Buenos Aires - Argentina

There is a rumor going around that Buenos Aires either is, or is about to become, the new Prague. By this its boosters mean a city that is rapidly being discovered by a certain segment of the world's young, and not only those backpacking youth interested in finding love and adventure in a context of faded, old world opulence.
Well, nothing is quite like Prague, and similarly nothing is quite like Buenos Aires. But there are points of useful similarity between the two cities. Just as Prague was reborn after being brutalized for almost half a century by communist occupation, so the entire economy of Argentina collapsed in late 2001, after an inflation of nearly five years — a fall so devastating it has been compared to the Great Depression.
After coming out on the other side of their respective cataclysms, both cities, giddy with a sense of liberation, have burst into life as centers of culture and commerce. Moreover, just as Prague was delightfully cheap 15 years ago, so now Buenos Aires is consistently ranked as one of the least expensive cities in the world.

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Panama

Nonetheless, there I was, binoculars in hand, on the observation deck of Canopy Tower, an old U.S. radar installation in the former Panama Canal Zone. This place is legendary among serious bird-watchers. I'm definitely not one of those, but I'm married to a man who has owned a Peterson field guide since he was 6 years old.

After the United States transferred the radar tower and surrounding land to Panama as part of the handover of the canal, local businessman and bird-watcher Raul Arias leased it and converted it into an eco-lodge. It's one of the ways Panama is reaching for some of the nature travel business that has been such a gold mine for neighboring Costa Rica.

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