Backpacking
In Search Of The Real Lost World: Scaling Mount Roraima
My trek the top of Mount Roraima was an accidental adventure. Serendipitous? Yes. Rewarding? No doubt about it. However, there were times when I would have given anything to be anywhere other than on that mongrel of a mountain in Venezuela. A table-top mountain or mesa — synonymous with this part of South America — […]
The Visa Run Diaries
What would Che say? Perspiring at a rate that suggests total disintegration is imminent, the police officer wiped another sweat globule from his a forehead. “Where are your papers?” he asks. With nostrils floating in a sea of rubbery flesh, shirt buttons straining against a bloated paunch, the overall impression is one that makes me […]
10 Things I Pack When Traveling (And 10 Things I Leave At Home)
1) Extra ATM Card with $100 I was this close to being stuck in a sleepy town in Cambodia with little more than a pair of shoes and a passport to my name. The ATM machine ate my bank card, and with the upcoming bank holiday on Monday, I could’ve been stuck for three days, […]
The 7 Commandments Of A South American Roadtrip
Take one old and, as it turns out, less than reliable Volkwagen Combi. Paint it purple, and make it convertible. Fill it with a motley and changeable crew of South American musos, European backpackers and one dog. Hit the Panamericana, and drive north. That, baby, is where the sun is. Before you do, though, you’ll want […]
Getting Off That Darned Beaten Path In Cambodia
With prices dropping in the fall and the rainy season letting up in November, now is the time of year travelers start booking those trips to Southeast Asia. And just in time for pre-trip planning, Lonely Planet and CNN both came out with articles on getting off the proverbial beaten path in Cambodia. Lonely Planet […]
Seeking The Final Frontier In Palawan
The silver rays of the rising sun creep between the limestone outcrops that dominate the tiny bay; darkness divides into long shadows that slide back up the dampened sands. Beneath the arching palms, all is harmonious. Then the peace of my wood cabin is shattered by an almighty clatter of corrugated iron and a banging […]
Mexican Road Trip: Should You Do it?
Braving an awesome experience comes with the weight of cost and benefit. To experience a culture — the people, the language, the street food — as authentically as possible is always the goal. Some no longer wish for simply Tex-Mex. Some want the real thing. At the end of the day, whether you actually take […]
Lost In Uruguay
A good friend once told me: “Sometimes it’s nice to get a little dirty.” On this rock we call Earth, there are two places that I love: the country and the city. I grew up in the countryside of Canada, and even though it was wonderful, I wanted to move to the city where I […]
Searching For Jaguars In Paraguay
“Be Careful,” he shouted at me in clearly articulated Spanish as I began to walk towards the glowing green foliage of Cerro Cora National Park. “We’ve seen the jaguar out there three or four times already this month. It rained last night, so any prints you see will have been fresh.” As the park warden continued […]
Madre De Dios
The rain sounded different to Cusco rain. Fatter, wetter somehow, the decadent splatter of water on leaf. The drugs had me pinned between an exhausted indifference to whatever may have been crawling through the holes in walls and window screens, and a lurid imagining of too-many-legged tarantulas seeking escape from the rain under the worn […]