by Andrea Davoust

Simple job description, isn’t it? Go to a place. Write about it. Ha! That, and a million obstacles to trip you on the way. If, Indiana Jones-like, you live through the soul-crushingly grim hotels, artery-crackingly greasy street food, bone-jarring bus rides, and encounters with every shade of humanity, then you get to hang up your hat and whip, and like Professor Jones in his academic suit and glasses, offer the fruit of your exotic experiences to the public. In other words, you sit bleary-eyed in a cybercafé typing up bus schedules and museum opening hours, while regular travelers kick back with a sundown beer, and envy you. Little do they know! Let’s bust the myth.

Camping again!

Myth number one: your “dream” job awes everyone.

Sure, fellow Western travelers sigh after your luck, getting paid – actual money! – to write about places. But an astonishing number of local people, those whose brains you need to pick in order to get that writing done, i.e. hotel clerks, tourism office employees, etc. don’t know, don’t care, or are simply annoyed at you for interrupting their boyfriend-text-messaging sessions. Often, I have openly explained that I am gathering information for a “guía de viaje” and asked about jungle tours, or just to see a hotel room, or another seemingly simple query. “Oh you are a guía, where is your group?” No, no, it is just lil’ ol’ me and I’m writing a book to inform tourists about you. “So how many people in your group?” they ask, hopefully peeking over my shoulder. Or they throw brochures at me, hoping it will make me go away. But every so often, I come across a good soul (= someone whose brain is switched on) who will go out of their way to help me in my quest. Bless them.

Myth number two: you get a whole bunch of freebies.

A glamorous free shot of aguardiente

Let me recount the grand total of goodies I got for free in nearly six weeks through Central America: 1 glass of orange juice, 1 cup of coffee, 1 lunch (at a deserted jungle resort where I supposed the owner was bored, but he cleaned his plate in about five minutes, abruptly stood up and left me chewing alone), and after I had corrected a tour operator’s contact details by logging into our site in front of him and thus proved that I was not a fake like so many he had seen, 1 free tour of historical Leon, Nicaragua. The 3 beers that random drunken strangers have tried to buy me while I was quietly eating my lunch do not count. Regarding invitations to stay in fancy resorts or sip sophisticated cocktails in expensive restaurants or test the new skydiving tour, well, I am still waiting to be deluged with them. Not really Even if I were able to, V!VA, like many other guidebook companies, does not allow its staff to take freebies.

Want the dream job of a travel writer? Sign up for V!VA Boot Camps and get critiqued by the pros, with a chance to stay on for freelance assignments for V!VA.

V!VA is one of five finalists for Mashable’s Open Web Award for Best Travel Site or App! It’s a huge honor, but our work isn’t over; we want to win this thing, and we need your help to do it! The competition runs until December 13th and you can vote every day using both your Facebook and Twitter accounts. The voting page is here, and don’t forget to bookmark it. Make voting for V!VA your good deed of the day, every day, until the 13th!

Congratulations to Luciano Stabel, winner of our Flickr Cover Photo Contest for Chile! His beautiful photo of Puerto Varas will appear on our premier guidebook to Chile, due out later this year!

Want your photo to appear on the cover of our upcoming guidebooks?

VIVA Travel Guides is happy to announce FOUR upcoming Flickr Cover Photo Contests!! Whether you’re a professional photojournalist, amateur photographer or simply a wanderlusting backpacker with a good eye (and camera), we invite all travelers to submit their photos. Entering is free, and you can submit as many photos as you want!

Winner gets $100 and the coveted cover of the upcoming guidebook!

If your photos doesn’t win, don’t fret: Runners up get their name and photo inside the guidebook itself.

You already show off your amazing travel photos to your friends and family — why not gain a little exposure and help travel guide readers see the beauty of this world? Visit our Flickr Contest Pages below to read contest guidelines.

Ready, Set, Snap!

Upcoming Contests

• Cusco and Machu Picchu (Deadline: December 1, 2009)
• Ecuador (Deadline: January 1, 2010)
• Quito (Deadline: January 1, 2010)
• Galapagos Islands (Deadline: January 1, 2010)

Travel. Write. Get Paid.

