Viva la Vida Travel with Carmen Schaffer

Costa Rica Cattle have the best attitude! If you haven't noticed, I am a bit of a lover of all things Costa Rica. The great Costa Rican love affair started many years ago. Costa Rica continues to woo me with it's stunning countryside, intriguing people and last but not least, a certain je ne sais quoi ( that's French for, " I don't know what.") that I still can't put my finger on. I try to explain "it" to people when they ask me what's so great about Costa Rica. I try to capture  the feelings within my words but words just don't do it justice. Costa Rica does something to people, it leaves a soft, but profound footprint, in our hearts and souls and it's different for everyone. Talk to anyone who has ever been to Costa Rica and you'll notice that their whole demeanor changes at the mere mention of their little slice of heaven. What is it about that place???? This past December, I was fortunate enough to be able to bring one o...

I took another trip down to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico again to check out some more great resort properties but this blog isn’t about the resorts. No, this blog is about the people I saw in Puerto Vallarta, a generation of travelers that, honestly, I never knew traveled often, much less to Puerto Vallarta. As we visited one hotel after another, I started to see a trend in terms of general age range of the folks at these places. Retired couples of all shapes, sizes and physical abilities were roaming around these resorts and streets of Puerto Vallarta.   Some were out playing tennis, some were bellied up to the bar, and some could barely walk far enough   to get into the pool without   support from their spouse but they were there, and there were a lot of them. Upon looking around the resort where were staying at, I felt really, really, young. Folks in their 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and I’d even venture to say   90’s were enjoying themselves in the sunshin...

Here I am... in love with San Miguel I never thought I'd lack words to describe anything but when it comes to the Mexican city of San Miguel de Allende, I've come up short on adjectives that can accurately describe this gem of a town. We rolled into San Miguel which is in the state of Guanajuato. Our guide Jesus ( no, not the son of God), but our chauffeur navigated the narrow, cobblestone roads like he made the roads himself.  There are no stop lights in San Miguel and everyone simply yields to others if necessary. The roads were lined with houses in hues of  red, blue, yellow and every other color possible. The doors alone on the buildings were works of art as they were hundreds of years old, gigantic and extremely ornate. Those doors were created in  a labor of love. I could have taken thousands of photos of only doors in San Miguel because they were just /that/ beautiful. Mexico is filled with cathedrals and San Miguel is no exception to the rule. I'm not C...

I woke up good and early with the clear intention of not missing an ounce of what I was set to do while I was in Morelia. I’d never been to this tourism fair so in all honestly, I had no idea what the heck I was to be doing in the first place. Since my approach of taking the day one step at a time had worked for me in getting to Mexico, I decided I’d try the same approach this day. Traveling alone forces one to push outside of one’s own comfort zone. That includes many things but this morning, it included inviting myself to breakfast with some people I’d met the   night before. They were gracious and welcoming and small talk abounded while we discussed just what on earth we were to do next as it related to the Cultural Tourism Fair.   People who work in the travel industry, are some of the most welcoming people I know. We’ve all traveled alone at one time or another and we all know how great it feels to finally have someone to share a meal with and share a...

I was invited to the World Cultural Tourism Fair in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico with the whole goal of encountering new vendors and destinations to sell to future clients. In all honesty, I was a bit freaked out by going to Morelia simply by what I’d heard on the news. My flight was through Atlanta to Mexico City then to Morelia…all of which made me a tad nervous. Why? Simply because traveling to Mexico City and then on to Morelia all by my lonesome seemed pretty damn daunting. Here I am, a 5’9, blonde haired. blue eyed Minnesotan traveling to the inner workings of Mexico~ alone. I decided to take the whole trip one leg at a time and not focus on the big picture because eventually, I’d get to my destination, or at least that is what I was telling myself. I landed in Mexico City and had a good 5 hours to wait before my  3 rd flight of the day to Morelia.  I didn’t have a gate assigned yet because in Mexico City, they don’t assign them until about 45 minutes befo...