Valletta, Malta -- There is a competitive nature that courses through Malta so raw and unbridled that it’s written into the skyline of its capital, Valletta, and permeates across all walks of life on the archipelago. I’m talking about pika – a Maltese word that roughly means ‘a neighbourly rivalry’, but is one of those terms that feels like a fool’s errand when foreigners try to interpret it.
There are few places on Earth that rival the untamed wilderness and primal seclusion of Myanmar's Mergui Archipelago. Captain Thomas Bruning knows this all too well. Since leaving his job as an engineer, the Austrian native has been sailing the globe for over 20 years.
My decision to visit North Korea was reflex. It was 2007, I was a young (and quite skinny) English teacher in Seoul, and tours over the 38th parallel were becoming popular. The seaside town of Gumgangsan, located a 40-minute drive over the DMZ on the eastern coast, was receiving rafts of slick tour buses from …
Last weekend I visited the home that my father grew up in. The building sloped along Bogota's historic district of La Candelaria is a "hippie" hostel today. In the room that was once occupied by my family, a small TV entertains languid backpackers spread out on mats across the tiled floor. The ceiling is about …
Continue reading An immigrant story from the son of an immigrant country
Barranquilla, Colombia (CNN)Bikinis, bare skin, face paint, feathers. Pretty much what you'd expect this time of year from Rio Carnival, right? Well, sure. But the world's most famous carnival doesn't have a monopoly on feather frenzies. In the coastal Colombian city of Barranquilla, one of the world's largest spectacles of dance and cultural pageantry is …
Continue reading El Carnaval de Barranquilla sizzles in Colombia (CNN Travel)
Justin Calderón 