popular and tourist friendly Central American country to offer some spectacular sights. Upon landing at the airport in Managua, my friends and I were greeted by the private tour company we hired and made a couple of stops in the colorful, but rather deserted, capital before…
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Any big city has its rough spots, but visiting Colombia’s capital was slightly more daunting than others because of its past reputation of drug lords and cartels. Those thoughts dissipated when I arrived in downtown Bogotá and began wandering La Candelaria, a neighborhood equivalent to a European old city. The buildings were of Spanish colonial and art deco styles, colorful and quaint, and decorated with intricate murals. A cat eye painted on a utility pole…
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The postcard image I had heading to the Netherlands was of gigantic windmills and grand canals. But the thought of them faded when I arrived at the Amsterdam City Centre. A wide waterway was lined on both sides by monumental 17th and 18th century buildings in a myriad of warm, earthy colors. Boats and brick bridges crossed the still, reflective water. As soon as I started wandering, I found myself delightfully lost in a maze…
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The allure of the Northern Lights led me to Iceland. Little did I know how elusive they are. Checking the weather one last time before departure on my WOW air flight, things weren’t looking promising. Precipitation appeared in the forecast for the entire week, and clear skies are required to see the aurora borealis. When my three travel buddies and I landed at Keflavik International Airport, we were greeted by rain, not snow. Turns out…
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Visiting Cuba before it completely opens to U.S. travelers – and to McDonald’s – was a race against the clock, from what I had read. So, in the spring, when no one I knew could commit to a trip, I decided to go it alone. Pricey charter flights were the only direct option to the communist country seemingly stuck 50 years in the past – commercial flights from the U.S. will fly soon – so,…
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While the Boston Marathon bombings and fertilizer plant explosion in West Texas had Latin American news outlets scouring for wire reports, press from one Spanish-speaking country maintained a physical presence in Washington for the bipartisan immigration bill introduced Wednesday morning. Yes, it’s obvious – Mexico. Like media in the U.S., El Universal, one of the largest newspapers in Mexico City, published a straightforward piece titled, “Immigration reform plan presented before the Senate.” Unsurprisingly, the paper first…
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El aspecto racial juega un papel muy importante en el juego político, demográfico y social en Compton. Y la polémica que se ha suscitado en el proceso de aprobación al sistema de votación para los concejales de la ciudad pone sobre el tapete un tema delicado, de cuán prevalente es el racismo en la única ciudad en el sur del condado donde los latinos son la mayoría de la población, pero no tienen ningún escaño…
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PRIMERA DE UNA SERIE DE CUATRO A casi dos meses del acuerdo extrajudicial en la demanda de tres mujeres de Compton, que alegaba que el sistema de votación en la ciudad no representaba equitativamente a los latinos, una de las demandantes sigue siendo fuerte y clara cuando declara de forma repetitiva: “Esto no es una cuestión de raza”. “No se trata de que se elija a un latino; se trata de que sea el representante…
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Last winter, Kelly Breitenbach and her three kids, homeless for
Santa Ana Police Chief Carlos Rojas has announced his resignation,