Matador Network's Blog, page 2294

Middle-aged women travel better

Photo: Thomas Leuthard

We’re non-threatening.

Who’s afraid of their mother? Okay, we aren’t all mothers. But we all could be, and we do look the part. Fear is one of the biggest obstacles when it comes to meeting people — which is one of my main goals as a traveler.

Men are inherently scary (sorry). Youth and beauty are lovely aspects, but let’s face it, they can be intimidating. And old people are just…well…old. Who wants to risk bad breath and repetitive stories about the grandchildren?

But the middle-aged woman…she’s pretty well guaranteed to be receptive, friendly, and polite. Anyone can approach us and feel secure. Practice your English on us — we have infinite patience. We’ll never laugh at you, or be critical. We’ll help you if we can. Need a hug?

We’re generous.

Chances are we’ve spent the past 20 years or so caring for and feeding someone other than ourselves. Old habits die hard. We’re also at the stage of life that we can’t eat whatever we want (and still be able to carry a pack), but we still want to taste everything — another of my main goals as a traveler.

We tend to over-buy and over-order, and are always happy to find someone that we can do the local food justice through vicariously. So feel free to chat up the middle-aged lady at your hostel — there may just be such a thing as a free lunch.

We aren’t (as) afraid anymore.

Young women are the #1 choice for everything…from a holiday romance to human trafficking. They should be wary — and have to limit their activities accordingly. We middle-aged women, on the other hand, have been around the block. Not that we want to be molested by the drunks on the way back to the hostel, but we know that at our age it’s less likely, and we’ve been poked and prodded (mentally and physically) enough in our lives that it takes a lot to shake us up.

So we can take those chances we didn’t dare to before…and as travelers know, that’s often where the best experiences lie.

We’re fun.

By middle age, our “nurturing genes” have diminished sufficiently to free us up from all of that responsibility crap. We’ve done our share (and more) of taking care of other people in our lives, and now it’s time to look out for #1 — which is laughably easy. And the fact that we’ve earned it means we don’t have any guilt about it.

We’ve accumulated all the skills to plan, organize, fund, problem-solve, and innovate our way through whatever challenges a trip can present, and maximize the outcome. The saying, “Every adventure involves a certain level of discomfort” is definitely true — and dealing with discomfort with a laugh is the middle-aged woman’s forte.

We’re smart.

We’ve been listening to everyone all these years — we aren’t deaf. We often have careers as well, but just what we’ve picked up along the way is enough to make us a lucky find on a long bus ride or to pass the evening. And best of all, we’re old enough to have lost our shyness — we’ll tell you stuff other people won’t, without shame. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll — we’ve been there, done that, and aren’t afraid to tell it like it is.

By the same token, you can tell us anything. Try to shock a middle-aged woman — it ain’t easy. That makes us a cultural exchange opportunity on steroids. It’s the open-minded tolerance combined with knowledge of experience that makes us such great travelers — versatile, resilient, and enthusiastically embracing the best part of the second half.

The post 5 reasons middle-aged women are the best travelers appeared first on Matador Network.

Disney's

EVEN AS AN adult, I still get excited about seeing the latest Disney animated feature film. The past few have seriously lacked the elegance and enchantment I grew up with, but it looks like Frozen has filled that void pretty well.

I love how flawlessly put together this video clip is: it features the film’s signature song, “Let It Go,” translated into, and sung as, 25 different languages. It even includes Norwegian, the language of the country where Frozen is set. If you aren’t obsessed with this song enough to know what the lyrics actually are, check out the English version here.

The post Watch Disney’s “Let It Go,” performed in 25 languages appeared first on Matador Network.

Sumba's bloody Pasola Festival [vid]

DATO DOESN’T BULLSHIT. He was our guide and our friend. A village chief and a former champion at the Pasola fist-fighting matches. I loved and feared him equally. And when I asked him why all Marapu men wear swords in their belts, his answer made my throat go dry.

“It is useful for opening coconuts or for cutting off another man’s head,” he said without a hint of bravado.

Modern Sumba exists in a virtually prehistoric state. They carry swords. They ride on horses. They use buffalo as currency. And if you kill another man during the annual Pasola Festival, you will not be charged with murder.

Amongst the tribal clans that occupy this Indonesian island, feuds run generations deep, tempers run hot, and fighting is part of everyday life. Villages are set up like fortresses, located on tops of mountains with high stone walls (which makes access to water very difficult — a constant problem on the island). That’s not to say they aren’t warm, gracious, and kind people as well. But they wear their hearts on their sleeves, and their swords on their belts.

