United States - A positive take on what's in store for America from New York Times columnist David Brooks. "News of America's death is greatly exaggerated. In reality, the U.S. is on the verge of a demographic, economic and social revival."

Canada - Returning home from time on the road always gives you a new appreciation for things that you would otherwise take for granted. Having just spent a good deal of time in Brazil and Argentina, places where you begin to get used to keeping a hand on your bag or backpack at all times, I am shocked at just how safe our cities are. I keep staring at women with open purses casually slung over shoulders, or tourists touting cameras without a second thought. 

My observations about crime in Canada are not unfounded. The latest available statistics from 2008 show that reported crime rates have been declining for the last five years. According to Ottawa Citizen columnist Dan Gardner, "the homicide rate - the best indicator of violent crime trend - peaked  in the mid-1970s, fell until 2000 and has been flat since." Lucky us.

Every so often when I’m leading a group, I find myself in a place that tugs at me; a place where I constantly catch myself wondering what would happen if I just stayed. Forever.  So if I ever go missing, you can start by looking at the top three places I’m least likely to leave:

1. Hotel Aegialis - Aegiali Bay, Amorgos, Greece.

Every day begins with breathing crisp, clean ocean air while watching the rising sun darken the deep blue hue of an Aegean bay. Every day you encounter generous and genuine locals and eat fried saganaki and fresh seafood. Every night ends with sidestepping arm-in-arm in endless circles, happily and haphazardly, to a Greek violin being passionately played by the son of the owner of the hotel. These alone make each day a good one, but add to that visits to Chosoviotissa - a thousand year old monastery perched precariously on the side of a sea-cliff, cake and coffee in the most beautiful Chora (old town) in the Cyclades, and stunning hikes through herb-coated fields, and you can’t blame me for ‘accidently’ misinterpreting the ferry schedule and marooning us on the island a little longer…

Ending the night with music and dancing. Again.

Chosoviotissa Monastery

2. Pousada Aguape - Pantanal, Brazil.

Made famous to Brazilians when it was featured as the location for a steamy soap opera about life on the Western frontier, the Pantanal is the last place on earth you would actually go for human drama. On the contrary, the Pantanal epitomizes what is good about the country. Life is simple and genuine. The food is fresh and appreciated. People spend most of the day outside, herding cattle on horseback and farming in the fresh air (except in the middle of the day, when the only way to escape the heat is – oh darn - to have a siesta). To top it off, the Pantanal is the best place to see wildlife in South America, from jaguars to giant anteaters to endangered hyacinth macaws. Cowboys, caipirinhas, and capybaras – what more could you need?

A pantanero checking up on the herd.

3. Hotel Europa - Lerici, Italy.

Wake up in the morning. Chase your fresh orange juice with Italian espresso. Spend the day hiking the Cinque Terre, only a short ferry-ride away. Drink sweet local white wine and eat something smothered in fresh pesto for lunch. At night overindulge in seafood, and count your blessings.

But actually, even without the amazing food and seaside scenery, I would move here just to see Italians get dressed up. Being such a beautiful place, the hotel attracts many weekend weddings. On my last visit, I saw two men standing next to each other casually smoking cigarettes while wearing outlandishly overstated suits – one a shimmering navy blue, the other ALL gold. Only in Italy. It’s quite enough to keep you entertained for the rest of your days. 

Breakfast on the rooftop terrace at Hotel Europa.

Relaxing in the bay in Lerici.

Ecuador - Ecuador has eliminated the transmission of river blindness. This story was posted on Twitter by Nicholas Kristof: "Carter Center reports Ecuador has eliminated River Blindness transmission. Congrats to all on a great achievement!" More information on the Carter Center website.

Haiti - Dr. Paul Farmer's Testimony to the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations strikes a hopeful tone and provides pointers for how to make the best of the reconstruction efforts underway in Haiti.

DR Congo - John Prendergast argues that the conflict in the Congo could finally be turning a corner in Foreign Policy Magazine.

More here: A Mideast Bond, Stitched of Pain and Healing

I'd like to talk more about the project in future posts (when I'm not in the middle of getting ready for a new tour), but for now, since Christmas is around the corner I have a last minute gift suggestion for all those who have vetoed the conventional Christmas (or just haven't gotten around to shopping for it yet...). Rather than spending money this Christmas, why not try lending money instead? Everybody wins. Check it out at www.kiva.org. 

Meanwhile, me and my friend here wish you a Merry Christmas from the Middle East!

1. Covering yourself in mineral-rich mud and then scrubbing it away while floating on your back in the Dead Sea (just don't get the water in your eyes!).

