Funny, how even six empty beds in a dorm room, filled the night before with people who said hello and meant it, can leave one with a cavernous hollowness. Across the globe — and across the heart that dwells on the globe, beating in rooms and with people — there are myriad forms of pain. […]
The Stranger Who Blessed Me (Mompos, Colombia)
I no longer remember the name of the gentleman in this photo. I do, however, remember that we met on the street my first day in Mompos, a sleepy town on the Magdalena River in Colombia. He said hello, and when he asked how long I would be visiting, I conveyed as best I could […]
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 […]
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. […]