When I first heard about the Pasola Festival a few years ago, I promised myself I would someday attend. As a filmmaker, I knew I had to attempt to capture the experience. But this shoot would prove the most difficult and dangerous of my career. The mud and the rain. The hostile and riotous crowds. And the very nature of the festival — a human bloodletting ending in a all-out riot — by the end of the day we considered ourselves lucky simply to leave uninjured and with all our equipment intact.

Two short incidents that couldn’t find their way into this short video:

FIRST… At dawn on the beach, the ratus (chiefs) were sitting on the cobblestone bluff chewing betelnut, discussing the quality of the nyala worms (the emergence of these sacred worms determines the timing for the year’s Pasola Festival), and preparing to sacrifice a black cock. Down at the water’s edge, we noticed all the locals around us were discreetly filling their pockets with fist-sized stones. An ominous sign. These were being squirreled away for the end of the festival, when the entire crowd erupts into a violent bloodletting riot, complete with police gunfire, wild horses, and many shattered windows.
LATER… my filming partner Andy and I were pressing our luck out on the battlefield and both watched one of the riders take a spear and jab the spear-gatherer. It only took a second to realize the spear-gatherers — who were as close to referees as a pitched battle might have — were very much off limits. The spear-gatherer freaked out, started chasing the offending rider and hurling spears at him. Other men joined the chase, drawing their swords as they pursued him up the beach. Andy started to run behind them to film the scene and was stopped suddenly by Dato. “Don’t go anywhere near that scene,” Dato said. “Why not?” asked Andy. “What’s going to happen to him?” Dato made a chopping motion with his arm. His other hand had fallen to the hilt of his sword. We looked down the beach and saw the crowd that had assembled around the prankster. Swords were rising and falling in the air. That’s the kind of place Sumba is.

Now watch the video (or watch it again). See those spears flying right over our heads? Last year a spectator caught one of those through the eye and out the back of his skull. He died instantly. It was a good harvest.

Special thanks to Dato, Chris Bromwich, and Nihiwatu Resort for making this video short possible. We didn’t create this for any commercial purposes…it was just something we felt compelled to document. Thanks for watching.

The post Blood, sport, and ritual on the Indonesian island of Sumba appeared first on Matador Network.

29 baller castles you can rent

And the neighbors keep trippin’, I’m like “I’m in a castle … f*ck your condo.”

- Macklemore, “Castles”

IT’S BEEN A DREAM of mine to stay in a real castle since I was a young kid. My parents would break the mundane summers indoors in Vegas by taking my little brother and me to the arcade at the Excalibur Hotel. Let me tell you, it’s a powerful thing being in a themed hotel as a kid, and the Excalibur, with its enormous animatronic dragons and knight-staff in full suits of armor, was my absolute favorite.

So, when I found out I could stay abroad in my dream castle for $163 dollars a night, you can imagine how stoked I was. Turns out, there’s quite a handful of castles and manors around the world you can rent. Here’s a list of 29 of the best from Airbnb.

The ultra-cush

$8921/night • Castle Road, Clevedon, Avon, United Kingdom

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At the top end of the list, this castle is ideal for those looking for a remote citadel to retreat to. From the golf course on the surrounding property grounds, to the suites in the outlying turrets, to their ability to hold weddings with their new wedding license, this castle is a one-stop, full-service fortress.

$8621/night • Golspie, Sutherland, United Kingdom

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This is pretty much the real-life equivalent of the Disney Castle, a real fairytale destination. The attention to detail is superb, and from my searches it really doesn’t get any better than this in terms of exterior look. I will say, however, that I find the lack of interior photos and ability to accommodate 16+ inhabitants in one bedroom/one bathroom highly suspect.

$5603/night • Old Military Rd, Perth and Kinross, PH10, United Kingdom

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A kickass castle and one of Scotland’s most romantic hideaways, this place is perfect. Its 17 rooms are large and luxurious, for the laird (lord) the mansion was originally designed for. The property also boasts a golf course — because the ability to play golf is intrinsic to having the ability to pay $5603 a night to stay somewhere.

$4680/night • N, Cloghaun, County Galway, Ireland

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Yep, it’s a castle. Despite the questionably few photos of the interior, this place looks as authentic as it gets. Though, at almost $5,000 a night, not only should it be authentic, but it should also come with some incredibly rare gilded dessert, which I did not see in the listing.

$3949/night • Shaw Lane, Holywell Green, Halifax, Calderdale, United Kingdom

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Modern castle + indoor pool = drool. Oh my god you guys, this is the most epic castle I have ever seen (and at almost four Gs a day, it probably should be). Winner of “Britain’s best home, 2008,” this place is pretty much ideal if you’ve got the money. Plus, they have a swimming instructor and academic tutor, so if you’ve got kids, they’ll be plenty occupied while you enjoy everything about Nicola’s castle.

