Normally, I would cut down a general interview about a destination like South Africa down to 2-3 minutes, but I left this one unedited, because Sthu was such a pleasure to interview. I have always suggested to site owners to have an elevator pitch of 15-30 seconds about his or her company, products, or services memorized to rattle off at the drop of a hat. This advice comes from the numerous people I have interviewed in the past that needed a lot of “encouragement” to get information about their products out.

Not only does Sthu come prepared but she is pleasant, covers her topics both obvious and less so seamlessly, handles the loud speakers next to us well, is enthusiastic, makes her homeland sound incredible, important and exciting with good humor throughout. She also did this on short notice, in between appointments, and I had only had to ask one question. I love that!

This interview is about seven minutes, but I found it worth noting her many strengths as an interviewee.

A few months back I made a list of my top-ten list of countries I want to visit. The tiny green country of Bhutan did not make the list. Moreover, on ITKT, there are some 5000 stories with exactly ½ story about Bhutan (a single blog entry, sans photo).

For those who have never heard of Bhutan, the country is nothing more than a forested green dot smushed between neighboring super-powers, China and India. Yesterday, I had little information about the place. I could find Bhutan on a map and that the national sport is archer. I also thought it was a complicated and an expensive hassle to visit.

However, tonight changed everything as Bhutan Tourism made its way to Los Angeles on its first leg of a U.S. road show. This means Bhutan Tourism is meeting with the press and travel industry folks across the U.S. (only three stops, so it could be considered more of a mini road show).

During their stop in Los Angeles, I was fortunate enough to trap a couple of Bhutanese dignitaries for some Q and A about tourism and their country. While there are a lot of misconceptions, I found out that the number one foreign visitors to Bhutan come from the US. I also discovered that visa can be applied for online and they are only 20 bucks. There are 40 different cultural festivals held throughout the year. Most visitors leave for the countryside where they will find Matahama Buddhism, traditional culture thriving and 100% English speaking.

The only curious information I came away with is that visitors cannot just show up rent a car and bounce around the Bhutanese countryside on their own and must have a local tour operator confirming a traveler’s stay (although home stays and free time to explore are part of a typical Bhutan visit). If I were to make an educated guess, I would say travel restrictions have to do with maintaining Bhutan’s GNH (Gross National Happiness), strong national identity, unique culture and spiritual outlook on life.

However there are over 100 tour operators in the country and put together packages for interested travelers. I now need to update my top ten list.

For now, it looks like Bhutan will be courting travel agents and tour operators in Los Angeles and New York. So while I was happy to be one of the few journalists attending in Los Angeles, it is unlikely I will get an invite to share thoughts on Bhutan firsthand. Still gears in my head are grinding thinking about making my way to Bhutan one of these days.

For more about Bhutan.

Before the business of travel blogging begins, I wanted to share my latest performance of Cuando Calienta el Sol. There are times that a simple memory will make me cringe, produce an involuntary shudder. The embarrassments continued in Honduras as I do my darnedest to completely destroy Cuando, again (Here is the previous video of me singing in Spanish. So, it is a little over the top. I make mean singing faces and also “pump up the jam” to inspire a party atmosphere. This time I sing in a resort in La Ceiba, Honduras. Please note the colossally disinterested on-lookers as I attempt to ham it up to the point of unnecessary toward the end of the video. Still it was a lot of fun, but Luis Miguel does it better.

And just in case you want to give it a try…

As for the business of blogging, I have been slowly making changes to the site to make the experience better for the reader. I am also implementing new features that will hopefully drive a few more bucks through ITKT. Yes, making money online is still a complicated system as advertising dollars hide in deeper holes.

Newsletter

After some feedback from new and regular readers alike, I realize that updates twice a week is simply too many emails. I am now moving back twice a month. And still have to work out the problems with the cosmetics of the current template. I am still debating returning to the old school newsletter. It is more work, but the most well-received newsletter so far.

Making Money

I have a new game plan that hopes to focus on my success with social networking out into the corporate side of the travel industry.

Without a doubt, my favorite photos, from any trip, is always of the local people. After my recent trip to CATM 2010 in Antigua, Guatemala, I came home with the difficult decision of which photos to share. At some point, it becomes a guessing game (due to my lack of the learned photographic eye) as to what photos are “best.” But until a expert rolls along here are my current favorites from Guatemala, including Antigua, Guatemala City, Tikal and numerous stops along the way. Hope you enjoy my photos enough to inspire your own trip to Central America,

Whether it be the speed bump riddled ride to Copan Ruinas, Honduras; the winding roads to Languin, Guatemala; or simply being trapped o a two-lane road for hours of stopped traffic due to chicken bus that got stuck in the mud — and the ride continues. So does travel and travel writing.

