Spanish Food Words with Arabic Origins
When the Moors arrived in Spain in 711 C.E. they brought with them advanced agricultural methods in addition to introducing many new crops including sugar cane, rice, ginger and saffron […]
Category Archives: Travel
Travel Spanish: Getting Comfortable at the Beach
Beach / Relaxing / Mexico. Getting comfortable at the beach using Spanish. A la playa. Bienvenidos a Playa Manzanillo en Puerto Escondido. ¿Tiene un cojín más gordo? But don’t hog the […]
Red & Green Poinsettias for Christmas
Poinsettia, Flor de Nochebuena, Cuetlaxóchitl – this beautiful plant has many names. Poinsettias are native to the tropical highlands of Mexico. In the wild they grow into 10-foot-high bushes with explosions of […]
December 12 is the Saint Day of Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico’s Patron Saint
The Virgin of Guadalupe is the patron saint of Mexico. The apparition of a dark-skinned Virgin above Guadalupe on December 12th, 1531 changed the course of history in Mexico; within seven years […]
Mission Hill Winery in West Kelowna, BC’s Okanogan
Now. I just finished reading the novel Crush by Jennifer Margaret Fraser, described as a wine thriller. I found it in the little free library on Granville Island near me, my […]
Corn, the Base of Mexican Life
Corn (maíz) was the basis of agriculture in all of Mesoamerica. The Aztecs had a corn god called ‘Centeotl’; the Mayan’s ‘God of Maize’ was called Yum Kaax. He was usually […]
Tracking Down the Past: Making Ice Cream (Denmark & Vancouver)
In 2018 Al & I headed to Denmark and Sweden with the idea of meeting up with my aunts and uncles and cousins, and also to track down some of […]
Arizona, the Again and Again State: You Can’t Just Visit It Once!
I’ve been to Arizona three times and each trip has been totally different. And I’ve had friends go to Arizona, and they have been to totally different places than me […]
Numbers with a Spanish Twist
For the last 25 years I have been working with a friend on a Spanish course called Soleado, and whenever I travel to a Spanish-speaking country I am always on […]
Travel Guides and Other Books to Ponder on the Road
One thing I always take with me on every longer trip is a guidebook. Even with the web around, I still can’t imagine travelling without one. Each brand of guidebook […]