$1854/night • Dirleton, EH39 5EQ, United Kingdom

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Halberds over the fireplace, Batman — look at this freakin’ castle! Polished copper tubs, stone fireplaces in the bathroom, and a suit of armor in the dining room make this the absolute complete package. Fortunately for Fenton Tower, few competitors have a fireworks show, so this castle really stands out as an incredible all-around destination, should you find yourself in the UK.

$1276/night • Unnamed Rd, Durhamstown, County Meath, Ireland

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From the strange placement of the pink couch in the master bedroom, to the fuzzy wreath separating the two very different beds in the guest room, to the purple tub and “moody purple” dining room, this castle is unusual. In fact, every single room is starkly different from the last, and perhaps that can provide the dozen different experiences necessary to justify the $1276 price tag.

$1085/night • Lisheen, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, Ireland

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Though we’re approaching the midrange price, this castle is nonetheless a proper castle, as you’d expect when being asked to pay upwards of a grand a night. This castle is gorgeous and just makes me want to hop on a horse and ride around hunting pheasants for leisure-sport. The dining room is flawlessly iconic, and nothing says luxury like statues in the bathroom.

$1030/night • Dairsie Mains, Cupar, Fife, United Kingdom

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This castle is serving up some storybook realness. Considering the exterior, the castle grounds (and the fact that you can call the surroundings the “castle grounds” in the first place), the paintings, the banister busts, the weird totem pole things, and the kickass bedroom décor, this is a legitimate castle through and through. The icing on this delicious kitsch-cake for me has to be the bathtub, which has been painted with The Great Wave off Kanagawa.

The midrange

$708/night • Rue du Château, Saint-Hippolyte-de-Caton, Languedoc-Roussillon 30360, France

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Now, when you have an enormous place like the Château de la Condamine, if it’s not overstuffed with décor and curios, it’s probably going to look a little sparse. Sadly, it does look a little sparse, but you’re really not paying for the interior. This park-facing 14th-century mansion with blessedly updated bathrooms is a bit on the pricey end of mid-range, but with the amount of history this building has seen (and a writing room bizarrely reminiscent of the Oval Office) it’s pretty easy to overlook that.

$300/night • Bangor, BT19 1RN, United Kingdom

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Now this is what I’m talking about. This tower has a novel of a description, including two poems written about it from separate authors. Its exterior is iconic, and its interior is pretty much exactly what I’d hope for from a castle interior. It even has an octagonal period room, spiral staircase, and rooftop reading room.

$262/night • Route d’Isdes, Brinon-sur-Sauldre, Centre 18410, France

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The price is the same whether you have a party of two or people. Wait, $262 divided by eight — that, my friends, is a castle at a potential $32.75 a night (though, to be fair, that’s more of a big-ass manor than a castle, but who’s counting?). I’ve stayed at Motel 6s that were twice as expensive and 1⁄16 as nice.

$232/night • Rue D’Arbre, Anhée, Région Wallonne 5537, Belgium

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There are two things I can’t help but find endlessly amusing about many of these castle listings. The first is the inclusion of wifi, as somehow I imagine routers were never designed to turn stone fortresses into hotspots. The second is the occasional “house rules” tab, as if the people who can afford to stay in your castle (and have the lust to stay in a castle at all) can be reined in and told not to run down the spacious hallways, make the house echo, or play with the swords on the walls. Though this might just be my particular brand of juvenile.

$206/night • Melville Gate Rd, Midlothian, EH22 3NL, United Kingdom

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This castle, though a tad square for my tastes, apparently served as the hunting seat for Mary Queen of Scots, which means you’re not only walking in the footsteps of royalty, you’re sleeping in the beds of historic royalty. That’s like taking a nap in George Washington’s cabin or something.

The cheap

$169/night • Barnay, Saône-et-Loire, Bourgogne, France

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This incredibly French castle, adorned with Templar seals above the fireplace, is a bizarre fusion of past and present. If you want to feel like suburbanite medieval French royalty, or if you feel like you need to be eased into staying at a place that’s older than your parents’ parents, this place would be ideal.

$163/night • South Stainmore, Kirkby Stephen, CA17, United Kingdom

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Here she is, my pick for best ‘cheap’ castle on Airbnb. It’s perfect — seriously, King Arthur status. The colors are sick, the rooms are sick (especially the bar), and there’s a goddamn movie theatre in the castle. In the immortal words of Liz Lemon, “I want to go to there,” and when I do, expect an elated recap.

