My heart raced just a bit when he came at me, long knife extended in my direction. YIKES! We were in one of the large modern malls in Barcelona. Just like many North American shopping centres, it had Sephora and Pull & Bear and Tiffanys and a food court with Burger King, McDonalds, Starbucks and a dozen, maybe 15 other European chains to feed the masses. But the one place that had caught my eye over and over again from the moment we arrived in Barcelona was the meat shop in the centre of the walkway. It contained a foot-outward facing line-up of 15 or 20 cured pig legs, like semi-nude pin-up girls in the Follies Bergere, hooves included, each laying flat out horizontal on a vice to hold the gam steady. Each "Iberica" (Spain is ... read more

Arturo says "Ballet!...ballet!...ballet!" Well, actually, Arturo, one of our two daily Spanish teachers really says, "Vale!", but in espanol it sounds like "ballet". Our first day of classes, Arturo, a 31 year old, skinny, scruffy-bearded, good-natured chico said "Vale" at the end of just about each sentence. We had no idea what this meant. Never heard the word before. Finally, I couldn't resist asking. "What the heck are you saying Arturo?"...of course I asked in Spanish. Vale is the same as OK (but only in Spain, not other Spanish-speaking countries) he replied...so don't say OK, say Vale! Now I say Vale, Vale, Vale to Arturo as often as I can, and he gets an impish, mischievous grin on his face knowing I'm teasing him. Barcelona, as many know, is in t... read more

INVEST NOW! I'm thinking about investing in Crane Manufacturers and Spitoon-Making companies. I know a few years ago, ginseng growing in Canada was all the rage, because a billion Chinese consumers supposedly ate and drank ginseng like it was candy or Coca-Cola. I even bought some shares in a company that grew and sold ginseng in China … but of course the hype didn't hold up and the Chinese don't really buy any of our crappy Canadian-grown ginseng. But cranes and spittoons … the perfect China investments. I've seen for myself ALL of the cranes blooming in the sky in every city … it's like dandelions sprouting in your lawn in the spring. And Spitting looks like a Chinese national pastime like Mahjong or card playing … everywhere you look there are men AND women spitting ... read more

Snake wine in Shanghai...it's GOOD for you! , says Chinese Annie. "When in China, do as the"...well...sometimes you want to experience the full deal. We had visited 2 restaurants in Shanghai sporting a large glass jar on the front counter. Inside the clear, amber, wine-filled jar are 2 or 3 deceased venomous snakes curled around and around (any venom is denatured by the alcohol...apparently!). Our lovely, incredibly bilingual tour leader Annie (Yao Xiang-Chinese name) mentioned this wine's healing and medicinal properties including curative powers for impotence! I couldn't let the opportunity to dare my older brother Robert pass by (not because of any impotence problems he might have;). I offered to sponsor a shot of the drink if he would be the imbiber. He paused and thought, and refused my GENEROUS offer...but a few moments later ... read more

Our final week in Cusco and our Peru-time was looking and feeling a bit congested with activities of various sorts, and while we lamented the end of the adventure and all of the amazingly wonderful people we had come to know, there was also that yearning many of us feel that comes with returning home and being surrounded by familiar things once again ... One of the main reasons we had for spending an extended period in one place such as Cusco was to become just a bit "native" and experience what life was like in a foreign culture ... to go beyond the normal tourist track and see how the day-to-day person lived their life. With the Amauta residence as our home base for the 14 weeks and after sharing meals and activities in the ... read more