Line up, aspiring travel writers: V!VA Travel Guides is hosting its next Travel Writing Boot Camps in:

• Quito, Ecuador: January 4 -8
• Cusco, Peru: January 18 - 22

V!VA’s camps offer a crash course on all you need to know to become a successful travel writer. We’re looking for an army of talented and adventurous writers to train out on the field. Now’s your chance to travel, write and get paid!

• Gain on-location, hands-on experience from professional travel writers and editors
• Find out what editors want, how to deliver, and how to get paid and published for your work
• Attend an introductory course on producing digital photography for the internet
• Get the inside scoop on today’s travel writing market and how to work with multimedia outlets
• Improve writing skills through daily critiques by peers and pros
• Stay “on assignment” in the host country after the camp and be a contributing author in our upcoming guidebook!

Emily is a former Boot Camp graduate, and is now a paid travel writer in Mexico. Here’s what she had to say about V!VA’s Travel Writing Boot Camps:

“I attended V!VA’s Boot Camp in September of 2008 in Oaxaca, Mexico. I met some cool people and learned a lot. It is a very intensive course that helps you focus on writing skills. I stayed on assignment and earned some extra cash afterwards, and have done other assignments as well. Writing for V!VA is a great way to earn cash to cut down on travel expenses while exploring a new city.”

Ready to hit the ground running as a real travel writer? Enlist here: V!VA’s Travel Writing Boot Camp.

Let’s face it - Latin American festivals, such as Carnival, Dia de Los Muertos or the numerous local celebrations that pepper the region are great parties. There’s dancing in the streets, wild costumes and partying for as long as you can still stand. (And it is amazing how those locals seem to manage to stand for so much longer than you.)

The snowmen of Peru's Festival of the Snows. They bring crosses up to the mountains and return with sacred blocks of ice.

Inevitably, there will be some guy who will try to convince you that you are missing the point. That these festivals have deep spiritual and societal meaning that you, in your drunken stupor, are missing. For certain festivals, he may well be right. The drunken gringo dancing and partying to all hours of Easter morning probably doesn’t get it.

However, for many festivals, the idea is, well…to get drunk and party. The question to be asked is why do so many cultures have wild, public celebrations. Do they serve a purpose? One common thread, aside from the drunken revelries, is that many festivals are associated with dates on the religious calendar. Carnival happens before Lent, and the Day of the Dead is associated with All Saints and All Souls Day. Of course, most places have festivals associated with local patron saints.

People assume that revelers are just binging before the more substantial matters. 40 days of Lent is, if you are not a tea-totalling vegetarian, a long time to go without meat or alcohol. So, you might as well have a last binge. However, anthropologists have long debated the substance of these parties. A consensus has emerged; these festivals are of greater significance than just people of limited piety getting one last good blast in before more serious matters are attended to.

Indeed, these revelries are a vital part of the religious observances. Aside from simply getting drunk (as opposed to the normal state of soberness), there is a broad array of social changes that take place. The rich are treated like they are poor while ordinary people are made kings. Cross dressing is common. Eroticism is made public and, in various symbolic ways (usually costumes), otherworldly creatures mingle with real people.

Carnival costumes in Trinidad

While this social inversion might seem rebellious, in fact, it points out the social norms. Seeing something out of place reminds people of what the proper place is. Once that reminder is established, the more serious religious and spiritual ceremonies reestablish the proper order.

A less dry explanation might simply be that it is fun. Having fun and enjoying yourself matters. Indeed, in countries where poverty is much more widespread, fun takes on great importance.

These festivals are public for a reason. You are, in a de-facto sort of way, invited to participate and join in the fun. The presence of foreigners joining in the party helps to solidify the social inversion. For a brief period, you are welcomed into the fold—you become a part of the family. You get to to both join in the culture, while helping to preserve it by cementing your role as outsider. More than that, however, it is a chance to have some fun, enjoy a great experience and bring home some great stories (even if you are sure never to tell anyone).