2. Wandering among the many columns of Jerash, one of the few Ancient Roman sites I've visited where you don't need to use your imagination to understand what the city would have looked like. You half expect men in togas to wander out from among the columns...

3. Slowing down and taking in a spectacular sunset in Wadi Rum, once the setting of Lawrence of Arabia's adventures. Bonus points if you arrange for wine and live music from a famous local lute player.

4. Enjoying a night out in the capital, Amman. The New York Times recently claimed that "newly stylish Amman" is "perhaps the most pleasant city in the Middle East."

5. After walking one kilometer down a winding narrow path set between rose colored canyon walls, catching your first glimpse of Petra's Treasury.

These are members of my group reacting to seeing the Treasury after our guide had them close their eyes until the last minute...

And this is the Treasury itself.

Yes indeed, Jordan has many sites to satisfy a curious traveler. What I find most impressive about the country, however, is not the wealth of places to see but the seemingly limitless capacity of the people of modern-day Jordan to act as good neighbors in a troubled region. 

In 1990, for example, Jordan (which was already home to a significant Palestinian refugee population) took in an estimated quarter million Palestinians. The Palestinians had been displaced by Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait and subsequent Desert Storm because Kuwait kicked them out for siding with Saddam. Less than 15 years later Jordan again acted as a safe haven after the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. It is estimated that in the last five years some 750,000 Iraqis have fled to Jordan; this in a country with a total population of only 6 million inhabitants. Today Iraqis make up about 10% of the total population of Jordan, and Jordan now hosts the highest number of refugees per capita of any country in the world. 

Imagine for a moment if the equivalent number of people sought refuge in Canada or the United States over the same period of time. It would be as if, over the course of 5 years, about 4 million people arrived in Canada, or 40 million in the United States.* Would we be as accommodating as the Jordanians?

*According to Human Rights First

"There was some good news on AIDS. A UN report said the rate of new HIV infections is down by 17% compared with 2001, and the death rate from the disease has dropped by 10% over the past five years. The ubiquity of antiviral drugs is one important reason for the improvement." See article.

Oct. 16, 2009.

Mostar is still undergoing reconstruction. The muted colors and homogeneity of regular streets are absent here.  Walking down the wide main avenue is a foray into surreality, like walking past a giant upright checkerboard, the buildings are either white or black; white and newly rebuilt, or black and burnt out, with neat lines in between.  Black and white, black and white... Fifteen years after the implosion of Yugoslavia, too many buildings still stand charred and bullet-scarred, awaiting the funding needed to fix them. Like beggars on the street, locals pass these decrepit buildings pretending not to notice, but surely wishing they would just go away.

In 1993 and 1994 city parks were hastily converted into cemeteries to accommodate the casualties of the war. Walking past these, it is too easy to contemplate the depths to which humanity is capable of descending, and to despair. And yet my group's experience in Mostar was a positive one, because as much as the city illustrates the extreme brutality we are capable of, it also exemplifies a fierce resilience. The incredible thing about the city is that after so much ugliness not everyone has surrendered to hate, something that would be easy - almost natural - to do.  No one demonstrated this attitude more aptly than Maja Ahmec, our young local guide. Though only a child during the war, she lives with its legacy every day as she guides groups of tourists through the cobbled lanes of Mostar’s Old Town.  

When we cross Santica Street, a road that used to divide the city into warring zones, she doesn’t refer to it as the street, but the dam street. When she talks about the war, it is not just the war, but the dam war. The dam street, the dam war. Maja is full of hate, but she doesn’t hate ‘the other,’ she doesn’t hate ‘the enemy.’ She hates hate itself; she has no tolerance for intolerance. She has no time for those that cling to the ethnic divisions of the nineties. 

Maja wants to teach, to tell the next generation what really happened here, and ensure that it doesn’t happen again. More than the bricks and mortar that piece the broken buildings back together, Maja and those like her are the foundations of a better future for Mostar’s next generation. 

I spent the day yesterday wandering through Croatia's Plitvice Lakes National Park with my group. The oldest national park in the country, Plitvice consists of 16 strikingly clear emerald and turquoise lakes at the bottom of a densely forested karst gorge. The lakes cascade into one another down a huge staircase-like series of waterfalls, which you can walk through, over and around on wooden boardwalks. In the early 90s Plitvice was known as the place where the first armed confrontation in Croatia's War of Independence occured; today it is one of the country's most popular tourist attractions, providing income for the local economy and serving as a refuge for wildlife and weary travelers alike. 

In April 2008 I traveled to Iran to lead a tour for Adventures Abroad. The following are some of my observations.

Esfahan's Sheik Lotfallah Mosque

Laughing with locals in Yazd.