$163/night • Ballytarsna-Hackett Castle, Cashel, Tipperary, Ireland

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Combination castle and school of stonemasonry? Yes, please. On a more serious note, this place looks awesome, particularly from the inside. Though still not quite my perfect castle, I’d happily settle for a moment to read in that library, underneath that incredible crown-post roof.

$141/night • Galway, Galway, Ireland

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Have you ever thought, “Gee, what I’m really looking for in a castle accommodation is a hammock swing in the bedroom and a hideaway bathtub in the living room?” Thank goodness host Peter was on that same wavelength and made sure to outfit his reasonably priced castle with those amenities. Yes, the “homemade limestone-carved toilet” scares me a little, but for a stereotypical castle, it’s a step up from the hole in the floor I expected.

$133/night • Chandpol Bazar Rd, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

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When I think of castles, this isn’t exactly what comes to mind. Then again, I don’t really think of castles as being in India, either, so I may just have to add “stay in a castle in India” to my bucket list. This castle offers amenities typical of a luxury hotel — and, of course, bragging rights — so, for the price, this is a pretty killer deal.

$120/night • Le Moulin de Granjou, Montferrand-du-Périgord, Aquitania 24440, France

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Admittedly, this listing makes me a little dubious. The photos are pretty grainy and few and far between, and there are no reviews and not a whole lot of information about the mysterious host Raphael. However, it is a castle that accommodates up to 5 at no extra charge, which means you and your crew could stay there for $14 a night each.

Honorable mentions

$5151/night • Hillfoots Road, Causewayhead, Stirling, United Kingdom

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You can’t even stay here, which is a shame because look at that tower! It’s got a sword in the museum and knightly statues! Knightly statues! It’s a shame that such a location is being wasted for weddings only, but it was too perfect not to include.

$3679/night • Carrer del Xarel·lo, St Pere de Ribes, Cataluña 08810, Spain

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This is the intersection between modern resort and the Addams Family home. I don’t find it particularly spooky per se, but I do find it really bizarre that a place can be so modern on the inside that you completely forget that you’re in a place that considers itself a castle. It just defeats the purpose.

$1552/night • The Clumps, Suffolk, England IP12, United Kingdom

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Sure, it comes up when you use the castle filter, but this is no castle. In fact, looking at the façade, I’m not entirely sure what you’d call it. Other than, of course, really freaking cool. The inside, however, tells a different story. Somewhere between a mansion and a church, the architecture of the archways and stonework could have had me fooled.

$1347/night • D, Plaigne, Languedoc-Roussillon 11420, France

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Though the price is a bit steep for a manor-looking castle, the interior is absolutely incredible. From the library dining room to the pool, this place has all the features but, for me, just doesn’t quite have the look.

$1060/night • Lautrec, Midi-Pyrénées 81440, France

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It’s the surroundings, rather than the actual accommodations, that earned this place a spot on the list. From the sunflower field to the plains in the distance, this place is incredible. You could probably find a cheaper way to put yourself into that scene, however, and since it’s not really a castle, there’s almost no advantage to staying at the Château Brametourte.

$304/night • Poligné, Bretagne, France

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More of a château than a castle, the house-ish-ness of this place is the main reason it didn’t qualify for the main list. That said, it’s a massive manor, and just look at the interior! The colors and the décor could almost convince me not to go outside and instead enjoy the illusion of thinking I was in a castle.

$300/night • Benderloch, Oban, Argyll and Bute, United Kingdom

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It’s really not this castle’s fault for looking a bit blocky on the outside — it was just born that way. At least the interior is stellar, and the location looks incredible, but at $300 a night, there are probably better options.

$163/night • Crossmichael, DG7 3BB, United Kingdom

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According to the listing, this bucolic retreat was originally gifted to the Duchess of Grafton Culgruff on her birthday. Constructed in 1889, late in England’s Victorian Gothic Revival movement, the house features Jacobean interiors with a 40-foot-high ceiling and original wooden chandeliers. The duchess had some serious style.

$114/night • Main Street, Cork, Cork, Ireland

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Though this place looks like the very corner of a full castle in isolation, at $114 a night (and with a decent interior), it was enough to qualify for an honorable mention. Built in 1683, this tower house surrounded by woods and a nearby beach might just be ideal for your castle-esque experience.

The post 29 baller castles you can rent on Airbnb appeared first on Matador Network.

Life goals don't have an expiration

ALL OF MY FRIENDS managed to graduate college and land cushy jobs the year before the recession of 2008 hit. I wasn’t so lucky. I graduated right when it happened, and as I neared 25, realizing I had nothing significant to show for my life, I began to think that the integral nature of those first post-graduate years had been lost to me. It sucked.

