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Foodies Unite! World Nomads / Intrepid Travel Seek Adventurous Foodies to Join On Travel Assignment to SRI LANKA

ByChristina Santos

When the call was put out to  “Cook, Snap & Share your most memorable travel recipe” to win a Sri Lankan food adventure, I heard it loud and clear and jumped at the chance to enter.

My most memorable travel recipe is a simple one— yet poignant and oh so memorable to me. It’s taken from a page ripped straight out of my Au Pair diaries—ephemera from my halcyon days of my first year in Madrid—and serves to remind me of when I was young and fearless. I had Life and the whole world ahead of me.

Recipe for a Good Day
A Recipe for a Perfect Day in el Retiro Park, Madrid

Being a vegetarian—with strong vegan tendencies—in Madrid means my food choices can be limited and often times, boring. Couple that with the fact that I grew up with a Mexican mother (from Jalisco no less), I’m used to—nay, crave—spicy food all the time. However the average Spanish tongue does not tolerate spicy food—most “flavoring” are often limited to: olive oil, garlic, coarse salt, parsley and occasionally, pimentón (a Spanish paprika of sorts). Whenever I go home for visits, you better believe I come back to Madrid with a suitcase stuffed full of bottles of Tapatío and Tajín.

World Nomads, Intrepid Travel, hear my call, I sound my barbaric yawp over the rooftops of the world: I’m in desperate need of spicing up my Life, ehm, tongue.

You say “adventurous foodie.” I say, “baby, I was just born (and raised) this way.“

Sri Lanka, bring it.

Former Au Pair Extraordinaires, turned best travel buddies ever
Former Au Pair Extraordinaires, turned best travel buddies ever

I even threw in my old video application—in which I made the Top 5!—for the Entirely Kiwi, Entirely World Famous travel competition for good measure.

For more articles on Sri Lanka featured on Tango Diva, take a look at co-founder Teresa Rodriguez’s emotional article on the powers of connecting and learning about different cultures through letter exchanges “A Letter From Sri Lanka.”

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Deprived of her own room as a child, Christina found locking herself in the bathroom and pouring over encyclopedias or writing in her journals more stimulating than watching MTV with her 5 sisters. It was during those bathroom days that she discovered a world far from her suburban upbringing and developed an incurable case of wanderlust.

Christina received her degree in Communication Studies from San Francisco State University, but has since been self-diagnosed with Peter Pan Syndrome and would rather pursue a life of adventure and wayfaring, than settling down. She worked as an au pair in Madrid, Spain for a year and fell head over heels in love with the country and continues to plot her return.

Limited by a shoestring budget, she dreams of a designer wardrobe and an insouciant life, filled with travel and free of college-loan debt. Christina hopes to continue her love affair with acquiring knowledge by supplementing her Wikipedia addiction with traveling the world. When she travels, she doesn't always manage to get much sightseeing done; rather she prefers connecting with locals to soak up the indigenous culture. She loves people watching, independent cafés and goes no where without a journal in hand.

Some of her favorite travel memories often occur after she has scrapped all plans and just went with the flow:

The utter beauty of Paris at sunset and the solemn glory of attending Christmas Mass at Notre Dame.
Ambling aimlessly and alone in London and loving every minute of it.
Falling from the top bunk NYE night in Dublin
Couchsurfing through Andalucía for Semana Santa.
Returning to the motherland of Portugal with my father, after he hadn't been home in over 40 years and witnessing him be brought to tears at a Fado show.
Being surprised with tickets to a sold-out FC Barcelona fútbol game when visiting a friend in Barcelona.
Driving 8 hours straight to Lisbon, after working 8 hours and dancing in the clubs until 8am, then going to the beach to sleep for a bit before heading back to Madrid.
Being in Madrid when Spain won Eurocopa 2008 and cheering on España with my fellow Madrileños.

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