AFAR Magazine May-June 10

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A FA R VOLUI\,4E

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DESTINATION INDEX Argentina 1 6 Australia 52 Canada 1 8, 45 Chile 51 China 1 7, 45 Colombia 16 Curugao 42 Denmark 32, 45 England 51 Germany 1 9, 52 Greece 44 Haiti 47 Hungary 86 lndia 47 lsrael 16, 45 Italy 44

At a food festival that lronors indigenous trad'liorrs in Miclroaca,r.

Mexico, the rnusical group Dueto Sierra Galvan de CharaplLn pedorms in the colorlul. entbroidered clothlng of the native Huichol people SEE PAGE

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Jamaica17,47 Japan 96 Kiribati 80 Latvia 44 Madagascar 47 Mexico 51, 54 Mongolia 50 Morocco 19 Namibia 48 New Zealand 51 Nigeria 38 Peru 48, 52 Portugal 18, 48 Romania 1 7 Russia 18 Senegal 16 South Africa 45, 68 South Korea 18, 45 Spain 1 7, 51 Tanzania 5l Thailand 26 Turkey 1 I Uganda 46 Vietnam 1 9

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Spring Time in Budapest

Rur':rl Nlt'xico has a licl'r

The New Face of South Africa Sixteen yeals alicl

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Soul Food Cover Along the ancient canals of Mexico City's Xochimilco district, vendors sell botanas (snacks) and farmers grow produce.

58

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All prices and addresses were verified at press time. Alar's format for telephone numbers Includes the country code and an optional prefix to be used when calling from within that country (in parentheses), followed by ihe local number. For every rssue. Afal makes a donahon to Sustainable Travel International's Gold Standard portfol o to otfset the carbon emissions generated by flights taken for the magazine. This issue, we offset '1 0.51 metric tons of carbon emissions. Vrsit carbonoffsets.org to learn more. Please recycle th s magazine.

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AFAR

Founder's Note

FOUNDERS GREG SULLIVAN AND JOE DIAZ

Connecting Travelers and I-ocals

EDI'TO RIAL EDITOFIAL DIRECTOR GREG SULLIVAN DESIGN DIRECTOR JANE PALECEK

wHEN loE nNo I first came up with

EXECUTIVE

the idea of a media company for

DIRECIOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

experiential travelers, almost everyone

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usked us,

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this

SEN]OR EDITOR NICOLE SOLIS ASSOCiAIE EDITOR JENNICA PETERSON

ASSISTANT APRIL KILCREASE

COPYEDITORS ELIZABETH BELL, BRONWYN XIMM

Through beautiful imagery and compelling narratives, magazines have the ability to inspire and transport readers. A well-curated mafazine can carry you away to another place and into the hearts and minds o[others. This rs

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INTERN HILARY LAWSON

ADVER'IISING, SALES, AND MAI{KE'I'ING VICE PRESIDENI SALES JOE DIAZ, joe@afar.com, 91 7-210-

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|\,4AY/JUNE 201

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afar.com

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8

Contributors

*-a

i\ Brian Paumier &

Per4nders Pettersson

Lygia Navarro

Martin Westlake

The author ofThe

Swedish photo-

At the food festival

"l'm six foot six,

Orchid Thief' and

in Santiago de Anaya,

I

Ncru Yorker, Susan

grapher Per-Anders Pettersson ("The New Face ofSouth Africa,"

Or'lean ("The Softest

page 68) first came

Soul Food," page.54)

ofLandings," page 32) doesn't like to study guidebooks

to South Africa in

discovered that her

1994 to cover Nelson

favorite snacks have six legs. "I tried three

Martin Westlake

different insects, and they were delicious.

I really liked the mesquite beetles, which

who has lived in fakarta, Indonesia,

Susan 0rlean

a

staffwriter fbr the

before she travels.

"lt would

be

like

reading up on a person before you meet them, so that you can't just experi-

Mandela's historic election. "Then I got really hooked," says Per-Anders, who now lives in Cape Town.

"South Africa is such a big, complex country, with so many

Mexico, writer Lygia

Nlvarro ("Mexico's

are called xarnaes.

