Stories Beneath the Surface.

By James, a 33-year-old Brit who traded London drizzle for ten years of Caribbean sunshine and frequent Colombian wanderlust. From Mangú to Mantras: My First Silent Retreat in the Coffee Axis It started on a humid Friday in Santiago de los Caballeros, where the smell of mangú still lingered on my T-shirt as I stuffed […]

I still remember the first time my tripod clicked open on the cobblestones of Cartagena’s Plaza de los Coches. The golden hour had just dissolved into that indigo wash photographers fantasize about, and I was aiming for a silky capture of the Cathedral’s bell tower. Out of nowhere, a friendly but stern officer tapped my […]

From a Coconut Stand in Santo Domingo to a Kennel in Medellín I still had sand between my toes when I walked into La Huella Feliz, a modest animal shelter perched on the outskirts of Medellín. A week earlier I’d been in the Dominican Republic buying coco frío and exchanging playful banter with the vendor. […]

When the Wi-Fi Goes Dark in Paradise Last Tuesday at 8:37 p.m., right as I was streaming an old MLB game to feel closer to home, the screen froze on a batter mid-swing. The silence that followed in my Santo Domingo apartment was louder than the city’s nighttime merengue. Ten years in the Dominican Republic […]

Suds and Stories at the Dominican Car Wash I still remember the first Saturday I rolled my dusty Toyota Yaris into Auto Lavado Don Pepe in Santiago de los Caballeros. Ten years in the Dominican Republic have taught me that a car wash is never just a car wash—it is an impromptu barbershop, a gossip […]

How a Missed Trumpet Solo Taught Me More Than a Year of Textbooks I still remember the night I misjudged the queue outside Santo Domingo’s storied jazz bar, Fifty Jazz & Blues. I’d promised my Colombian girlfriend we’d catch the opening set. Instead, we ended up craning our necks from the doorway, blocked by a […]

From City Heat to Mountain Breeze: My First Ride in Jarabacoa I still remember the exact moment the rental guy in Jarabacoa tossed me a beat-up helmet and said, “Ponte esto, que el lodo hoy está sabroso.” “Put this on, the mud is delicious today.” The adjective sabroso for mud made me grin; ten years […]

From Lost Fins to Fluent Forms: My First Brush with Dive-Shop Bureaucracy I still remember the salty sting of embarrassment more vividly than the taste of the seawater that followed. Ten years ago, fresh off the plane and still pronouncing “cerveza” like a gringo, I walked into a modest dive shop in Bayahíbe to sign […]

Un sábado soleado en el Malecón: mi primera “Paseo de la Salud” La brisa salada del Caribe me acariciaba la cara mientras caminaba por el Malecón de Santo Domingo, café con leche en mano y la curiosidad encendida. Había carteles que anunciaban un “Paseo de la Salud” gratuito. Diez años en la isla no me […]

By James, the wandering Brit who swapped Manchester drizzle for ten years of Dominican sunshine, infinite bachata playlists, and frequent escapes to Colombian mountains. Landing at Las Américas: The Morning My Visa Almost Expired I still remember the sticky August dawn when I shuffled off a red-eye from Medellín, hair smelling of arepa smoke and […]

From Rookie to Regular: My First Shellfish Fumble on Avenida España Ten years ago, fresh off the plane from Boston and still confusing “concha” with “concho,” I marched into a tiny pescadería tucked between a colmado and a panadería on Avenida España in Santo Domingo. The owner, Don Álvaro, eyed my flip-flops, sunburn, and hesitant […]