Now I’m 26, and I’m a Managing Editor for Matador, I’ve published my first eBook, and I just got engaged. It’s proof that life goals have no expiration date — if you want to achieve something badly enough, it can happen. It might take you longer than you thought, or it might happen at a different time in your life, but age is just a number we shouldn’t take so seriously. It’s what we do with our lives, that matters.

Check out this infographic if you need further reassurance.

Image via Funders and Founders Notes.

The post Your life goals don’t have an expiration date [infographic] appeared first on Matador Network.

7 reasons you're missing out on life

Photo: Matilde Zacchigna

1. Because you haven’t failed enough

Because you’re comfortable in your mediocrity. Because you choose not to try.

Because it’s easier to talk about learning that new language than actually learning it.

Because you think everything is too hard or too complicated, so you’ll just ‘sit this one out,’ or maybe you’ll ‘do it tomorrow.’

Because you hate your job but won’t get a new one. Because it’s easy to reject rejection.

Because while you’re sitting around failing to try, I’m out there trying to fail, challenging myself, learning new things, and failing as fast as possible.

Because as I fail, I learn and then adjust my course to make sure my path is always forward. Like annealed steel, I’ve been through the fire and pounded into shape. The shape of a sword with polished edges and a razor-sharp blade that’ll cut you in half if you’re not equally hardened.

2. Because you care what others think about you

Because you have to fit in.

Because you believe that being different is only cool if you’re different in the same way that other people are different.

Because you’re afraid to embrace your true self for fear of how the world will see you. You think that because you judge others, this means that those people must, in turn, be judging you.

Because you care more about the stuff you have as opposed to the things you’ve done.

Because while you’re out spending your money on new outfits, new cars, overpriced meals, or nights at the bar, I’ll be investing in myself. And while you try to fit in with the world I’ll make the world fit in with me.

Because I will recklessly abandon all insecurities and expose my true self to the world. I will become immune to the impact of your opinion and stand naked in a crowd of ideas, comfortable in knowing that while you married the mundane I explored the exceptional.

3. Because you think you’re smarter than you are

Because you did what everyone else did; you studied what they studied and read what they read.

Because you learned what you had to learn in order to pass their tests, and you think that makes you smart.

Because you think learning is only something people do in schools.

Because while you were away at college, I was studying life. Because instead of learning about the world in a classroom, I went out and learned it by living.

Because I know more than any piece of paper you could ever frame from a university. Because smart is not what you learn — it’s how you live.

Because I might not have a degree, but I challenge you to find a topic that I can’t talk to you about cohesively.

Because I could pass your tests if I had to, but you couldn’t stand for a single second in the face of the tests that life has thrown me. Tests that are not graded on a bell curve or by percentages, tests that are graded by one simple stipulation: survival!

4. Because you don’t read

Because you read the things you’re required to read or nothing at all.

Because you think history is boring and philosophy is stupid.

Because you would rather sit and watch E! or MTV instead of exploring something new, instead of diving headfirst into the brain of another person in an attempt to better understand the world around you.

Because you refuse to acknowledge that all the power in the world comes from the words of those that lived before us. That anything you desire can be had by searching through the multitude of words that are available to us now more abundantly than ever before.

Because you’re probably not reading this article, even though you know you should.

Because the people that are reading this already know these things.

Because you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.

5. Because you lack curiosity

Because you get your news from copycat members of the state-controlled media.

Because you’re unwilling to ask this simple question, “What if it’s all a lie?” and accept the possibility that maybe it is. That, just maybe, the methods of mass media are under direct orders to keep you distracted.

Because you call me a know-it-all but refuse to call yourself a know-nothing-at-all.

Because I thirst for knowledge, regardless of the topic.

Because while you’re busy playing Candy Crush, or Megapolis, I’m reading about string theory and quantum mechanics.

Because while you waste your time with Tosh.0, I’m learning how to edit video, build websites, and design mobile apps.

Because if we were to go heads-up in a debate, I would crush you. I would make it a point to defeat my own argument, from every imaginable angle, in order to understand everything you might be able to use against me.

Because I would dedicate myself to understanding both sides of the argument so thoroughly that I could argue your side for you and win, even after having just handed you a defeat in the same debate.

6. Because you don’t ask enough questions

Because you don’t question authority.

Because you don’t question yourself.

Because you don’t understand the power of properly placed questioning in life, respectful disagreements, and standing up for what you know to be right in the face of someone telling you otherwise. Unable to question reality, stuck in a self-imposed survival strategy within a Matrix-style monotony.

Because I know that you’ll give me all the information I need to destroy you by letting you talk.

Because I study human behaviors, and you ignore everyone but yourself.

Because I watch how you say the things you say just as closely as I listen to what you say, and you say way too much!

