One side-effect of the George W. Bush presidency was that the walls of bathroom stalls in backpacker hangouts in cities such as Bangkok and San Jose were overflowing with handwritten opinions and jokes. The political graffiti his eight years in office produced was immense. The one-liners and paragraphs were seldom insightful, but never did I […]
Secrets in the City (Bogota, Colombia)
Stretched out at an elevation of 8,600 feet and home to more than seven million people, Colombia’s capital Bogotá is best seen in its entirety from Monserrate, a 10,300-foot peak located on the city’s east side. I use the word “entirety” loosely however, because I’m not sure we see anything — including Bogotá from a […]
10 Photos: Thailand’s Famous (and Infamous) Full Moon Party
If you’ve ever backpacked in Southeast Asia or have undertaken casual research into the global party scene, you’re familiar with Thailand’s Full Moon Party. Whenever that lunar ball is all lit up in the heavens, alcohol and travelers wash ashore on Ko Phangan, an island in the Gulf of Thailand. My first experience at the […]
Meeting Forrest Gump in Nicaragua
In November 2008, on the steps of the cathedral in León, Nicaragua, I came across a man who reminded me more of Forrest Gump than a beggar. When I asked if I could take his picture he was gracious in his reply and never once expressed interest in me giving him money. Picture complete, we […]
Thoughts on Extremes (or, Blinded on a Costa Rican Beach)
If you visit Costa Rica’s Marino Ballena National Park late in the afternoon and see a couple walking down the beach into the blazing light of a setting sun, you might take a picture. Later, in looking at the picture, you might decide you like how it could lead one to ask, “Is this couple on […]
12 Photos: Europe’s Migrant Crisis on Lesbos, Greece
Looking back on 2015, I think the hardest thing I did was spend only parts of three days on the Greek island of Lesbos, when the drama of the migrant crisis playing out there demanded more time than this. One million asylum seekers, many of them refugees from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, crossed to Europe by sea […]
Nha Trang Boat Trip with “Floating Bar”
The U.S. Coast Guard would be appalled, but drinking while adrift is a daily scene off the coast of Nha Trang, Vietnam. The “floating bar” is part of a popular all-day boat trip to outlying islands and it works like this: Shortly after lunch, a crewmember swims maybe 100 feet away from the boat with […]
The Benefits of Moments of Travel Misery
“There is little favorable to be said about poverty,” wrote Nelson Mandela in his book Long Walk to Freedom, “but it was often an incubator of true friendship.” I first read this line (and book) about 15 years ago, and I remember it sometimes in my moments of misery on the road. No, it’s not that […]
Paul Theroux and “Despair is the Armchair”
On most days of the year in the Colombian city of Bucaramanga, you can spot paragliders in the distance sailing along the valley’s edge. Or, if you take a bus up from the city to the mountainside itself, you can sit and watch folks gallop off the grassy slope right in front of your eyes. […]
10 Photos: Faces in Egypt the Night President Hosni Mubarak Resigned
On February 11, 2011, at 6:00 p.m., it was announced that Egypt’s president of 30 years, Hosni Mubarak, had vacated his position. At that moment tens of thousands of Egyptians were gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, participating in the 18th day of protest demanding political change in Egypt. Many demonstrators had come prepared to die […]