Joaquin so

often get some sort of reaction when I walk through markets in Asia," says British photographer (Resident, page 26),

for 2l years. "But when I arrived in the marketplace in the

Trujillo

Photoglaphy team Brian Paumicr'(left) and foaquin

Truiillo

(right) traveled to

Republic ol'Kiribrrti to see the total solar

"Mexico's Soul Food" (cover and page 54).

"Brian and I come

eclipse last fuly, the

from really stlong households where

fascinated by other

worlds," says fell, the author of Shoppirlg

and celebratc your

family," says Ioaquin.

"When we went to

treated like I was something odd or strange. The people

Virginia Quarterly

he says. "And the

keuiew. "You can

food was unbe-

the traditions, the food, the families eating together on Sundays. It was going bnck to when things

curry at Krua Apsorn

were a little more

restaurant was one

simple," he says.

you might wander

understand more about the passions of the people where you're traveling if you eat the local

lievable. The crab

symbolic of all the apartheid struggles, but there's also a lot ofchange there.

around and not

There's something

food. Insects have

happening on every

strange connotation

corner." Per-Anders also contributes to

for us, but in this area

phy has appeared inTravel &Leisure,

of Mexico, they're

National Geographic

Smithsonian,Time,

food that families

Adt)enture, and Condd

andNewsweek.

have been eating

she says.

"l would

much rather, even at the risk ofoccasional discomfort, go to a place

with a little

bit less preparation and a little more pure openness to the surprise. Sometimes

always be

entirely

sure where you are and where you're going, but I feel like

that's the point of

different culturesit's really different

from Sweden," he says.

"I especially

Iike Soweto. It's the biggest township

in

South Africa, so it's

a

for

generations. Insects

traveling."

are comfort lbod."

wasn't

were very friendly,"

Mexico it was like going back

home--

the moon is another world that's a paltner to ours, but s0 completely different in every way-it's tantalizing. It's like

ofthe tastiest dishes

Brian adds, "When

I've eaten in Asia."

you get an assign-

iust thrilled by its

Martin's photogra-

ment like this, you gotta slap yourself in

Then to see the moon

the face when you wake up in the molning. It's like,'Wow I'm getting pnid to do

eclipsing the sun and taking center stage in the cosmic ballet that surrounds the planet

this?"'foaquin and Brian have contributed photography to

Earth-it's

Nast Traueler.

Food MAY/JUNE 20'10 atar.com

[br Buddhas and The Size ot'the World.

"The thought that

that one islirnd yru knowyou'll never get to, but you're

the Neru YorkTimes Magazine, GQ, and

I AFAR

moon captivated his imagination. "As a travel writer, I'm

you respect, honor,

smoky taste," says Lygia, who writes for the Christian Science Monitor and the

of meeting them,"

I

ing Shadows," page 8O) traveled to the

of'Michoacin for

Dusit neighborhood of Bangkok,

Long befole feff Greenwald ("Chas-

the Mexican state

They're very crunchy with a rich, deep

cnce the adventure

Jeff Greenwald

&wine.

mythic possibilities.

an incred-

ibly awe-inspiring and moving sight."

Mail

In the Company of Men

Off the Wall in Buenos Aires Thanks, Afar,for your article on

Graffitimundo tours in Buenos Aires (Good Trips, December/|anuary 2010, page 35). We kicked offour trip with this tour and had an amazing time. It's a great way to get acquainted with the city and see street art.

-CHRISTINE

best

the Globe, Mtlch, April 2O10,

Page llo).

MARISOL ESPINOSA HOUSTON,'IEXAS

are scattered across the globe.

saAS

a

men in an onsen (comntunal hot a

small

go in nal<ed. But one ofher friends says sintply: ht an onsen, llrcre nre no

barnacle. Shame on yon

got inspired by the moment and

again-

drlmatize the whole thing at the expense of a man who was only doing his iob. Ethiopia is a beautiful country. Do not let the bruised ego of one man dictate your ideas ofwhat a country is and what it represents-no matter how pretty McCarthY was inPret4l inPink.

isolated myself.

And what about children boln Son.re

days I wish my children had the

comfort and security of a nolmal American parent who could confidently point out light and wrong. A four-year-old wants a world of black and white, but mine is all glays-lovely, subtle,

springs in the world.