Because control comes not from spewing your ignorance like some incurable case of logorrhea but from properly structuring the context of your questions.

Because I study the premise of your argument and destroy it from the ground level before you even get a chance to establish your ideas.

7. Because you can’t handle the truth

Because you refuse to admit that you don’t even know the things you don’t know.

Because there isn’t an article online that would make up for all the time you’ve wasted in life.

Because even if I told you everything could be different tomorrow, you’d wait until then to begin doing anything about it.

Because even when you think I’m not, I’m aware of my surroundings.

Because you think that since I have not acknowledged you, it means that I have not seen you.

Because you walk around with your head up your ass, oblivious to the world around you, blissfully ignorant of the reality that sits so close to your face that if you stuck your tongue out, just once, you would taste it and realize how delicious the truth actually is.

Because you would become an instant addict, unable to pull yourself from the teat of truth, finally able to understand your lack of understanding. And then you would see. Then you would know the only thing holding you back from doing something truly amazing is you.

This post was originally published at Raymmar.com and is reprinted here with permission.

The post 7 reasons you’ll never do anything amazing with your life appeared first on Matador Network.

Wind turbines vs. a hurricane [vid]

It’s possible that, aside from providing a renewable source of clean energy, wind turbines may be able to play a role in slowing oncoming hurricanes and their effects. Simulations done by Stanford professor of civil and environmental engineering Mark Jacobson have found that turbines may actually help to slow the speed of the winds coming from hurricanes. And since turbines tend to sit just offshore, this would slow the winds before they reached the mainland, where they are the most destructive.

The amount of turbines that would need to be built would be huge — Jacobson’s study found that 78,000 turbines would have been required on the Gulf Coast to seriously cut back the damage from Hurricane Katrina. But unlike other proposed measures, like a sea wall, the wind turbines would pay for themselves by producing clean energy.

While separate studies found that hurricanes could do significant damage to a small number of the turbines themselves in the Gulf Coast, a similar risk wouldn’t exist for the East Coast. So those of us in the East wouldn’t need to worry about quite as many Hurricane Sandy’s in the future.

Can we please get moving a bit faster on wind energy, already?

The post How offshore wind turbines could prevent the next Sandy appeared first on Matador Network.

How to be a Latin American hippie

Photo: Haceme un 14

1. Talk the talk.

Get rid of your glaring gringo accent and learn to talk like an artesano. Greet other artesanos as amigos, even when you’re meeting for the first time. Use buena onda to describe anyone (or anything) you like. Throw around the English word “hippie” (pronounced with a Spanish accent: he-ppy) as an adjective.

Learn some regional slang to quickly understand your Latin American friends: parce means friend from Colombia, che is the ubiquitous greeting / salutation / word to insert after a sentence from Argentinos and Uruguayos, chévere sounds way cooler than “cool” and is often used in Peru and Ecuador. And learn to recognize curses: mierda, carajo, cabrón — just refrain from practicing them on your newfound amigos.

Get a soundtrack.

If you haven’t listened to them yet, get familiar with Calle 13, and fast. The group hails from Puerto Rico but are spokespeople for hippies all over Latin America. Their music is an eclectic blend of everything, from throbbing reggaeton and hip hop to jazz and tango with a sprinkling of indigenous instruments.

Latinoamérica is the de-facto anthem that celebrates the spirit of the continent in all its beauty, pains, and contradictions. Sing along to the beautiful chorus: “Tu no puedes comprar al viento, tu no puedes comprar al sol, tu no puedes comprar la lluvia, tu no puedes comprar el calor”…you can’t buy the clouds or the colors, and you can’t buy my happiness or my pains.

If you’re more of a romantic, listen to La Vuelta Del Mundo, which is all about how you should ditch your office job (“la renta, el sueldo, el trabajo en la oficina: lo cambie por las estrellas y por huertos de harina”) and travel the world with the lover of your dreams. It’s sweet and inspiring, and will also win over your hippie sweetheart.

Pick a craft (or a few).

You can’t be an artesano without an art. Mastering one will take years of dedication, but you can at least sample a few of the more popular options and see which catches your fancy.

Don’t know where to start? Try macramé — bracelets (and other jewelry) woven from patterns of knots. The simplest bracelets take just a few minutes to make, and the more complicated resemble art pieces and can take hours of concentration. Ask the artesanos where to buy hielo, a versatile, waxy macramé material from Brazil, and start learning on the road. Just make sure you can find a mentor who is as excited about imparting knowledge as you are to learn.

If you’re musically inclined, carry around your instrument, be it a miniature guitar, a djembe drum, or a set of Andean panpipes. Practice in the proximity of the artesanos and inevitably one will ask to play your instrument or join in. Learn new songs as you travel and practice in your abundant idle afternoons.

