Guitar case full of weapons, guns swinging from each hand, whole bars full of villains wiped out by one man and his sharp shooting. It is surely the hallmark of only one man, an actor who can keep both a male and female audience simultaneously breathless (if for very different reasons). Antonio Banderas as “El Mariachi” cuts a lonesome,…

Of Gods and Men is proof if it were ever needed that even today the essence of a great movie continues to be about the quality of the script and the acting. There is no computer…

From Stage to Screen



Best known as a Broadway musical, Fiddler on the Roof has been delighting audiences for almost half a century with its blend of boisterous and mournful melodies. The Tony…

It all started as a bit of an accident. A big fan of Cuban music, American guitarist Ry Cooder had been invited to Cuba to work on a collaboration with local musicians and two well-known musical stars from Mali. When the Africans were denied entry visas to Cuba, Cooder set about creating his Plan B: A recording of Cuban son music with local…

I’m a huge animal lover, and I’ve been writing about vacation resorts for a few years now. These two facts might at first seem like a non-sequitur, but on my recent visit to Iberostar’s five-resort Playa Paraíso complex on Mexico’s Mayan…

A little over 300 years after it was scuttled and left to lie at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, the Quedagh Merchant was discovered in 2007 just off the coast of the Dominican Republic's…

The name of Don Quixote is known around the world, even if the story behind the name is perhaps not so familiar. Written 400 years ago by Miguel de Cervantes, the novel describes the colorful adventures of Don Quixote of La Mancha, a retired country gentleman from the western La Mancha region of central Spain, who lives…

Rather like the best 1970s disaster movies or the science fiction B-movies of the 1960s, the spaghetti western still boasts a strong and dedicated following many decades after the last movie was produced and the dust, quite literally settled. And like these other genres, even those who look back fondly at the age…

Among the images conjured by mentioning Brazil are those of beach volleyballers on Ipanema, with green mountain slopes in the background and golden sand running for miles. Aside from the all-night-long beach parties, beach volleyball is one of the country's most popular symbols; it's long been associated with beach volleyball…

by Nellie Huang



Spain, a Western European country rich in Mediterranean flavors and Arab influence, is actually a few countries packed into one. With its location in the southern end of Europe and just a hop away from North Africa, Spain…

by Nelly Huang



Croatia: a land of more than a thousand islands, splattered off the beautiful Adriatic coastline in Eastern Europe. Located at the crossroads of the Balkans and the Mediterranean, this European country is chock-full of intriguing history, Mediterranean cuisine and Slavic cultural heritage.

On a recent visit to the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, I…

by Andy Jarosz



If ever a movie has perfected the ability of making its audience hungry it’s surely this Mexican classic. Released as Como Agua para Chocolate…

When George Lucas first created the Star Wars trilogy, he likely never never imagined that the films, set in Tunisia, would draw in thousands of fans yearly to the country to this day. Many Star Wars fans have already found their way to the deserts of southern Tunisia, 'in a galaxy far far away’ that…

by Andy Jarosz



Double agents, high drama, betrayal and plenty of high-tech gadgetry. The Good Shepherd, directed by Robert De Niro and released in 2006, had all the magic ingredients of a classic spy film. With Matt Damon and…

by Nellie Huang



Mention Mexico and you often conjure images of mustachioed heroes roaming the Wild West on horseback, armed with rifles and big straw hats. While this era is long gone, legends from those revolutionary days have been passed down from one generation to the next.



The…

by Nellie Huang



It was his obsession with adventure that brought him to the interior of what was then known as Spanish Sahara, an overseas territory of Spain. In 1930, Michel Vieuchange,…

by Andy Jarosz



When it was released in 2001, few suspected that the Mexican movie Y Tu Mamá También would become such a worldwide hit. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, the story is simple enough: two bored teenagers (played by…

by Nellie Huang



Dry, fiery and dramatic: the landscapes of the Spanish island of Lanzarote are like no other. Born through volcanic eruptions millennia ago, the northernmost of the Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa has since been…

by Nellie Huang



She’s hot, sassy and sultry. In the sizzling Mediterranean heat, her shapely curves and sculpted body give her an even bigger sex appeal. Lively and spontaneous – she’s every man’s dream. While not many get the chance to truly understand her, those who do always end up…

by Nellie Huang





“Tê tê te, Tetetê tetê! Samba de Bahia, Samba de Bahia…”



You don’t have to be a samba lover to know this song. The catchy tune of “Maria Caipirinha” (video below) has won the world over with its infectious samba beats and…