Corner View - Bliss

CAYOS ZAPATILLO

PULAU KAPAS

PRAIA LOPES MENDES

Apart from the obvious bliss we share at certain moments with loved ones, there is a special kind of bliss that I feel when I am in paradise. For me paradise involves a voyage in a sailing boat to a deserted tropical island, where I can then snorkel in crystal clear waters with the rich marine life there. This has happened to me several times during my life. The first time was when I lived in a wooden house on stilts at the edge of the South China Sea. Opposite my house, a few miles offshore, was an idyllic desert island, called Pulau Kapas (Cotton Wool Island), which I could visit in a local fishing boat. This was my first time snorkeling in clear, warm, tropical waters, and the coral and marine life were stunningly beautiful. Island hopping in the Seychelles was another blissful experience, but, for me, Ilha Grande off the coast of Brazil is even more beautiful. There, you can be dropped off by a schooner and walk through the rainforest to what I consider to be the best beach in the world, Praia Lopes Mendes. I have had some wonderful times in the Caribbean, but the most idyllic desert island I have visited there is, without doubt, in Cayos Zapatillo off the coast of Panama. It is a picture perfect paradise. The most blissful experience I have ever had snorkeling, however, was on the reef near Caye Caulker in Belize, where after a beautiful trip in a schooner, I was able to swim with and touch sharks, stingrays and turtles, which was incredibly exciting and sheer bliss!

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La Antigua Guatemala

Now that I have achieved my ambition of visiting 100 countries (well, sort of - two of the countries no longer exist), I am building up to putting some top tens on my blog: top ten cities, paradises, archaeological sites etc. But, until then, here are some photos of one of my favourtie towns, Antigua La Guatemala. Built on the site of the Mayan city of Iximche, by Spanish conquistadores in 1543, it was the capital of Guatemala until it was destroyed by devastating earthquakes in 1773. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the number one travellers' town in Central America: you could say it's the Central American equivalent of Cuzco, full of hostels, language schools, restaurants and bars. There are some wonderful places to stay and eat here, including my favourite restaurant in Central America: La Escudilla, where you really should sit in the beautiful courtyard and try their Paradilla Quetzal. But, above all, there are the impressive colonial churches and monasteries which withstood the earthquakes. Surrounding the town, and giving it a magnifcent backdrop, are three smoking volcanoes, which remind you how fragile Antigua's existence is.

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Corner View 6 - Coffee

The theme for this week's Corner View is coffee. Now, when you mention the word 'coffee', the first place people think of is Brazil. The coffee beans in the picture, which I will grind for my morning coffee tomorrow, are indeed from Brazil, but they have, in a way, returned home, because like most of the world's best coffee beans they are Coffea arabica and as the name suggests, they originally came from the Arabian peninsula, just over the border from here, in Yemen, where coffee was first cultivated more than a thousand years ago. Arab traders took these beans to Indonesia and East Africa hundreds of years later and eventually they were exported to Latin America.

Last summer I was in Panama and learned a lot more about coffee when I was given a guided tour of the Kotowa Coffee Estate by Dutch coffee farmer, Hans van der Vooren. The first and possibly most important thing is, don't buy coffee that's already been ground. Coffee not only loses its flavour and aroma very quickly, it also absorbs smells and tastes from its surroundings. So, for example if you fry bacon and eggs near ground coffee, that's what it will taste of. Also, for the same reason, you should keep your coffee beans in a vacuum-sealed container. When buying coffee beans, what should you look for? Well, they should have a uniform shape and size as this shows that they have been properly sorted and graded; bigger beans tend to be more expensive. And they should be 100% Arabica as that is the best variety. Why, you may wonder, do farmers bother growing any other variety? The reason is that Coffea arabica is not easy to grow and requires very specific conditions: warm mountain slopes with a minimum altitude of 1,500m and light shade, which is usually provided by surrounding trees. The other main variety, Robusta (Coffea canephora), which is the basis for most instant coffee, is far easier to grow and can tolerate direct sunlight.

Now, with regard to how the beans have been processed, Hans explained that you don't want them burnt too much. Light roast beans (the pale coloured ones) will retain the greatest bouquet of flavours. These complex natural flavours can range from citrus fruit to vanilla and chocolate. If they are poor quality beans, they will also have unpleasant bitter flavours present. So, the cheaper beans are roasted for longer to get rid of the bitterness. Dark roast beans are invariably poor quality which is why they needed to be roasted for so long. The worst culprits are the French roast beans. They are from the cheap Robusta variety and have been burnt almost to a cinder in order to eradicate their natural bitterness. Medium roast is indeed a happy medium as it will retain much of the original bouquet of flavours, yet at the same time not be too bitter.

