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A Quick Visit to Colombia’s Caribbean Coast: Cartagena and Barranquilla

My son Jake has been in Colombia since early June, initially traveling all over, before heading to Barranquilla. Wanting to visit before his teaching contract ends in mid-November, my husband Josh and I are just back from a quick trip. While we loved our historic, formerly grand Barranquilla hotel (El Prado), seeing the school where Jake teaches, and meeting his friends there, I’m going to focus this post on Cartagena, which I know is of more interest to ActiveTravels members. Under Jake’s guidance, we took a bus from Barranquilla to Cartagena’s Old City, separated from the modern skyscraper city by a few miles. The bus ride itself was an experience, seeing lots of small villages along the way. 

 
In Cartagena we wandered for several hours through the outdoor plazas, Plaza de Bolívar and Plaza Santo Domingo, where you’ll find artwork by the great Colombian artist, Botero. We also visited the Museo de Arte Moderno and the Palacio de la Inquisición. We watched the sunset atop the walls of the Old City. A World Heritage Site founded in 1533, the colonial buildings are well protected by what are said to be the most complete set of fortifications in South America—las murallas, thick walls built to protect it against enemies. 
 
ActiveTravels would be happy to help you “wander” too, to Colombia, including a few days in Cartagena, and perhaps the nearby Rosario Islands. Also for your consideration, Jake loved Medellin (“vibrant, safe, and booming, blessed with year round spring weather and located scenically at the base of an impressive valley”), the towns of Guatape (“a beautiful lakeside town about 40 minutes outside of Medellín”), Bucaramanga, and more of Colombia’s Caribbean coast (“Puerto Colombia, Santa Marta, Costeño Beach, Minco, and Palomino, each place more stunning than the last”). We work with a wonderful tour operator in Colombia who can package together lodging, transfers, activities, and all guides. Let ActiveTravels know if you are interested!
 
Guest Post and Photo by Amy Perry Basseches
 

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Birdwatching at Mount Auburn Cemetery

On Friday, I’ll be waking up early to join Mass Audubon on a birdwatching outing at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Waking up early to visit a cemetery might sound like a macabre undertaking, but Mount Auburn is no ordinary cemetery. It was created on the outskirts of Boston in 1831 as America’s first rural or garden cemetery, a precursor to parks in urban areas. The city was yearning for a new aesthetic, a cemetery landscaped with rolling hills, ponds, flowering shrubs, and a mix of trees that provide shade not only for those in mourning, but for the entire public to enjoy their picnic lunch. It became a smashing success that would lay the groundwork for Frederick Law Olmstead to create Central Park in New York and the Emerald Necklace here in Boston some 40 to 50 years later.

Today, more than 200,000 visitors enter the gates of Mount Auburn annually. Sure, they might come to visit the final resting place of a relative or to stop and say thanks to a long list of luminaries in American arts and letters, like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Winslow Homer, and Buckminster Fuller, yet others like me simply follow in the footsteps of Roger Tory Peterson, the renowned ornithologist who once led bird walking tours here. The height of the spring migration for warblers usually happens around Mother’s Day each year. Bring your binocs and you might just spot the scruffy yellow chin of the divine Northern Parula warbler. To read more about Boston’s historic cemeteries, see my article from last summer’s American Way magazine, the inflight publication of American Airlines.
 

Top Travel Days of 2019, Hanging with the Monks and Buffalo in Luang Prabang, Laos

Guest Post and Photos by Amy Perry Basseches

I started this Dream Day in January giving early morning alms to the novice monks, then I headed to the Traditional Ethnology and Arts Centre in Luang Prabang, a local enterprise founded in 2006 to promote the appreciation and transmission of Laos’ ethnic cultural heritage and livelihoods. It was fascinating to grow in my understanding of crafts from over 20 different Lao ethnic groups!

A picnic at the famous Kuang Si Falls followed, getting damp from the mist. Finally, I was off to Laos Buffalo Dairy: a socially responsible sustainable farm and business whose aim is to improve rural prosperity and the health of the local population. The story behind this place is very unusual — people in Laos did not milk their water buffalo as was done in other places. So Susie (an Australian corporate executive who moved from Hong Kong) showed local people how, and is now helping the region. “We cooperate with people from villages in and around Luang Prabang by renting their buffalo, which provides the families with a regular income stream from an underutilized resource. We built a facility for milking their buffalo and keeping them well fed, healthy and safe.” Oh my: the delicious cheeses, ice creams, and cheesecakes!

