I am going to say something controversial, something that anyone who I have ever showed around Logroño would slap me through their computer screen, if they could. I am so sick of pintxos! Yet, that doesn’t stop me from going out on the town to eat. I will blame only my astonishing laziness for preventing me from […]
How to Eat Pintxos Like a Local
Sometimes I am walking around Logroño on a Friday or Saturday night and I spot them, the deer in the headlights. Except the deer are the foreign tourists and the headlights are the streets around Calle Laurel, where Logroño’s main concentration of pintxo bars are found. They have arrived to try out the pintxos that Logroño is […]
What are Pintxos?
There is one phrase that makes me cringe, and I am telling you now so you never have to make this mistake if you come to Northern Spain. “I’m so excited to eat tapas!” There ARE NO TAPAS. The food culture in this part of Spain is not about tapas. It’s about pintxos. The difference in culture […]
Cuba’s far eastern region: Is it worth going to Guantanamo?
Perhaps the only thing known internationally about the region of Guantanamo, aside from the infamous US base, is the song Guantanamera, made commercially famous by The Sandpipers in the 1960’s. But nestled deep in the far east of this region, facing the Atlantic Ocean and a world away from the town of Guantanamo itself, is […]
The Havana Hustle: Common Scams in Havana
The Cubans are savvy, suave, and desperate to get their hand on CUCs – the hard currency in Cuba. CUCs land into the pockets of locals almost entirely from tourists, so it’s no surprise there are some common scams in Havana to be aware of. I already posted (ranted?) about the epidemic of overcharging by waiters in Havana’s […]
It happens to the best of us: The epidemic of overcharging in Havana’s restaurants
I travelled throughout Cuba for two weeks before properly spending time in Havana, and in every city and town I encountered friendly locals, who had almost a glint of innocence about them. In Camaguey, a travel companion accidentally left his card in the ATM machine, and a local woman rescued the card, hopped in a […]
Strange Museums: The Hemingway Museum in Havana
I am the first to admit, I am not very good at sightseeing. I regularly choose the city’s oldest bar over the city’s oldest church, and find many museums a bore. What does interest me, is museums and monuments that have a human connection. To me, that means a place where it’s not just a […]
Photo Diary: Classic Cars in Cuba
Cuba felt a little bit like a time warp at times. The lack of modern day slogans such as McDonalds and Starbucks, the autopistas (highways) getting clogged up with horses and carts rather than semi-trailers, but most notably the 1950’s cars which often outweigh the modern vehicles on the road. Images of 1950’s Fords & Chevrolets […]