Lifestyles

The Hernandez church appears in a famous photograph by Ansel Adams. Photo by Kirsten Laskey

By KIRSTEN LASKEY

Ansel Adams’ “Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico” is one of the most popular photographs ever taken. Maybe just as impressive as the image he captured is the story behind it.

Websites report Adams was driving toward Española when he happened to see a church and cemetery the size of thumbprints against massive mountains and the moon hovering high in the sky. The scene made him stop his car on the shoulder of the road.  

Wikipedia claims Adams yelled at his traveling Read More

A typical room in a hostel. Courtesy/Sherry Hardage

Recently, while traveling across the Yucatan I spent a bit of time with a lone Dutch backpacker. During our bus layover, we ate lunch and I lent her my Mexican phone to call a couple of hostels in Valladolid. She would be arriving quite late that evening. I asked how often she stayed in hostels and she said “most of the time but not always. They are very social places and sometimes I want to be alone.”

I have rarely stayed in hostels, or pensiones, as they are sometimes called in Spain and Latin Read More