The Americas – Fake Flamenco

Driving on the Left or the Right?

In the world, 75 countries drive on the left and 165 on the right. A high number of countries that were in the former British Empire make up those 75, with many exceptions like the United States, Canada and Belize, to name a few. All Spanish speaking countries in the world drive on the right. […]

Architecture, Nature, The Americas

8 Postcards from my Happy Place

I’m still thinking of the lake. We were there a month ago. If I close my eyes, I smell the woods; leaves, moss, and fresh oxygen. I hear wind rushing through the trees. I see my fingers dangling from a canoe into rust-colored waters; el lago donde reside mi alma; the lake where my soul […]

Argentina, Chile, Natural World, The Americas

10 Peeks at a Fairyland of Snow

Tuesday morning we woke up, looked out the window, and what did we see? Our landscape was transformed overnight into a winter wonderland. Each tree carried a canopy of fluff. The temperatures had dropped below zero freezing the precipitation. Say, have I ever mentioned that we talk about the weather a lot in the Midwest? […]

Chile, Spanish Culture and Language, The Americas

5 Ways to Make Your Voices Heard

Chileans know how to protest. They show up en masse and beat pots and pans, cacerolazo is their name for it. This month they’ve returned to the streets as they did in the days of Dictator Pinochet. Chilean protests are very lively and incarnate the democratic core of the country. What happened? Why are there […]

Natural World, The Americas

10 Snapshots from the Land of Lakes

Minnesota is called the Land of 10,000 Lakes; it has more like 11,842. Minneapolis alone has 13 lakes. I grew up there, between Lake Nokomis and Lake Harriet. Minneapolis and St. Paul (the Twin Cities) are the largest and most populated towns. They are near the eastern border with Wisconsin and 175 mi (217K) from […]

Spanish Culture and Language, The Americas

Land of the Free

We study US history in school, learning about our valiant founding fathers. At baseball games we sing our national anthem that hails the United States as the “land of the free.” Is it? Was it founded upon the ideals of freedom for all people? Women of any race, African Americans and American Indians weren’t the […]