As for that guy who is insisting that you are missing the point… I recommend you smile, nod and buy him a drink. He needs it.

Travel. Write. Get Paid.

Line up, aspiring travel writers: V!VA Travel Guides is hosting its next Travel Writing Boot Camps in:

• Quito, Ecuador: January 4 -8
• Cusco, Peru: January 18 - 22

V!VA’s camps offer a crash course on all you need to know to become a successful travel writer. We’re looking for an army of talented and adventurous writers to train out on the field. Now’s your chance to travel, write and get paid!

• Gain on-location, hands-on experience from professional travel writers and editors
• Find out what editors want, how to deliver, and how to get paid and published for your work
• Attend an introductory course on producing digital photography for the internet
• Get the inside scoop on today’s travel writing market and how to work with multimedia outlets
• Improve writing skills through daily critiques by peers and pros
• Stay “on assignment” in the host country after the camp and be a contributing author in our upcoming guidebook!

Emily is a former Boot Camp graduate, and is now a paid travel writer in Mexico. Here’s what she had to say about V!VA’s Travel Writing Boot Camps:

“I attended V!VA’s Boot Camp in September of 2008 in Oaxaca, Mexico. I met some cool people and learned a lot. It is a very intensive course that helps you focus on writing skills. I stayed on assignment and earned some extra cash afterwards, and have done other assignments as well. Writing for V!VA is a great way to earn cash to cut down on travel expenses while exploring a new city.”

Ready to hit the ground running as a real travel writer? Enlist here: V!VA’s Travel Writing Boot Camp.

By Andrea Davoust

Travel is about the new, the exotic and the unexpected. Or should be. But as a single female wandering Latin America, I find that conversations, depressingly, tend to revolve around the exact same utterly predictable topics. Here are the top offenders, and my catalogue of (real and imaginary) responses crafted from many an annoying question from random Latino locals.

Photo by Phil Wood

1/ Are you married? (bet on that one)

A: What I wish I could answer: No, I am free as a bird. I can do whatever I please, whenever I please, dress sexy or raggedly, read all night or tuck in at 9, feed on ice cream and veggies, flirt with cute boys, and nobody can say a thing about it, bwah ha ha!

B: what I really answer: Yes, I am married. (Engaged can work too)

2/ So, where is your husband?

A(imaginary) : I left him at home where he belongs, to clean the house, wash the laundry and cook for the kids.

B (actual) : He is waiting for me in (insert name of convenient city) and I am meeting him on (insert convenient date).

3/ So you are apart from your husband for X weeks/months? We in Honduras (or alternate country) would not accept that.

A: Yes, and that is why I am not married to a Honduran fisherman/taxi driver/security guard.

Photo by Silvio Tanaka

B: Oh, but it’s temporary. And exceptional. After that we will be together forever. (Insert sweet, enamored smile)

4/ How come you don’t have children at your age?

A: Because I have been too busy having a whale of a time traveling, seeing the world, getting wasted in the nightclubs of every town on the way, while you dealt with fights over teddy bears.

B: We are planning to have some very soon, next year in fact. Lots of them. (more illuminated smiles)

5/ I want to marry a Frenchwoman and go live in Europe. How much does a flight to France cost?

A: Ha ha ha! Good luck to you.

B: Oh, who knows, maybe one day. A flight costs about a thousand dollars. (gentle smile, accompanied by sorry shrug).

6/ Are you a Catholic? Do you believe in God?

A: I have yet a long way to go on the path of transcendental questions, I don’t know what to believe, because Nietzsche…(good-day answer) / I worship the devil/trees/sun / I am a Buddhist/Jehovah’s witness and we happen to have a meeting tonight, can I leave you a brochure? (bad-day answer)

B: Yes.

7/ Have you got a phone number here in Nicaragua?

A: No.

