This weekly series focuses on budget hotel gems we discover while on the road. This week: Cabinas Atlantic Surf in Cahuita, Costa Rica.

5 June marked our 400th day on the road – it has been over a year now since we started traveling and while time has flown by, those first few days of nomadic freedom also seem a lifetime away from where we are now (which is Lisbon, Portugal, by the way!)

Nicaraguan presidential elections take place in 2011, and the people here are passionate politicos. Check out this house painted in full support for Daniel Ortega and the FSLN Sandinista party.

One thing I do in every place I visit: I get a bird’s eye view of the city. If there is a high point in town, a high building, or …

One thing I do in every place I visit: I get a bird’s eye view of the city. If there is a high point in town, a high building, or …

After months of traveling through some less than gay-friendly locations, we find that we wrestle with what has essentially become a half in, half out of the closet lifestyle. As gay travelers, are there times when we should go back inside the closet? And if we do go back in, how far is too far?

Check out the basket, made out of….Rooster? Yes, we found Rooster Baskets in Masaya, Nicaragua.

We spent three weeks exploring Portugal’s capital which surprised us with its diversity, charming tiled houses, friendly people and adorable neighborhoods.

We were recently nominated by Nicole and Cameron, the Traveling Canucks, a project which was started by Tripbase, with the goal being ‘to unite bloggers (from all sectors) in a joint endeavor to share lessons learned and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts that deserve to see the light of day again’. Read on for the seven we chose!

This week’s Polaroid features the medieval mountain town of Barga in northern Italy.