The New York Times reported that many buildings in Santiago appeared unscathed from the outside, but inside, they were heavily damaged. Other reports suggest that rebuilding will take three to four years. And the quake created little curiosities, such as moving Concepcion 10 feet closer to the sea, and Buenos Aires an inch closer. The temblor could even spike the cost of paper 5 percent and take a huge bite out of the supply of Chilean wine.

Triporati’s Chile expert Wayne Bernhardson, in nearby Uruguay at the time, cited reports from friends that many of the coastal towns in central Chile will never be the same.

But Chile will recover, and vast areas in the north and south (Nasca, Patagonia) were unaffected and remain accessible. And this may be a time when Chile needs our support more than ever. That’s worth considering if thinking about changing your travel plans.

The 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics was also a Canadian affair. It was the last Olympics where Cold War rivalries played out on the world sporting stage. It was the year of the Jamaican Bobsled team and Eddie the Eagle, the courageous Scottish everyman who soared in the ski jump, or at least gave it his best.

For Olympic nerds, like me, it was the year of the Battle of the Brians in figure skating where the American Brian Boitano won the gold. I remember most of all the amazing scenery, Lake Louise and the stunning aerial photography of the Canadian Rockies. A two-hour drive from Calgary, Banff is to Calgary what Whistler is to Vancouver.

The town of Banff was created by happenstance in the late 19th century when railway workers discovered hot mineral springs. Visitors came, and later it was designated a National Park. A majestic lodge, The Banff Springs Hotel, was built more than a century ago and has been dubbed the “Castle in the Rockies.”

Today the area appeals to the posh crowd.  Galleries, swanky shops and fine dining are as much a part of the experience as dog-sled rides, skating and hitting the slopes. Looking for the top things to do on a trip to the Canadian winter wonderland? Check out the CanadianRockies.net list of the top 11 attractions.

But that didn’t deter Nicole Zimmerman, a Brazilian-born American who danced her way into a samba school to experience Carnival from the inside out. She tells her story in the LA Times.

If you can’t get to Rio for tonight’s “special groups” parade (the second of the big competition) you haven’t missed out. The top six samba clubs march again Feb. 20 in the Champions Parade.

My parents are way more adventurous, but it still would probably stress them out to travel the way I often do: informed, well read, but ready to alter my plans at any moment. I have to hand it to them though, for folks in their 70s, they are pretty inspirational.

Just like a concerned parent, I fretted when my father traveled to Myanmar on his own and when my mom and her best friend took a whirlwind trip to Greece and Turkey. They are young at heart and never wanted to follow a travel formula, which is in part why I love to travel so much.

These days, grandparents are not constrained by previous generations’ notions of a great trip. Many want adventure and are willing to break the shackles of the seniors travel model. A recent article in the New York Times, Seeing Old Age as a Never-Ending Adventure, puts the spotlight on active, thrill seeking seniors.

People are living longer, and now many older folks are grappling with issues, such as how to pack medications appropriately for the Australian outback or Alaskan glaciers, not merely trying to decide which restaurant to hit for the early bird special. One 74-year-old mountaineer made it 28,000 feet up Mount Everest before turning back, just 1,000 feet short of the summit. Whether it is bragging rights, return to adolescence or the sheer joy of adventure seniors are seeking, travel experts are taking note of the growing phenomenon.

The day before the tragic earthquake in Haiti I was reading a heart warming story in The New York Times about another area of the world rising from the ashes. The Balkans, recovering from the unspeakable atrocities of the 1990s, had some good news to share. A train linking Sarajevo and Belgrade was now back on track after nearly 20 years.

The route, famous in the region, was once a literal link between Serbs, Croats and Bosnian Muslims in this part of the world that was once known as Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia had been famously knit together by Communism and Tito, but the cohesion couldn’t hold and the region exploded into war and chaos following Tito’s death and the fall of the Berlin Wall. The bridges were targeted in the bombings and were a major challenge to rebuild.

The train ride today is not a seamless journey, but one that requires two passport checks, rail equipment from four countries, and nearly eight hours for the 300 miles between cities. This journey, which covers a shorter distance than from San Francisco to Los Angeles or DC to Boston, has become a symbol of rebirth for many in the Balkans.

Folks on the maiden voyage recalled the party atmosphere, reminiscent of the Sarajevo Winter Olympics in 1984. Those games had been a high point for many, and a positive window into their world, just a few short years before the ethnic hatred exploded into war. The political tension is still high in the region, but with much of the infrastructure destroyed in the war from 1992 to 1995, a renaissance of this train route is cause for celebration.

