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Welcome to Patagonia, they chortled.

I set up my tent to a chorus of laughter. Chuckles turned to cackles, then built into contagious, breathless hilarity that shook the trees and rattled the windows of the houses around the lawn. It spread across the street, into the next yard, until the entire flock of black-winged jesters exploded from the tall pines, struggling [...]

Finish this sentence: All work and no play…

…make Jack Nicholson chase after his family with an axe through a topiary garden. Right?

Santiago isn’t exactly in the running for the setting of “The Shining II”, but I was definitely beginning to feel twitchy and cooped up. No wonder, with this as my most frequent work space:

Working through my pile of research in my [...]

Images from America’s Past

Gray skies gradually succumbed to the spirit of honor, gaiety, and remembrance at the 2011 American Indian Association of Florida, Inc. Powwow. By early afternoon the sun had emerged to cast its gentle, fall warmth on the gathering. I can’t duplicate the melody of bells jangling, feathers swooping, streamers flying, drums reverberating, and singers chanting here, [...]

new! and exciting!

Dear readers,

I’d like to point out a couple of new features on my website.  After almost two years of tinkering, it’s finally coming together according to my vision.  Thanks for being patient with me!

NEW: See that little “Subscribe” button to the left?  Type your email address in the box above the button, and every time I [...]

a month at the middle

The fun of the weekly market at Saquisilí began for me at around 4:30 AM when a baby sheep fell off the roof of the bus.  It dangled, hooves desperately seeking purchase on the smooth glass of my window.  I’d watched it (and eleven others) being hauled up, baaaaaing all the way, an hour before, during [...]

una aventura mas: days 1-13

The taxi hurtled downhill toward the abuelita and her flock.  Sheep scatter and pigs struggle to waddle out of the way.  Too late, the driver applies the brakes, and ka-thud-du-kahdada – one of the sows disappears under our wheels.  Oh dear god.  I’m horrified, expecting a scene, expecting the abuelita to fly at us in a rage – [...]

Welcome to Perú: April 19 – 30

Cusco, the city of the Incas, the cultural capital of Perú.  At 3400 meters above sea level (11,300ft) it sits, spread across a shallow valley: a sea of terracotta roofs at the center; on the outskirts adobe huts lap at the edges of low, green-brown mountains; the steeples and towers of the city’s countless churches poke upwards like islets. The [...]

teething: march 12 – 20

They’re called the Teeth of Navarino.  Better they should be called the Fangs.  Vicious, merciless, and sharp, these rocks bite.  El Circuito de Los Dientes de Navarino is the southernmost trek in the world, a five-days-plus mission into the exposed interior of the island that sits south of Ushuaia, between the water of the Beagle Channel [...]

secrets i’ve been keeping

Have you ever read the Stephen King novel, Cujo?  I haven’t, but I know it’s about a dog.  And as it’s a novel by Stephen King, I imagine that the dog turns into a monster, or is a monster in disguise, or is some sort of portal by which monsters are able to enter our dimension [...]

rollin’…rollin’…rollin’ on a river

I went a little bit photo-crazy on the Navimag cruise. I couldn’t help myself – everywhere, everywhere, islands like floating mountains, cliffs sparkling with countless ribbons of water, blinding white and blue glaciers hanging from black peaks, rainbows, dolphins, sunsets…my friends laughed at me because I would bolt my lunch and dinner and then race back to [...]