Sun Island to La Paz to…not Cochabamba

July 23, 2011

La Paz, Bolivia- I sat at the birthplace of the Inca sun god. Feeling his warmth, taking refuge from the wind behind a large stone and listened to the waves crash against the walls of rock below. This is the first island I’ve been on where life truly harkens back to another era. For most, [...]

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Thoughts Over Lunch on Lake Titicaca

July 19, 2011

Copacabana, Lake Titicaca, Bolivia Cold. It’s really cold here. Not arctic cold, or February in Cleveland cold, but a high-altitude chill that permeates everything. These buildings and their lack of any type of heat doesn’t help either. I refuse to get out of bed before 11:00 am in order to give the sun time to [...]

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Greetings From the Fishbowl – A.K.A. La Paz

July 15, 2011

La Paz, Bolivia – I can’t lie. I was beginning to feel a bit lonely in Coroico it was time for La Paz. I had my bag packed and was ready to go but some angry, protesting Bolivians had other ideas. Frustrated with unemployment and the inability of the government to do anything effectively they [...]

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Breaking Out of Sucre

July 11, 2011

Coroico, Bolivia – So I stayed in Sucre a few days longer than expected. I had originally planned to leave on Wednesday but when the time came to buy my bus ticket out of town there were too many people wanting to have one last dinner, go out for one last night or just simply [...]

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Tarabuco: Some Cool Hats and One Great Statue

July 4, 2011

Sucre, Bolivia – For the last month and a half I’ve had ‘Tarabuco Market’ on my list of things to do while in Sucre. It’s not in Sucre but the 65 kilometer drive makes it an easy trip that’s possible each Sunday. Any of the dozens of tourist agencies in downtown Sucre will sell you [...]

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One Week To Go

June 29, 2011

Sucre, Bolivia – As each day passes August 2nd looms bigger and bigger in my head. I feel as if I have yet to see much of Bolivia but at the same time think I’ve experienced more of the country and its culture by not moving around than most other travelers who pass through on [...]

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Vagabond Explorer Magazine Has Arrived!

June 24, 2011

Sucre, Bolivia – I don’t ready many magazines. Actually, at the moment I read no magazines. I hardly read the news or know about any current events in the world. If it’s important enough someone will tell me about it. For example, I first heard of the earthquakes in Japan while hitching in Chile from [...]

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A Lack of Idleness

June 16, 2011

Sucre, Bolivia- There hasn’t been a spot that I’ve traveled to that I haven’t wanted to leave until now. After one month of Sucre I’m still not ready to leave so I’ve decided to stay throughout June. I get booted out of Bolivia on August 2nd so I’ll hit the road again in July to [...]

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A Narration of the Last 24 Hours

June 3, 2011

Sucre, Bolivia – I’ve been in Sucre for two and a half weeks now and for most of that time I’ve neglected updating this blog on any type of regular basis. The main reason is because I wasn’t sure what to write about and I’ve enjoyed taking a break from all things travel related. But, [...]

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25th of May – Bolivia’s Independence Day

May 26, 2011

Sucre, Bolivia- Since I arrived in Sucre the sound of marching bands has filled the city. Everyday it’s been drums, trumpets and a host of other brass instruments filling the air as each school prepares for Bolivia’s Independence Day – 25th of May. While the capital of Bolivia has moved to La Paz, Sucre still [...]

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A New Home. A New Look.

May 22, 2011

Sucre, Bolivia- In the past, Wade from Vagabondjourney.com has asked me to transfer my blog and start writing on his site. In the past I’ve said no. There was something appealing about having my own space on the internet. When Wade asked me again and set-up all the groundwork to make it an easy transition [...]

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Trusting my Gut and Staying in Sucre

May 16, 2011

Sucre, Bolivia I think I have a good thing going here and I’m not moving…for a little while at least. I arrived in Sucre and immediately had the feeling that a person gets when leaving work on a Friday afternoon – Pure joy and excitement for the near future. There is something about this city [...]

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A Rich Past and a Present Struggle

May 12, 2011

Potosí, Bolivia After an unexpected day of freezing temperatures with snow and rain I woke up today with a clear blue sky and warmish temperatures. Such is the weather when your 4000 meters up in one of the highest cities in the world. Potosí itself is a pleasant city, however, with a look around one [...]

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It’s All Just Honky Dory in Bolivia

May 11, 2011

Potosí, Bolivia I’m really not sure what to write about at the moment. I’m enjoying Bolivia but I haven’t been able to put my thoughts and experiences of the last few days into words. So much seems the same but a quick look out the window tells me that Bolivia has its own culture and [...]

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4×4 To Bolivia

May 6, 2011

Uyuni, Bolivia I was ready to get out of the desert. My nose couldn’t handle it any longer. I was ready for a place a bit less refined than Chile and Argentina and place where the first thought is ‘anything goes’ and thoughts on safety standards come in a distant second. A place where things [...]