B: No. Oh, thank you for your contact details. Bye now!

photo by flickr user lowtech511

Throughout history, the moustache (also known as mustache, ’stache and mo) has been much more than a hairy upper lip. It is commonly said that a man’s moustache reflects climate, custom, religious belief and personal taste, but a ’stache also symbolizes honor (in the early Ottoman Arab East you insulted a man’s mother, but never his moustache) manhood (mos for men on the island of Crete) and wisdom (Confucius).

Tacky and Taboo

Past and present, moustaches have been persecuted. Banned in ancient Egypt, taxed by Peter the Great, moustaches have been often wrongfully demonized. The Fu Manchu style ’stache was sported by countless villains in literature and film. The Toothbrush, which graced the upper lip of Charlie Chaplin, was made taboo by Adolf Hitler.

photo by flickr user

More recently, an Indian hair guide declared facial hair unfashionable–this in the country of the world record holder for longest moustache (12 feet, 6 inches). And in July, Brazilians staged a moustache strike, in which people were urged to grow moustaches, post photos of themselves online and refuse to shave until José Sarney, Brazil´s mustachioed senate president accused of nepotism and embezzlement, resigned.

Moustache Awareness

From time to time, moustaches are celebrated rather than damned. Movember, a charity project in which men grow moustaches in November to raise awareness and money in support of men´s health issues, particularly prostate and testicular cancer, has taken sprouted in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Spain, New Zealand and Australia. Every other year, the World Beard and Mustache Championships take place, most recently this past May in Alaska. Competitors compete in six moustache categories, including Imperial, Hungarian and Dali.

photo by flickr user Steve Weaver

Have Moustache, Will Travel

Viva Man Travel believes that facial hair is an ideal enhancement to the traveling man’s appearance. In addition to looking more manly, you can save weight, space and money by leaving cans of shaving cream, bottles of aftershave, blades, and bulky electric razors at home. Beards are easy to cultivate as they need very little tending. But the moustache, which requires more concerted grooming, presents the man traveler with something that he inherently seeks in his globetrotting adventures: a challenge. Is your upper lip ready to man up?

By Nick Rosen

During the sixteenth century, European monarchs were grateful if they ever received any word from the sailors and explorers they dispatched into terra incognita. Today, for better or worse, the folks at home expect to hear from travelers much more frequently. While sending news home may no longer involve passing letters through a series of Arab spice traders, it can still be costly and time-consuming. It also seems to be the case that the destinations that cause the greatest unease among loved ones– “Wait, honey, are you sure you want to sail the Strait of Malacca?”– are the most difficult from which to communicate. Even if you are in a town with a post office, it can takes weeks for a letter to reach home, which is far too long in our age of instant communication. What, then, are the best ways for travelers to stay in touch?

Surfing Vacation

It turns out that the world wide web is, at this point, pretty much world-wide. Even small cties, from Albania to Zambia, usually have an affordable internet café or two. All of these facilities will allow you to send and

Greek internet cafe, by flickr user Daquella manera

receive messages from an e-mail service like Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail or Gmail. Those places with a faster connection will often let you have voice conversations over Skype, and many also have phone booths from which you can make cheap international phone calls.

Talking on the Go

If you’re on the move a lot, relying on internet cafés can be a pain, and the growth of mobile phone service and internet calling has made it tough to track down public phones in a lot of places. There are other options for staying in touch, however. As a simple solution, you could see if you can bring your mobile phone from home. North American travelers are at a disadvantage here, because only a few phone carriers in the US and Canada have phones that are compatible with the GSM system adopted by the rest of the world. Even if you have a GSM phone, you must make sure it works on the same frequency as the cell network in the country you’re visiting; Europe, Africa, Oceania and most of Asia use the 900 and 1800 bands, while most countries in the Americas run on the 850 and 1900 bands. If you have a quad-band phone, your phone should work anywhere on the GSM network.

If your phone is compatible with the country you are visiting, you can ask your carrier to authorize international roaming on your phone; you’ll often be charged an extra monthly fee and you’ll also have to pay high international roaming charges when you use your phone abroad. Another option is to get your cell phone unlocked, then buy a new SIM card when you arrive at your destination. You’ll have a local phone number and be able to call hotels and restaurants at the local, rather than international, rate, though your calls home will be charged as international calls. You can usually buy pre-paid minutes for these SIM cards from convenience stores. If your phone is not compatible in the country you are visiting, you can always purchase a new or used phone when you arrive, then get a SIM card.