Panamanian coffee is currently considered to be the best in the world. Based on price and results in international coffee-tasting competitions, the world's best coffees are Panama's Geisha, Jamaica's Blue Mountain, Hawaii's Kona, Indonesia's Kopi Luwak, Guatemala's El Injerto, Brazil's Fazenda Santa Ines, El Salvador's Los Planes, Island of St. Helena Coffee Co. and Rwanda Blue Bourbon. They are all Coffea arabica. A kilo of Geisha beans from Boquete can cost more than $200.

For those of you who haven't ground your own beans before, you don't need a mortar and pestle. There are lots of cheap, efficient electric coffee grinders available in the shops. I particularly like the Kenwood CG100.

Please visit the other Corner View bloggers:

jane, ladybug-zen, bonnie, esti, sophie, cele, modsquad,

caitlin, joyce, ani, couturecoucou, kim, a day that is dessert, natsumi, epe, kaylovesvintage, trinsch, c.t.,jeannette, outi, schanett, ritva, dongdong, francesca, state of bliss, jennifer, dana, denise, cabrizette, bohemian girl, ruth, dianna, isabelle, amber, girl in the yellow shoes, mister e, janis, kari, jgy, jenna, skymring, elizabeth, audrey, allison, lise, cate, mon, victoria, crescent moon, erin, otli, amy, ida, caroline, lisa, dorte, kimmie, la lune dans le ciel, nicola, malo, vanessa, britta, virginia, april, rebecca, b

The Country with the Highest Murder Rate in the World

Most first time visitors don’t want to arrive in San Salvador late at night. It has a very bad reputation, especially after dark. “The U.S. Embassy warns its personnel to drive with their doors locked and windows raised, to avoid travel outside of major metropolitan areas after dark, and to avoid travel on unpaved roads at all times because of random banditry, carjackings, kidnappings, criminal assaults and lack of police. Most fatal traffic accidents or robberies and assaults occur during the evening or early morning hours. Travelers with conspicuous amounts of luggage, late-model cars or foreign license plates are particularly vulnerable.

The U.S. Embassy considers El Salvador a critical crime threat country. Violent and petty crime are prevalent throughout El Salvador and U.S. citizens are often victims. Travelers should avoid carrying valuables in public places. Armed assaults and carjackings take place both in San Salvador and in the interior of the country. Criminals have been known to follow travelers from the international airport to private residences or secluded stretches of road where they carry out assaults and robberies. Criminals often become violent quickly, especially when victims fail to cooperate immediately in surrendering valuables. Frequently, victims who argue with assailants or refuse to give up their valuables are shot.”

The Australian Government advises its citizens,“Violent crime including armed robbery, banditry, assault, kidnapping, sexual assault, and carjacking is common, including in the capital, San Salvador. Downtown San Salvador is dangerous, particularly at night. Criminals are known to target the road between San Salvador and the international airport.”

The violence is the legacy of a 12-year-long civil war, poverty and the deportation of thousands of Salavadoran gang members from Los Angeles back to San Salvador. There are now 25,000 gang members active in El Salvador, many of whom belong to MS-13, considered by the FBI to be the most dangerous gang in America.

The UK Government's Foreign & Commonwealth Office warns, "You should take great care travelling anywhere in El Salvador at night. You should take particular care if you need to travel to downtown San Salvador."

So, as I looked out from the plane window at the sparse lights of El Salvador, the country with the highest murder rate in the world, I gave more than a passing thought to how I was going to get from the airport to downtown San Salvador along the infamous dark road targeted by carjackers and armed gangs. One of the things you notice on arrival in a poor country is the darkness.

The plane touched down just before 9pm. All of my fellow passengers appeared to be Salvadorans. The airport was poorly lit and surrounded by a black night. This was where my journey began.

The top 20 countries listed by annual murder rate per 100,000 inhabitants. I was about to visit half of them:

Country	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	Most recent
El Salvador	37.3	34.6	31.1	32.7	41.0	54.9	55.3		55.3
Venezuela	37	40	49	59	45	42	49		49
Jamaica	34	44	40	36	54	64	49		49
Guatemala	25.8	25.2	30.7	35.0	36.3	42.0	45.2		45.2
Honduras	49.92	53.72	55.89	33.57	31.89	35.06	42.91		42.91
South Africa	49.6	47.8	47.4	42.7	40.3	39.6	40.5	38.6	40.5
Colombia	62.7	64.6	65.8	51.8	44.6	39.3	37.3		37.3
Belize								30.8	30.8
Trinidad and Tobago	10.0	12.58	14.33	20.69	20.07	29.69	28.53	30.38	30.38
Brazil	26.7	27.8	28.4	28.9	27				27
Ecuador				15.07	18.33				18.33
Russia	19.80					18.0	16.5		16.5
Swaziland	88.61			13.05	13.63				13.63
Mexico	14.11	13.94	13.04						13.04
Mongolia				13.51	12.81				12.81
Paraguay	12.05								12.05
Haiti								11.5	11.5
Suriname				15.10	10.30				10.30
Panama		10.56	9.56						9.56
Argentina

To be contd.