A Life Less Ordinary

C. KOBER -LINDA NORTHAMPTON,

You ask about the effects of travel

shimmering grays.

Since I have found gleat comfort in my gray world, in the long run I think that it will be

(Founder's Notc, Decemberr'Ianuary

good for rny childlen to take

PENNSYLVANIA

When I was young, the most powerful effect of being abroad was learning that I couid live by rules of my own choosing.

But now, as I am getting older, I

harder, more philosophical path, but they might not agree.

small costs.

It sounds romantic to say you are a global citizen, but in reality it means you really only fit in with a tiny percentage of the world's

Editor's Note: For ntore on the ups

for failing to mention one of the

priuate parts.

(ifnot, in fact, the best) hot

2010, pagc 6).

fol people to

when Andrew McCarthy is the one who trespassed? No tichet = No entry. I guess "Mr. Amlnpoul"'

By embracing the world, I l.rave

into global citizenshipi

DEBRUNO

Editor's Note: writet' Lisa Kataljama

deduce that the guald is at fault

decided to be an actor

anylvherc and whose dear {riends

there is no mention of what the male bather is to do. Please don't folget approximately half of your readers.

toutel on the waA to the tub and then

I believe you, Andrew McCarthy, are the next Christiane Amanpour! Excellent stuff! lspin

so easy

creature who no longer belongs

December'/'lanuary 2O10, page 52),

spring bath) couer up with

to it like

it

Japan's natural hot springs 1stay,

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND

VYS'I'RCIL,

Pretty or Ugly American in Ethiopia?

is

time outside the United States, I have turned myself into a rare

-ERIC

VIA FACEBOOK

Why

While I enjoyed reading about

{'eel its

j

L'. t

':f,:. - .-::i,.

J":,.

population. By spending so much

-PAMELA

a

DORRELL

POR'I'OLA VALLEY,

CALIFORNIA

and dotuns of'global citizenship, rearl our Nomad intervieut utith theater

dircctor Benjamir Mosse (page who

has staged plays

36),

fi'om Shanghai

to Stockholm.

Travel Dispatches Iror Afar's Readers INDoNEStA Stayed in a primitive bungalow in 100+ degree weather with no A/C and limited plumbing just to spend 20 seconds watching mandarin fish mate

NEPAL Felled by appendicitis while hiking the Annapurna circuit and subsequently airlifted off the mountainside at 12,000 feet

FRANCE Discovered that you're golden if you learn the French translation for, "l'm sorry. I don't speak French, do you speak English?"

THAILAND Learned to cook Thai food on a local woman's patio in Chiang Mai

wEsT AFRIcA Learned to love my solid legs

cERMANY Downed several rounds of schnapps with a couple of 60-year-old Austrians

LEBANoN Drank beers and talked about the 2006 lsrael-Hezbollah war with a hip 26-year-old bartender

tNDoNEstA Chatted in ltalian, English, and a sprtnkling of Bahasa, on a dive boat

your article about hot springs around the world (stay, December,'

AFRtcA Hitchhiked through sub-Saharan Africa and talked with locals who were ecstatic about Obama

FtJt Attended a kava ceremony with my husband's Austrian aunt on Beqa lsland

January 20Io, page 52) to places

TURKEY Spent five happy days getting lost in lstanbul

TTALY Invited into a family's restaurant cellar to see their

with lodgings. The BIue Lagoon in Iceland (pictured) is worth the trip even without a hotel clinging

FRANGE Exolained to a man from La Mure that Americans don't all walk around with a Coca-Cola bottle in their hands

MExlco Made lifelong friends in a sleepy fishing village

10 AFAR

CONTACT US: Afar, 40 Gold St., San Francisco, CA 94133, or mail@afarcom. Visit alar.com/blog, where Afar's editors, writers, and photographers share stories, photos, videos, and more. Follow Afar on twitter.com/afarmedia and become a lan at tacebook.com/afarmedia.

-ANONYMOUS, VIA AFAR,S BLOG

Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot A pity that you chose to limit

MAY/JUNE 2010 alar.com

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homemade wine, salami, and preserves

on the Yucatdn Peninsula

E