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High and Dry

May 3, 2011

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile The Atacama Desert: Dry, rocky and brown. How Dry? In some places it is said to have never rained. No matter what the statistics it is widely believed that this is the driest desert on Earth which is dry enough to cause myself to have constant nose bleeds. How rocky [...]

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El Dia Ultimo

April 30, 2011

Salta, Argentina I woke up, shook off the previous night and hit the streets at the respectable hour of 1:00 pm. My mission for the day was to shamelessly enjoy the best of what northeastern Argentina has to provide food-wise. After three months today was my final day in Argentina so what better way to [...]

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Living It Up In Salta

April 29, 2011

Salta, Argentina There was a South African, a Scotsman, and two Irishmen sitting in a room… This sounds like the beginning of a bad joke but it was actually the beginning of my Sunday night that turned into one of those unforgettable nights on the town. Needless to say getting up on Monday morning was [...]

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Two Lives Compared

April 23, 2011

The Side of the Road, Argentina I was a happy traveler once again on the move out of Asuncion and out of Paraguay. I moved through immigration easily and was welcomed to Argentina for the fourth time. I was traveling on one of the double decker luxury buses that have come to spoil me. I [...]

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Should I Stay or Should I Go?

April 22, 2011

Asuncion, Paraguay Paraguay is an interesting place to travel simply because no one else travels here. The infrastructure is not set-up for tourists. It’s barely set-up for its own citizens. The idea that someone wants to visit Paraguay seems to baffle its own citizens. ‘Paraguay? Why are you here?’ they ask. Stuck between three of [...]

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White Beach on the Cerrado

April 19, 2011

Laguna Blanca, Paraguay After 40 kilometers on a bus that I can only describe as spectacularly dilapidated on a dirt road that gave a whole new meaning to ‘bumpy’ I was dumped off at a cross roads in the middle of absolutely no where. To my right was a repair shop, a shirtless, large bellied [...]

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Grit, Grime and Concrete

April 15, 2011

Ciudad del Este, Paraguay From Puerto Iguazu in Argentina to the border town of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay it’s a one hour bus ride through three countries (Argentina, Brasil, and Paraguay) costing 8 pesos ($2). The ride also set a record for the shortest amount of time I’ve ever been in one country – [...]

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Wonderful Water

April 13, 2011

Puerto Iguazu, Argentina There is only one word to describe Iguazu Falls – Unreal. Even after seeing them I doubt whether they actually exist. I must have dreamed it because sights like this only exist in a fantasy world created by Hollywood. Or so I thought. From Iguazu Falls 2011-04Real or a shot from ‘Avatar’? [...]

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Catching Some Rays

April 9, 2011

Cordoba, Argentina It’s been way too long since I’ve caught any waves, sand and sun simultaneously (I think it was last in January). Being so long ago and so close to an ocean in Valparaíso I couldn’t allow this streak continue. Valparaíso itself is no beach town; just a lot of freighters unloading cargo but [...]

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One Bright Spot in a Country Full of Inconveniences

April 3, 2011

Valparaiso, Chile Chile is the first country I’ve been to that I’m beginning to genuinely dislike. It’s not for any one thing in particular but for many small things that have accumulated over time. Each time I enter this country it feels as if I’m confronted with inconvenience after inconvenience or feel as if I’m [...]

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Malberific

March 31, 2011

Maipú, Argentina I was in Mendoza for one reason and one reason only – Wine. Being the central wine spot for all of Argentina visiting Mendoza without visiting a winery would be the same as not visiting a winery while in Napa Valley. The actual city of Mendoza didn’t do much for me. It’s just [...]

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On the Side of the Road from Bariloche to Mendoza

March 28, 2011

Mendoza, Argentina After I bought some shoes in Bariloche there wasn’t much else to hold my attention. The town is perched on the edge of a lake with mountains in the distance and most people visit the town for hiking, skiing and taking in the beautiful surroundings. I had just spent a month in Patagonia [...]

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Next Steps and Wet Feet

March 23, 2011

Bariloche, Argentina Thud…Thud…Thud. The rain clouds have yet to finish dumping rain in La Junta and a pool of collected rain water continues to drip against the corrugated metal roof above me. The consistency of the drip keeps me awake and in the sleepless midnight hour thoughts of my next steps begin to clutter my [...]

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Getting Out

March 19, 2011

La Junta, Chile For the last couple of weeks since I’ve been in Chile I’ve been moving along the Carretera Austral. The carretera is the main route from Chile Chico to the northern part of the Aysén region. It’s become a popular spot for Israelis to hitch on their gap year after their military service [...]

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Brazo de Reina Disaster

March 16, 2011

Coyhaique, Chile For now, I’m just waiting around. Still waiting for that ATM card that should arrive any day now. There are far worse places I could be stuck but there are also far better. Early fall is settling into the Aysén Region of Chile making for cold, wet days and colder, wetter nights. The [...]

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