By Shannon Farley

They live in the sea, are on the World Wildlife Fund’s “Endangered Species List”, and frequent the waters around…

By Shannon Farley

The world as we know it has certainly shrunk a great deal due to the interconnectivity of the internet, and especially social media like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. When the number one music video rocketing around the world is from South Korea (“Gangnam Style”), and kids in places like…

By Shannon Farley

The new wildly popular “Author’s Cuisine” culinary movement that originated in Spain over a decade ago is not simply cuisine by the “author” or chef who cooked it. “Author’s Cuisine” is a vanguard of culinary arts favored by Spanish and other European chefs who are praised for their…

By Shannon Farley

Any Olympic athlete or professional athlete, or high school or university athlete, or even a child on a sports team for that matter, has a coach. Actors have coaches. Singers and dancers have coaches or trainers. Over the past decades, executives and businesspersons have joined the ranks of seeking coaching for success.

In today’s modern world, there is…

By Shannon Farley

Personally, I prefer staying in small boutique hotels. Large chain hotels have their function, though I rather like when the receptionist remembers my name and is personable enough to care how I am and how my stay is going. I like waiters who remember I favor water without ice and that my mid-afternoon coffee is an absolute must … with a…

By Shannon Farley

Tortuguero is like the imaginary jungle coast in Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are.” It is a wild place.

You can just imagine what was going through Christopher Columbus’ mind when he anchored off the palm-fringed beach in 1502 … “I have come to the end of the earth,” he must have mused.

The Tortuguero…

By Shannon Farley

Most tourists to Costa Rica never see San Jose. They are whisked off from the Juan Santamaria International Airport outside the city to the…

By Shannon Farley

When the coffee mill is roasting in my little town in Costa Rica, you can smell the aroma throughout our hills and valleys. The sweet, pungent fragrance entices you to a steaming cup or two in the morning, and following tradition, another at 3:00 p.m. When I first moved to this small Central American land, I was puzzled by how it seemed the entire country stops at 3:00 pm for its “cafecito”. After nearly 11 years of…

By Shannon Farley

I want to be part of a Blue Zone.

What is a “Blue Zone,” you ask?

It is a place where people live happily and healthily for a very long time.

The term was popularized by author-educator-explorer Dan Buettner in his 2008 book, “The…

By Shannon Farley

A friend of mine is a consummate travel fanatic. She’s traveled all over the world and knows the ins and outs of internet travel websites like nobody’s business. Nevertheless, she still uses a local travel agent whenever she plans her family’s holidays. Going to Ecuador? She contacts a travel expert in Ecuador. Going to the Baltics? She used an agency specializing in the region. Going to Chile? Same…

By Shannon Farley

Take a deep breath. Now imagine your lung capacity reduced by one-fifth. Find it a bit harder to breathe? What if that lessens?

Now take your focus out to a global view, and you hav e a clear picture of what is happening in the…