Someone described it as “hell on the outside and heaven on the inside.” Another compared eating one to “sitting on the toilet while eating your favorite ice cream.” Others weren’t as generous. Henri Mouhot, the French naturalist and explorer who popularized the ruins of Angkor to the West, didn’t mince words: “On first tasting it I thought it like the flesh of some animal in a state of putrefaction.”

The Philippines often lies in the path of typhoons in the western Pacific which means we’re often prepared for the worse. But a month ago three consecutive cyclones struck the country within a span of 18 days, one of them the strongest in the world this year and among the strongest in recorded history, a streak of calamities unparalleled in the country’s history.

Elsewhere I wrote about a more formal Monterosola red wine tasting but their whites simply lent themselves to an informal late summer brunch . . .

A speedboat departs the Iquitos slums, which hover over the water on stilts and rafts to accommodate mercurial high-water marks that vary 15 meters with the Andes snowmelt. Devouring Peru's Amazon for several hours, the boat slows as it enters the tributary Yanayacu that snakes through the jungle like an anaconda.

A few years ago, four intrepid explorers from Ontario Canada joined eleven others for a 500+ K cycle along the Camino de Santiago pilgrim trail in Northern Spain. Here are some of our experiences and impressions from this glorious trip.

Capri is a lovely little island that floats in the turquoise waters of the Gulf of Naples and where the air is scented with bougainvillea that tumbles in wild abandon over the garden walls of white-washed villas.

Ok, if my big brother, travel editor Ed Boitano, can do, then so can I. Though, I must confess this pilgrimage piece is also inspired by John Lennon. His passage in In My Life goes something like this...

Padre Pro’s last request was to be allowed to kneel and pray. When the firing squad’s shots failed to kill him, a soldier shot him at point-blank range. Pro had been falsely accused in the bombing attempt of former Mexican President Álvaro Obregón, and had become a wanted man. Betrayed to the authorities, he was sentenced to death without the benefit of any legal process.

Large resort hotels. 3-4 cruise ships a day. Beach bars galore. Extensive nightlife. Chain restaurants. High end jewelry and clothing stores. Casino Gambling. Those are just a few of the things you WON'T find on the Caribbean island of Nevis. And all the more reason to go there. And now you can again.

“Savoring the Camino de Santiago: It’s the Pilgrimage, Not the Hike” by Julie Gianelloni Connor, is the latest of the many books about the Spanish pilgrimage popularized for the American audience by the Martin Sheen movie “The Way.”