In late 1991 I was planning a trip to Yugoslavia (my honeymoon to be exact) when the news from the Balkans was not good. A Croat colleague in France at the time warned me not to go, so instead my husband and I traveled to Hungary and Czechoslovakia. I hope to plan a trip sometime soon to Croatia, and I may just book a trip on the Balkan Hope train.

On the Times’s list this year I’d put Copenhagen, Shanghai, and Costa Rica in the first category, Damascus, Bahia, and Istanbul in the second category, and Shenzhen (China), Koh Kood (Thailand), and Montenegro in the third.

Number 1 on the list, however, is Sri Lanka, and that’s a place I’d put at the top of my list for this year, a country I last visited in 1979. The island is just emerging from three decades of civil war and finally, one hopes, can put such strife behind. The island is rich in archaeological treasures, ancient culture, exotic (from a Western perspective) wildlife, and pristine beaches. Not to mention the home of a revered relic, “Buddha’s Tooth.” It’s time for a return visit.

The list was compiled by Jeff Greenwald and Christy Hoover at EthicalTraveler.org, a nonprofit organization (part of the Earth Island Institute) that urges travelers to spend their travel dollars in ways that protect human rights and minimize impacts on the environment. They acknowledge that no country on the list is perfect (what country off the list is?) but they found lots of hope and inspiration in many places.

Some countries that made the top 10 may surprise you, others may make complete sense to you. Alphabetically they are:

Argentina
Belize
Chile
Ghana
Lithuania
Namibia
Poland
Seychelles
South Africa
Suriname

The Ethical Traveler report discusses the attributes and endeavors that allowed these countries to rise to the top. The next step for us is to see which of these places are on our travel wish lists and start planning.

The building process spans November and December. Artists from all over the world come to help build the frozen palace, and each week a new “wing” of the hotel is open to guests.  This year, headline artists came from Chile, Bulgaria and Japan. The 2009/2010 Ice Hotel will have 62 rooms. A live webcam lets you keep up with this extreme architectural endeavor.

This year’s creation features an Absolut Vodka ice bar, an ice cinema, an ice chapel, ice family rooms and ice suites. Four thousand tons of ice is used each year. Room rates start at about $300. Guests sleep on reindeer skins and the accommodations are surprisingly cozy, according to a colleague who made the trip a few years ago.

It is of course the darkest time of the year, but if you visit this part of Sweden now you may get a chance to see the famed Northern Lights or maybe the occasional flying reindeer. You can check out our Triporati Sweden Ice Hotel video and see for yourself…this is certainly the ultimate place to chill.

The oldest, in the French city of Strasbourg in Alsace on the German border, has been active since 1570. Georgia Hesse, in the San Francisco Chronicle, ably describes the appeal of such markets and the particular draw of Strasbourg, where visitors stroll the lanes where Goethe, Gutenberg, and Albert Schweitzer once wandered.

Many markets last through New Year’s Day and some even run through the Epiphany on January 6, but others close up shop on Christmas Eve, so hurry, time’s running out.

Climbing to the top of the central pyramid with our son in a backpack was one of those peak travel moments, part Rocky, part Raiders of the Lost Ark. Negotiating the narrow steps, worn from centuries of foot traffic, exacerbated my festering fear of heights. There are 365 steps, one for each day of the year. I had my bulky old Nikon FE camera and the film was loaded incorrectly, so we don’t have pictures to prove we made it to the top. I still curse myself for not loading the film more carefully because tourists are no longer allowed to climb the central pyramid of El Castillo. The ministry of culture prohibited it in 2004.

A short walk from El Castillo you will find a large ball court where Mayan men played a game called pok ta pok. Experts believe that the object of the game was to hurl a ball through a ring that was mounted on a wall, seven meters above the ground. Each team had six field players who would attempt to pass the ball to their captain without using their hands. He would try the shot using a type of racquet. The captain of the team that made the first successful “basket” was then decapitated as a sacrifice to the gods! The Mayans saw this as an honor and a guaranteed ticket into heaven. The spiritual and, yes, gory quality of the game is palpable, as the imaginary sounds of the sacred arena seem to echo all around. Standing there, in awe of the Mayan culture, one can honestly envision the game as it must have played out, albeit informed by a History Channel reenactment.

It’s usually hot so get there early. Touring Chichen Itza makes a long day trip from Cancun or Merida, so we chose to stay in Valladolid, just 40 minutes from Chichen Itza. In fact, we had the best Yucatecan meal of our two week trip in our hotel.

The site is open 365 days a year and you could easily spend the whole day there.  Soon, however you will be able to take a virtual tour on your iPhone thanks to U-Tour, a multimedia company based in the Mexican state of Chiapas, but to see the iguanas skittering across the ancient structures, you’ll have to make the trip south of the border.