Globe Corner Blogs

Photo by Kate

A number of times on our vacation last month in Turks and Caicos, we looked around the beach, and saw no one. Really, no one. Just some crabs, and some birds, but that’s it.

We embarked on this vacation with Thoreauesque goals: not so much transcendentalism or  civil disobedience, but just to get the heck away from people. We hardly had to try; even on the main island of Providenciales, all we had to do was avoid Grace Bay, and we found deserted stretches of white sand and strangely blue waters.

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We opted not to stay in Grace Bay, the main resort area with some of the most beautiful beaches on the island, but instead followed our solitary path out to Northwest Point, part of Provo known for the diving and the Marine National Park. There are only two resorts at this end of the island: the super-swank Amanyara and the very mellow, laid-back Northwest Point Resort (where we stayed). At either place, the beaches are empty and great for walking or some low-key snorkeling.

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Living and traveling green doesn’t take great personal sacrifice, but not all of us know how to get started without giving up our habits and routines. “Green” may be a popular trend, but you don’t have to buy expensive “earth friendly” products, eat strictly vegan, or stop going places and retreat to a secluded cabin in the woods to practice eco-living. Allow me to present some Hidden Treasures that will prove it to you.

Wake Up And Smell The Planet, The Non-Pompous, Non-Preachy Grist Guide to Greening Your Day edited by Brangien Davis with Katharine Wroth

“We bet we can guess what your morning routine looks like: You gently click off your solar-powered alarm clock, crawl out of your hemp sheets, don organic cotton slippers a recycled fleece robe, and shuffle across your bamboo floors to the bathroom where you bathe in rain water and botanicals harvested from your own garden.
Not quite? Good.” This is when you snicker and read on.

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Iceland --photo by Lisa

I am absurdly excited  about the upcoming Viking Invasion of Boston. From March 11-17,  Boston will be hosting A Taste of Iceland. This festival of Icelandic culture and entertainment is bringing Icelandic musicians, DJs, acclaimed chefs, and a film festival to various venues in and around Boston in celebration of all things Icelandic…and Icelandair’s non-stop service to Reykjavik. You can even enter a drawing to win a trip to Reykjavik! The full schedule of events can be found at the “Iceland Naturally” website.

Certain staff members of the Globe Corner have already expressed their love for all things Icelandic: from the delicious and addictive Skyr, Arnaldur Indridason’s Inspector Erlendur Series, and The Blue Lagoon (a geothermal spa) to the always interesting Iceland Airwaves Music Festival. We’re so excited about the festival that we’re taking 15% off all books about and maps of Iceland through March 17th. And as an extra bonus,  Icelandic singer Ólöf Arnalds will be dropping by the store on Saturday, March 13th at 4:30 p.m. to play a few songs for us!

Abaco Libros y Cafe -- photo by Pat

Where do bookstore workers always go when they’re on vacation? Other bookstores. So when the owners of The Globe Corner Bookstore attended The Hay Literary Festival in Cartageña de Indias, Colombia, Pat Carrier visited Ábaco Libros y Café. He was lucky enough to chat with an owner there and write an article about it for Publishers Weekly. Here is a snippet:

Abaco Libros bookmark

“A highlight of my attendance last year was observing the bustling energy of Ábaco Libros y Café, a small literary bookstore and cafe in the heart of the walled city of Cartageña. The store is near the Theater Heredia, the main venue of the festival—and not so coincidentally near the home of Gabriel García Márquez, the spiritual godfather of the Latin American literary world affectionately known here as Gabo. Throughout the festival weekend, the bookstore was packed with attendees rushing in to buy the next speaker’s books; and its cafe tables were filled with international press interviewing festival writers and drinking café con leche.

This year, I was determined to find out more about bookselling in Colombia. Interviewing one of the two business partners in Ábaco Libros seemed a good start. Néstor Rimoli kindly agreed to such an interview during one of their busiest weekends of the year. “

My first years in Washington, DC, I was skeptical about all the cherry blossom hoopla that swirls around our nation’s capital every spring. We had a cherry tree back home in Ohio, and for the two days its sparse blossoms clung to the knotted limbs, it looked as if a rather pathetic spring had sprung. So why was it such a big deal here?

Though I had avoided the Cherry Blossom Festival initially, frightened off by the rumors of roving hordes of tourists, one year I broke down and traveled to the Tidal Basin in Potomac Park. It was early spring (peak bloom is usually around April 4th), and I was in short sleeves. …And so were the roving hordes of tourists. As I struggled out of the Metro station, carefully tip-toeing around squealing little kids, I began to doubt my choice of Sunday afternoon activities. But as soon as I neared the water my doubt dissolved.

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If you’re anything like us this time of year, you’re grumpy, tired, and sore from falling down so many times. To help you get through the last few months of winter we’ve prepared a list of authors that will get you out of the doldrums and into spring. What follows is an alphabetical list of some of our favorite make-you-laugh-out-loud authors.