Have great hand-eye coordination? Learn malabares. Whether it’s juggling with balls and clubs, or something with more bite (like knives or fire), anything goes as long as you can make it a good show. Adopt a distinctive costume (maybe a red clown nose) and develop the charisma to be the star of the show.

Learn to hustle.

Now that you’ve learned how to make beautiful macramé jewelry and can successfully juggle five balls while singing Calle 13, it’s time to put those skills to good use: making money. Oh yes, traveling hippies have to work! In fact, being an artesano IS a job. Set up an elegant display for your jewelry on the sidewalk of a tourist-laden street or the plaza of a city, or wander around and offer your wares to locals. Do malabares at stop lights and sing your Spanish ballads in welcoming cafes for tips.

Clever artesanos can sell anything, even things that don’t fit the usual criteria. An artesano from Buenos Aires talked the owner of a restaurant in Samaipata into paying him to create a version of the menu in spotty English. A frighteningly friendly Colombiano in Popayan had been traveling for years selling cheap, pre-made Colombian souvenirs and stapled copies of his own poetry about love and God. An Australian girl and Latino hippie sold vegetarian and vegan dishes and desserts in Plaza Bolivar of Cochabamba. Artesanos can travel for years as hustling nomads.

Become a collector.

If you’re a true artesano, your backpack will be big, and you’ll be toting other things besides: a tent, a sleeping bag, the supplies for your crafts. Your changes of clothes may be few, but you’ll be gathering and carrying more important things than that. Become an avid collector of natural wonders — stones and crystals, feathers and bones. Keep an eye out on your next hike for unexpected treasures. Use them to make jewelry or as props to display the jewelry.

Meet a hippie-artist friend? Tuck the sketches she draws you in your journal. You’ll also be collecting recommendations: names of places to visit, shamans to look up. It may not be entirely practical, but what part of your wandering life aspires to that? Trade or give away your collection to other artesanos or uninitiated backpackers, and keep a few as mementos of your journey, far more meaningful than digital photographs.

Find the hippie hot spots.

While artesanos are fairly ubiquitous in most major cities in Latin America, there are a few spots with an especially alluring buena onda. Hippies don’t only pass through, but stay for a while. These are perfect spots to hone your craft, befriend fellow artesanos, and get tips on your next destination.

Cuenca, Ecuador is a beautiful colonial city that’s also an artesano hub. The loads of American retirees and young backpackers make eager clients for your crafts, and you can bond with fellow artesanos from all over the world on the steps off Calle Hermano Miguel, admiring the sparkling river in Cuenca’s lush spring climate.

For a vacation from the hustling life, head to Samaipata in Bolivia. Stay at one of the camping / hostel sites — Jaguar Azul or El Jardin — and spend your nights drinking wine and smoking mota around a campfire. Have lunch at the tiny pizzeria with unpredictable hours run by two settled hippies, and go for breezy hikes in the sensuous green mountains that surround the small town.

Travel slow.

You can’t be an artesano with a packed itinerary, rushing for your next flight. Hippies take their time, getting to know each new destination by spending a few hours sitting in its central plaza and chatting up fellow artesanos. Forget about constant adventure tours and sightseeing — you’re better off spending leisurely afternoons sitting in the grass and making macramé.

The low costs, vast distances, and natural wonders of Latin America make it a hippie wonderland, so dive in and savor the artesano lifestyle. And when you get tired of your wanderings, you can always take your craft home and start an Etsy shop.

The post How to be a Latin American hippie appeared first on Matador Network.

States with the most passports

The post Which states have the most passports? appeared first on Matador Network.

Lessons I learned trekking in Nepal

STRADDLED BETWEEN THE ANNAPURNA MOUNTAINS and the Langtang Valley lies the comparatively undiscovered Manaslu region. A simple lack of infrastructure and the mild inconvenience of Manaslu’s restricted-area status means the region has been off limits to all but the hardiest of Himalayan trekkers prepared to get kitted out with tents and one week’s supply of food. Because of this, Manaslu has avoided the “touristification” that the other well-known treks have been subjected to.

That may change now. Teahouse accommodation is available along the whole route; accompanied by a compulsory guide, anybody with the correct permits can complete the circuit. Here’s what I leaned while trekking the newest teahouse trail on the Himalayan block.

1

Butter tea is not as bad as it sounds.
This drink, a kind of savoury tea soup, is really quite nice! Sitting around a Tibetan stove, with the temperature dipping to minus 10 degrees celsius beyond the door, and slurping away at a few cups of tea with added butter and salt is surprisingly comforting.





