| Happy Thursday!
In a near decade of reporting on the world, with a stable of intrepid writers and carousers making stories geared to people who might pass through Somaliland, Yerevan, or even Milwaukee, need to know where to get breakfast in Timphu, Bhutan, or might choose to ride the world's longest cargo train in Mauritania, there aren't many countries that don't have real estate in our archives, some way or another. But even to us, Turkmenistan—perhaps the most closed and secretive of the 'Stans—remains a bit of a mystery. Little information comes in and out and journalists rarely get access. A few years back, we ran this Q&A with Eleonora Strano, who got a rare glimpse of the country when she taught French there. In addition to her fascinating photos of the people she met, Strano shared with us some tantalizing facts: Turkmenistan has a penchant for making the Guinness Book of World Records for "improbable" things, such as the highest flag in the world or the biggest indoor wheel; there is only one internet operator; the former president, Saparmurat Niyazov, changed the names of the days of the week and months: "You couldn't say April or Monday, you had to use the names of people in his family," said Strano. That's why we're excited to partner with Atlas Obscura to give our readers a chance to win two spots on their 10-day Turkmenistan trip this spring. The prize includes accommodation and most meals, $750 towards flights, and all internal transport, and the guided trip takes in the capital, Ashgabat, deserts, dunes, and ruins, swimming in underground thermal lakes, all the Soviet nostalgia you can handle, and a night spent next to the Gates of Hell, a burning crater (an "accident" created by well-meaning Soviet geologists). The contest is open to legal permanent residents of the contiguous 48 U.S. states, and winners will be announced around November 18th. Sign up here to enter, and good luck! This week, we kicked off the Portugal sessions of The Trip podcast with our friend and long-time photographer and collaborator Eduardo Leal. A native of Porto, Portugal's second largest city, like many of his generation Eduardo left his home to find his fortune and build a career in photojournalism, along the way bartending, cleaning mussels in Edinburgh restaurants, doing telephone surveys, and living in London, Scotland, Colombia and Peru. These days, he covers the Venezuela crisis and the Hong Kong protests for the Washington Post, TIME, and others. Over a bottle of vinho verde, we talk about Portugal's underrated food and wine, how tourism and the hordes of Rodinhas or "rolly bag people" have changed his hometown beyond recognition, and how he ended up covering Asia from his newest home in Macau, China. Next week, we're talking with "food sherpa" and co-founder of Culinary Backstreets, Ansel Mullins. Until next week! —Alexa | 
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