One new and exciting product is mobile internet. If you are going to be in a country for a while, you can see about getting internet service over the mobile network, freeing you from your dependance on internet cafés. The internet can be delivered either to your smartphone or to a modem you plug into the USB drive of your computer. The speed of the connection depends on where you are, but it is often fast enough to use Skype.

USB internet modem, by flickr user whiteafrican

Peter Arnett’s Favorite Way to Call Home

Mobile phones have been a great boon to travelers, but there are still large swathes of the planet that aren’t covered by the cell network. Outdoorsy-types especially will often find themselves trekking, boating and camping in areas with no cell reception. If you are willing to hand over a rather large amount of money, however, you can stay in touch just the same.

Long the domain of boaters, emergency personnel and war correspondents, satellite phones are a valuable tool for anyone who strays far off the beaten path. Skipping the cell network, these phones beam their signal straight into space, and should work anywhere with a clear view of the sky. This technology does not come cheap, however. The phones themselves often cost more than $1,000 and the calls and messages can be extremely costly, as well. One alternative is to rent a satellite phone for the duration of your trip. For this service, you can expect to pay $50-100 per week, plus the cost of any calls you make. It’s not a bargain, but then again, it’s hard to find a spice trader willing to carry your letter from the Strait of Malacca these days.

By Andrea Davoust

Just because you are on the road doesn’t mean you have to turn into an unkempt mess clomping around in hiking boots for the entirety of you trip. Yet there is no way you can lug all your princess make-up and fashionista outfits – you would be staggering under the weight of a refrigerator-size pack. Follow V!VA’s top tips to pack light and still look right.

1/ Tick the list!

If you are a seasoned traveler, you may already have your own. Otherwise, check a few online, they will help you remember the indispensable (copies of your passport, first aid kit, vaccination certificate…) and suggest clever ones you would not have thought of (alarm clock, duct tape…). Check Women on the Road’s: http://www.women-on-the-road.com/travel-packing-list.html. Then adapt the checklist to your destination. Obviously, you won’t need the same accessories to party in Paris as to hike the Himalayas!

Photo by Phineas H.

2/ Bag: Think light. And then lighter.

Unless you are about to sail on the Queen Elizabeth II, forget about the giant steamer trunk. Take a backpack or carry-on suitcase that will not contain more than 15kg of stuff – the limit for your back. Then pare down to the bare necessities! A good rule of thumb is to spread everything you think you need on your bed, then remove half of it. Remember you can always do laundry along the way, use hostel hairdryers, etc. Allow space for the souvenirs you will collect – including locally made t-shirts or earrings.

3/ Clothes: Mix and match!

Nothing worse than being invited to hit a night club and discovering you have nothing to wear but ratty flip-flops and zip-up pants. So yes you need those lil’ strappy sandals. Generally speaking, choose clothes and shoes that can do double-duty. That long-sleeved blouse can save you from mosquitoes in the jungle, or from sun at the beach, and later look classy in a nice restaurant. For more ideas on outfits both cute and sensible, read Why smart backpackers bring their dancing shoes (http://www.bravenewtraveler.com/2007/12/18/why-smart-backpackers-bring-their-dancing-shoes/)

Photo by Jack Kennard

4/ Toiletries: think small!

For just a couple of weeks, you don’t need a family-size bottle of shampoo – just fill a baby bottle. Ditto with toothpaste (the three-quarters squeezed-out tube will do), cotton tips (a handful in a ziplock bag), etc. Or splurge on the travel kits with mini-perfumes and mini-moisturizer available in airport duty-free shops. Help yourself to mini-sewing kits given out in high-end hotels. But do bring adequate supplies of harder-to-find items: prescription drugs, tampons, and condoms (you may not plan to get lucky, but if you do, don’t rely on local brands).