2

It’s worth dragging yourself away from a steaming pot of butter tea to brave the cold night sky.
With zero light pollution in the high Himalayas, the night skies are spectacular. Here, the Milky Way rises over a large Hani gate in Samagaon village.





3

Roads are not what they seem, or, rather, aren't roads at all.
As a fully paid up passenger, you are entirely obliged to get out and push the bus when the "roads" fail in the delivery of their only purpose (i.e. to be passable).





Intermission





All you need to know to trek the Manaslu Circuit in Nepal





The rainforest is not a Big Mac (and other lessons learned in Puyo, Ecuador)





Photo essay: Pokhara to Poon Hill on the Annapurna Circuit, Nepal












4

The quieter the river, the further the drop.
Tracing the roaring Budhi Gandaki river gorge for the first three days, the trek follows high paths blasted into the gorge walls by the Nepalese army (some parts as recently as 2008). As a soul that likes to keep his feet firmly on the ground, I rapidly learned if I could not hear the river, I was way up high and needn’t bother checking where it had gone.





5

Keep to the wall side.
This is particularly important when the river can’t be heard. Horse caravans like this are many and often. Get on the wrong side of a fast moving caravan and one slight nudge from a pony could spell disaster. My guide let me know this has happened before.





6

The gorge keeps on giving.
I will never ever, ever get too familiar with stunning vistas. The Budhi Gandaki has one at every turn.





7

Binoculars are fun–for all the wrong reasons.
Children beg for pens or chocolates at every village; giving in to such requests is not really "helpful," however. It only encourages more begging, and is usually followed by the patter of little feet running away with their new found riches. Simple interactions are better. I found most village kids liked these binoculars, but truly loved them with astonishment when worn backward. There’s something inherently fun about self-induced tunnel vision, however old you are.





8

There will always be traffic, wherever you go.
Early December proved to be a kind of "rush hour" in the Himalayan agricultural calendar. We were often sharing the path with shepherds moving their stock to lower pastures for the winter months.





9

Trees are dying, and I am (partly) responsible.
The simple act of doing a Nepalese teahouse trek presents issues to the local environment. I found this patch of cleared forest at 3,500 meters on the outskirts of Lao, a stunning village in the shadow of 6,000-meter-plus mountains on all sides. This area of forest was cleared 30 years ago, and shows little sign of recovery. Every teahouse built and every fire burned that provides comfort to weary trekkers uses wood taken from the rare and fragile habitat that, ironically, we have all come to see.





Intermission





Trekking New Zealand: The South Island beyond the Great Walks





Trekking and ice climbing in Iceland





How to: Independently trek Nepal’s Annapurna sanctuary












10

What’s in a name?
One bleak illustration of the high infant mortality rate in the upper stretches of the Nubri Valley is the unwillingness of some families to name their children before their fifth birthday. Put simply, many children will not make it that far–20% will not live past their first year. Infection is common with many children sporting cuts such as this. Without access to medicine or clean water, and little knowledge about sanitation (open defecation is common practice in villages off the main trail), serious diseases abound. A cholera outbreak wiped out half a village in the valley two years ago.





11

It’s not all doom and gloom.
With sustainable and responsible trekking, the increasing popularity of the Manaslu Circuit will go a long way in improving the lives of the people that live here. More tourists mean more money, and, perhaps more importantly for the immediate future, an expectation for decent sanitary conditions. Tourists expect this, but it can also reduce the risk of disease.





12

A Hani gate means home.
The site of a Hani gate, such as this one outside Sho village, was a beacon to my weary legs. It meant that (relative) comfort was not far away.





13

The air gets thin up there.
Noticeably so. The push from Samdo over Larke La Pass to Bhimtang involves a 1,000-meter ascent, a 1,000-meter descent, a 14-hour day starting in the "wee small hours" and ending at dusk, and peaking at 5,150 meters. This level of exertion lies just within the realms of safety when hiking at that elevation, and real attention has to be paid to yourself and your team. Acute mountain sickness can kill, and should not be underestimated.





14

Traffic with wheels breaks Manaslu’s spell.
Fourteen days on the trails of the Manaslu Circuit can be enchanting. The descent into Dharapani reunites us with vehicular access. 4x4s kicked up dust, honked their horns, and trundled past with Annapurna Circuit trekkers piled high in the back.





15

Be part of the solution.
The problems of poverty and the environmental issues associated with trekking are very real, but indulging in my passion for mountain scenery, culture, and nature needn’t exacerbate the issues. Responsibly done, trekking is going someway toward relieving the situation.

The post 15 lessons I learned trekking the Manaslu Circuit in Nepal appeared first on Matador Network.