During the last 10 days, I have spent far more time on a bus that at an attraction, or even one city. So, while I am not always thrilled with the meandering roads in Central America, but I have learned that there are an endless amount of good photos and even mini relationships to be had just outside the van’s window. This above photo is only one of many examples I have seen over the last couple of weeks.

And now the coming week…

Writing

I return from Central America on Tuesday and have numerous stories that range from outline to final edit. With so many ideas about traveling Guatemala and Honduras fresh in my mind, I have had small epiphany about how much the Internet has changed the quality of my writing (and the writing of many others). This may maove my focus away from Central America slightly. However, I have some changes I will be implementing in the coming weeks dealing with the negative results from writing quickly to compete with “breaking news” on the Internet. Of course this is only a beginning of a larger focus at both TWL and ITKT. Don’t worry, I have plenty to share about Honduras and Guatemala.

Email

Yes, email. I am about 1500 behind.

It has been a long week of traveling with a series of highs and lows. While lingering on the lows briefly feels good, the highs are what I always take home. Still, I want to share one low. I broke my camera lens (in two pieces) 10 minutes before arriving at Tikal. I moved from my seat on the bus and felt a snag. I choose to yank rather than investigate — an expensive mistake. These photos were taken by my low-res video camera.

I know I am due for a story and have a number of notes and outlines, 12 outlines to be exact, but no time on this trip to do any writing. I plan on locking myself in a small room and play catch up when I return.

For those who do not know, Tikal was a Maya stronghold for several centuries before coming what it is today, a park preserving a dynamic culture. And now on to Tikal…

As the saying goes, when you are given lemons, make lemonade. In my case, it would be limonada, and it would be a lot of limons. I am traveling in Guatemala and nothing is going well. It is not Guatemala’s fault. So here are some photos of some fun kids, who helped turn my inability to climb in a cave into something good. The pictures help take my mind off from a pair of bad knees and a handful of bad luck. It is important to note that some areas in Guatemala it is highly discouraged taking any photographs of kids. So always ask first and know some of the cultural differences of the area in Guatemala you might be in.

And for the week ahead…

Travel

I expect to get little accomplished beyond a few hurried blog entries over the next week. I fly out of the Guatemala’s highlands and fly to Guatemala City before heading to Antigua, then Honduras and looking for a changing stretch of good fortune.

My lids are propped by toothpicks due to a bumpy red-eye flight into Guatemala this morning. I sit in a dark corner of the Holiday Inn of Guatemala City and try to gather my barrings as I wait for my room. While my body is fighting me, I want to run into the street and do some exploring. I expect great things. The dawn views from my window-seat included the pluming of an active volcano just outside of Guatemala City. I am taking it as a sign of welcome. Much more to come about how to travel Guatemala in the coming days

Where does the time go? It only seems like weeks since I was exploring volcanoes, admiring the art in the artist enclave of Ataco, chatting with politicians, learning the meregue in Nicaragua, and escaping death (briefly perceived) in Death by Sandanista during my last visit to CATM (or the Central American Travel Mart) in El Salvador. This year, it is held in Antigua, Guatemala. The event will be similar to FITA, a show I visited a couple of weeks back.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from CATM including the pictures of several dignitaries I planned to, but did not interview including: The President of El Salvador, several ministers of tourism throughout Central America, a number of Miss Teen Universe contestants, and Miss Guatemala 2009 — I did catch her briefly on the dance floor at the event announcing Guatemala as the new locale for CATM 2010.

And now for my brief plans for the week in the business of travel blogging. As I am leaving on Wednesday, I have little precious time to take some of the action I want to make, so it will be a light week, sort of…

Writing

For the next three days, I hope to do nothing but, other than packing. I have some writing to do for ITKT, TWL, the Huffington Post and Technorati. Hopefully, eight articles in all. Most of these have notes and rough drafts, but all need to be read and reviewed.

Reading

ITKT is still behind when reviewing submissions, but I am hoping I can catch up to within three weeks — nebulous and elusive goal.

Travel

First plan is to travel Guatemala before the three days that is dedicated to a ballroom filled with tourism companies and organization all wanting to promoted someplace in Central America. I will be telling you about it over the next ten days. And then on to Honduras for my second visit in in two years.

In order to wash the image of me (even when wearing stripes) butchering a classic song from your mind, I offer this video by the incomparable Luis Miguel combining Cuando Calienta el Sol and a Buns of Steel video that puts most 80s hair band videos to shame. The first 30 seconds are slow and almost painful, but then the pillow fighting, thong-clad lovelies, shirtless hunks in teeny panties and sun kissed beaches take over.

For the record, I have also sung a karaoke version Luis Miguel’s Cuando Calienta el Sol in a charming bar in Puerto Morelos a few years back. I am grateful there is no video evidence of this humiliation.

Video by Teresa Rodriguez of Jetset Extra
Photo by Berenice L. Gonzalez