Why Latin America and the Caribbean?

I was first drawn to Latin America through literature, primarily through the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Pablo Neruda. A year or two later, I spent some time traveling in Latin America, Europe and Southeast Asia, but it was the tropical lowlands of Ecuador, Honduras, and other parts of Latin America which fueled my interest to carry on into grad school and learn about the region. I have had the privilege to become more involved in the Caribbean, doing archival research in Cuba and fieldwork on the Caribbean, "Mosquito Coast" of Honduras and Nicaragua. I practice Spanish every day and love the sound of the language, particularly creative fiction. A highlight of my travels, besides the joys of doing fieldwork, was visiting Pablo Neruda's house in Chile, and visiting the port city of Valparaiso.  As my research interests became more narrow, I am increasingly interested in how indigenous groups in Latin America use cities to gain political advantage, and how urban landscapes are altered due to unrest, migration etc.