When I woke up on day one in Santiago, the first order of business was to procure a new camera. While I love my little 2 megapixel job, and it’s good in a pinch, it’s just not the device you want on a trip like this. After asking directions from…
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Stuck
The bus ride to Chile was very scenic. But not as scenic as it would have been with my camera. Unfortunately it was pretty long as well. Even longer without my camera. It was like I’d lost a friend. Sad, I know, but that’s really how it felt. Now some…
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Gone
For better or worse, as with pretty much every country I visit, my Lonely Planet guide book has a hand in deciding my outlook on the destination. The section on Bolivia (and especially La Paz) was written with a loving flare not present in the others. Someone loved this place……
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Pocket
I’ve never ridden a Greyhound bus. I’ve never been in a major U.S. bus station, or even picked anyone up from one. I remember dropping some of my teammates off at the Greyhound station in Joplin, but I never went in. This struck me as odd as I sat in…
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Reeds
After Machu Picchu, I had some decisions to make, the primary of which being: Where to go next? I could head on to La Paz, or take a quick trip over to Lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca. Heh. I still laugh when I say it. I know, I know. So, based…
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Inca
After my “experience” with the little plane in Nazca, I was ready to go. The previous day (Friday) I’d booked an overnight bus to Cuzco, Peru, which I boarded at 8:00 pm Saturday night. I was ready for a little sleep. We were treated to a Spanish-dubbed version of “Red…
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Lines
I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have made it in the Air Force. Aside from being too big to fit into pretty much any cockpit ever designed, I simply don’t have the stomach for it. I hate roller coasters. For some, the sensation of rapidly climbing to dizzying heights and then…
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Small
By default, our physical presence determines a lot about how we see ourselves and how others see us. Being 6’9”, it’s not often I feel undersized. Occasionally when playing basketball I’ll run across someone taller than myself, but those meetings are few and far between. My brief time in Ecuador…
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Centro
My departure from Costa Rica effectively ended the first leg of the trip. Central America is in the books and admittedly it’s been a bit of a whirl-wind. I’ve traveled a little faster than I probably should have, seemingly spending almost as much time on a bus as in a…
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Panama
The bus to Panama left at 1:00 pm, so with the ordeal in Nicaragua fresh in my mind, I arrived at the station at 11:30. I checked in, at the same time asking them to reprint my ticket as somehow, even with my passport in their hands, someone managed to…