1. Peter Allison

Allison’s books Whatever You Do, Don’t Run and Don’t Look Behind You take you into the surprisingly not-so-glamorous life of a safari guide. Every job has its challenges, but not many involve packs of hyenas and irritable hippos. Not to mention tourists in the wild.

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2. Bill Bryson

Bryson is perhaps best known for being a middle-aged white guy doing absurd activities for the sake of absurdity, and simultaneously finding the absurdity in the world around him. From A Walk in the Woods where he tackles the Appalachian Trail to In a Sunburned Country where he tries all things Australian, Bryson shows us the humor of living on this planet.

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3. Tim Cahill

Need a little adventure in your life? Try some books from the founder of Outside Magazine. His titles tell you all you need to know. Among others: Jaguars Ripped My Flesh, A Wolverine is Eating My Leg, and Pecked to Death by Ducks. It’s probably all the excitement you can take for one sleepy, snowy day curled up on your bed reading.

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I was surprised to learn that a young Western woman with little to no knowledge of the language and no special skills can find a well-paying job in Tokyo. No, it’s not in the industry you might have just thought of. It requires the looks of a model, the personality of a friendly bartender, the ambition to earn money of a Vegas cocktail waitress and the level of nonsense-resistance of a mental ward nurse. Add some babysitting skills, a good liver and an ability to keep very late hours, and you’ve got it. This kind of a job may never get a name in English, but in Japanese it is called geisha.

Of course Japan has drastically changed since the Edo era and a geisha’s job requirements have changed too, but the essence stayed the same. You entertain and pamper your guests, and you get rewarded according to your level of professionalism. A fashion model and a true journalist at heart, Chelsea Haywood decided to try the job first-hand and document her experience in a book 90-Day Geisha.

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Ecuador --photo by Meghan

I recently traveled to Ecuador with a friend…and went without a plan.  We decided against one of the more traditional Ecuadorian travel destinations, with saddened hearts, but happy wallets – the Galapagos was just not a budget travel destination.  We decided instead to do an Amazon trek followed by some coastal R&R.  I think I had a more lively time this way. (And I certainly encountered more bugs.)

Fleeing the jungle and heading toward the coast with pre-primed sunburns and enough mosquito bites to look like smallpox victims, we arrived in Manta to the smell of fish factories, and the greeting of a statue in the town’s center – a large tuna and tuna can on a stick like a massive kebab.  A large-ish town filled with swimming pools, fish markets and discotheques, we unfortunately didn’t stay long enough to experience more of Manta’s flavor than that.

Panama hats --photo by Meghan

Early one morning we took our cab driver, Hugo, a short, jovial man, and his yellow mini-SUV taxi shopping in Montichristi.  It is a quaint, white washed and cobblestoned town with a gorgeous cathedral set among hills and has a collective chip on its shoulder. The streets are lined with vendors so unwilling to budge on prices that they would rather see you go across the street than pay them $1 less.  Hammocks, wooden figurines, necklaces, more hammocks and the infamous Montichristi “Panama” hat are all for sale from every Montichristi tiendas. But then again, maybe it has a right to be grumpy.

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Teatro Heredia--photo by Harriet

We have definitely traded the New England chills for the baking sun of Cartageña. Attending Hay Festival Cartageña events last year was a bit of unexpected good fortune as our days in Cartagena coincided with the start of the festival. Sessions of the international literary event at the Teatro Heredia – with its gold ornamentation, heavenly mural on the ceiling, and traditional balcony boxes – were amazing.

A chance to return to the festival easily trumped any other late January travel plans. The walled city’s plazas, fountains, well-preserved buildings, boutique shops, and vendor-lined cobble-stone streets seem as breathtakingly glorious in tonight’s steamy dusk as in the predictable mid-day heat. This historic port flourishes as a cultural travel destination. The vibrancy of daily activity and Caribbean colors are mesmerizing as we wander, pause in sculptured squares, visit a cafe, and plan our route to festival sites.

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Whenever I search for budget accommodations in New York City, I am constantly shocked at the prices. Recently The Pod Hotel in Midtown Manhattan started popping up as a possibility, but I always rejected it. The name kind of scared me and I was just a bit hesitant. For my latest short jaunt to The Big Apple, however, the relative bargain price was just too good to pass up and I booked a single room with a shared bathroom for two nights.

It was great! Highly recommended! What a deal! The Pod Hotel is conveniently located at 230 East 51st Street right next to a wine bar Le Bateau Ivre and is a close walk to the subway. It was easy to find, check-in was a breeze, and most of the elevators worked. When I opened the door to my “pod” I did have a bit of deja-vu as it looked quite a bit like one of the claustrophobic cabins I have shared while traveling by ferries. However this room was bright, spotlessly clean, equipped with a lot of storage space for such a small place, and quiet. Everything that I needed except for a bathroom. Continue Reading »