Both of my guides in Luang Prabang were former monks. Nick had been a monk for 7 years, starting at age 13, and, while we climbed Mt. Phousi after the Laos Buffalo Dairy, he told me that 70% of Lao boys become novices because it is the way to an education. One can stop being a monk at any time. Nick left to attend university, obtain a business and tourism degree, get married, and have a child. A few generations back, his family were opium farmers, he said. I loved hearing his personal story and talking to him.

At the end of my Dream Travel Day, I ended up back at the lovely Sofitel. The hotel was originally built as the French Governor’s residence in the 1900s, on the outskirts of town. I had an enormous outdoor tub in my patio area which was definitely enjoyed. Contact ActiveTravels if you too would like a Dream Travel Day in Laos.

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New Life Hiking Spa Now Open for its 42nd Summer in Vermont

The weather finally started to warm up this weekend in New England and we took full advantage of it in Boston, biking the Minuteman Trail in Arlington and Cambridge. At last, we can escape the indoor gym and hit the trails. One of the best ways is with New Life Hiking Spa out of Killington, Vermont, in operation since 1978. For $229 to $269 per person, per night, you’ll receive a private room, three meals a day, healthy snacks, daily guided hikes, all fitness and wellness classes, evening activities, and massages. Three levels of professionally guided hikes are offered every day to accommodate your level of fitness. All meals are prepared fresh, on site, and created by a team of professional chefs who specialize in regional healthy cuisine. There’s no better way to start the summer than hit the trails, eat Vermont-grown goods, and perhaps lose a pound or two. 

 
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At Portland’s Drifters Wife, Believe the Hype

Located on the burgeoning Washington Avenue neighborhood in Portland, Drifters Wife has had a loyal following since its debut in 2016, two years prior to Bon Appetit Magazine naming it one of the country’s top 10 new restaurants. But now it’s so popular that food writer Alex Hall noted in yesterday’s Boston Globe “that in July, you’ve got a better shot at getting your kid into Harvard on a full scholarship than walking in and nabbing a table at Beard Award-decorated favorites like Fore Street or Drifters Wife.” You can reserve a table 30 days in advance, which is exactly what we did for a dinner this past Saturday, when we knew we were spending a night in Portland after our visit to Acadia National Park with friends. Those friends are from Laguna Beach, California, home to one of the best farmers markets on the West Coast. So they’re accustomed to getting a vast assortment of fresh vegetables year round. Maine, of course, has a much shorter growing season, but what Drifters Wife finds locally was more than enough to blow us all away. The choice of appetizers and entrees are limited, 4 or 5 appetizers and 3 entrees. But all were exceptional, from starters of grilled shishito peppers and a zesty arugula salad to entrees of a whole black bass and a tender chunk of hake with a clam sauce. Wash it down with one of their natural wines or a bottle of Peeper from Maine Beer Co. Then finish off the memorable meal with a dish of milk pudding topped with pistachio chunks called Malabi. Sublime. 

 
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Raft West Virginia’s Upper Gauley and New River

Five hours west of Washington, DC, in the heart of West Virginia, families go whitewater rafting on West Virginia’s New River. Bordered on both shores by lush oak, hickory, and black cherry trees, this Class III-IV waterway cuts through a gorge of sandstone, shale, and coal, bumping into rapids with names like Surprise and Greyhound Bus Stopper. Minimum age is 10 years old. The truly intrepid rafter should take their chances on West Virginia’s Upper Gauley. This adrenaline-pumping Class V run drops 650 feet over a twenty-seven mile course. Located in Beckley, West Virginia, on the New River Gorge, Class VI has been taking shrieking families down the rivers of West Virginia since 1978. They also offer canopy tours and lodging in cabins. 

 
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Play Outdoors with the AMC This Winter

It might be getting a bit nippy this time of year in Maine, but that shouldn’t stop you from being immersed in the spectacular mountain beauty of the 100-Mile Wilderness Trail. The Appalachian Mountain Club is fortunate to house three of their backcountry lodges in this section of the state, all classic sporting camps that have been revamped and are rearing up for a busy winter season of cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. Choose to do a self-guided ski trip between the lodges or sign up for one of their guided excursions, like the lodge-to-lodge cross-country ski jaunt from Little Lyford to Gorman Chairback the weekend of January 22-24. There’s also a guided snowshoe lodge-to-lodge the following weekend and a winter sampler over MLK Weekend. 
 

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