Why in the world should you settle for all those cheesy malls and resort gift shops, the cruise-terminal complexes and hyper- commercialized downtowns clogged with cookie-cutter perfume, watch, and T-shirt shops? If you know where to look, it’s still
Jamaica has of course long been in the forefront of Caribbean tourism trends of massive resorts and the type of visitor attractions designed to serve them and the cruise-ship market. But as a large, ecologically rich Caribbean island with plenty of
I’m based in Miami, Florida these days, and both here and on my travels down to Latin America – and especially in and around the Caribbean — I regularly come across a board game that I had just a glancing acquaintance with growing up. Dominoes have
As I travel around the Caribbean (and to some extent this is true in Latin America, too), I find nearly every island has some kind of homegrown hooch (often rum-based) that purports to be “medicinal” (and sometimes certainly tastes the part), often
“Ay, no hay que llorar Que la vida es un carnaval y es más bello vivir cantando…”
Today marks exactly a decade since the world lost one of its most memorable pop music giants. In the lines above, from one of her signature songs, Carnaval, the late Celia
It's a wee isle indeed — a mere 33 square miles (87 km²) — but in this small package you'll find not only two cultures (the slightly larger French part in the north and Dutch in the south) but lots of good things besides the gambling, shopping, and
When Christopher Columbus and his merry band dropped anchor for the first time in the “New World” in 1492, they found the the Taínos and Arawaks of Hispaniola (now two-thirds occupied by the Dominican Republic) smoking some funny kinda dried brown
“A huge advantage of being here in St. Lucia is the year round growing season”, says Allen Susser, Consulting Chef atJade Mountain Resort. A twisting back country road leads fromSoufriere, the closest village,traversingdeep forest andsteep cliff
Wake up, Cuba: The Dominican Republic may be stealing your business. While your tourism numbers were flat for 2012, visits to the D.R. were up almost 6%, and travel from the United States leaped 14%. Why?
Like virtually every country in the Caribbean, Barbados has more than its fair share of beautiful beaches. But for those who want to see more of this former British colony—the most developed island in the region and the third most developed country i
Certainly Cuba has no shortage of charming Spanish colonial and early post-colonial architecture, from Pinar del Ríoout west to Santiago in the east. But for me the place that most makes me feel like I’ve actually stepped into the past of a century
Curaçao is the largest and most economically developed of the three ABC islands. The beaches are lovely, and the vast countryside is covered in a mix of desert and tropical flora. Much of the island’s colorful architecture
Ever climbed up a waterfall? Read on. As far as Dominican vacation destinations go, this stretch of the country's north coast with the city of Puerto Plata at its center has been over shadowed by Punta Cana out east. But for the active, outdoorsy, an
For 50 years this tiny island near St. Martin has been a Mecca for celebrities, models, and hedge-fund managers, but this Mecca comes with topless sunbathing. And unlike many other islands, it has restricted growth and maintained its ambience as a un
The brouhaha that erupted a couple of years ago about the “questionable taste” of Royal Caribbean bringing its passengers to a leased beach at Labadee (aka Labadie), on Haiti‘s north coast, is a good example of the inevitable awkwardness in overlayin
Double agents, high drama, betrayal and plenty of high-tech gadgetry. The Good Shepherd, directed by Robert De Niro and released in 2006, had all the magic ingredients of a classic spy film. With Matt Damon and Angelina Jolieproviding the obligatory