It always feels like I am home when I return to the cool, rainy weather of Bogotá for a couple months each year. For years, this has been part of my yearly cadence that offsets the manic periods when I search, discover and travel to new places. Here in Bogotá though, the obligations of adventure are discarded, and I’d rather read a book and nap while I listen to the rain on the rooftop, warm under a blanket. This year, weeks sped past while I focused on work, naps and exercise. I had plans to climb the last remaining volcano on my bucket list in Colombia, but there was friction with the scheduling that I took as portent to delay it to another time. Maybe next year. I ran laps in the park after going to the gym each day, running hard to nowhere. My daily routines here feel like I am masquerading as a real person, living a conventional life in Bogotá. The locals know I am not, but it’s a fun game to play. I am reminded of the other conventional lives I have mimicked in cities around the world, in each one an experiment in a different […]
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I spent Easter in Orlando as a guest of Marce and her family, who were generous enough to host me and show me around. I also made a return trip to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, my first visit since 1993, when I came here with my dad. Some things hadn’t changed at all — Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, Muppets 3D, even parts of the Star Wars area, though it’s obviously been updated. It was cool seeing the same attractions three decades later, and the only regret I have is that Disney does not sell those giant turkey drumsticks at Hollywood Studios. So, instead, I compensated by eating three ice cream sandwiches. I’ll have to right that wrong on my next pass through Orlando.
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Renting a car and driving through Chile’s Lagos region (Los Lagos) from Temuco to Pucon and then on to Valdivia, Puerto Varas, and Puerto Montt was the ideal way to get a sense of just how big the country is. I was surprised at the number of volcanoes that walled the western horizon and how vacant the landscape appeared alongside them. Stretches of road feel like you are in an untouched, virgin frontier that has yet to succumb to people. Marce navigated through the geography as a copilot, flavoring my understanding of the Lagos region with anecdotes about the local cuisine, personal stories about eating it, and also helped translate Chilean when needed. For example, as good as I think my Spanish is (“meh”), it’s not good enough to understand turbo Chilean from the huevón facilitating my rental car at the Temuco airport. You’ll want to have a Marce for that. In case you are unaware, Spanish speakers often cite Chilean Spanish as the most difficult dialect to understand owing to the many idiomatic expressions and slang terms in use. Chileans have their own separate vocabulary, cachai? It’s a good thing I was with a woman who listens to Chilean […]
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It’s hard to stay away from Floripa, so I found a way to return for a week on my way out of Brazil. This time I stayed in the south of the island in a small town called Armação, which I hadn’t visited before. My Brazilian friend Laura had recommended it to me as a good place to stay, close to the beach, and chill. I had a lot of work, so I didn’t do much else except go to the gym, eat poke, take photos, and go to the beach. She and her mom made me a really great grilled fish dinner (see photo below). While visiting the beach at Pâtano do Sul (a place I stayed last time I was in Floripa). I stumbled upon the yearly celebration of the African sea goddess, Yemanjá. Yemanjá is a deity from the Yoruba religion that was brought to Brazil by African immigrants and is still practiced today (alongside others). The locals were dancing, singing, and doing capoeira all afternoon and into the night when they lit boats with candles and flowers and sent them out to sea. You can see the statue at the top of this page of Yemanjá. […]
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Ilhabela is an island in the state of São Paulo that I first visited a couple of years ago; this time again, I was accompanying my friend Val, as it is one of her places in Brazil and a convenient escape from the big city for a weekend. For me, the heat was difficult to deal with, especially on a long hike we did to a hidden beach, but looking back at the photos, it was worth the effort.
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I have a million places I want to visit in Brazil, and Pipa was one of them. I first heard about it from a mountain guide I had when I climbed Nevada de Tolima, a high volcano in Mexico. He described it as a beautiful beach backpacker destination that was very popular with foreigners—not my typical destination, I thought to myself, but I added it to my travel queue anyway — our expectations are often wrong when it comes to destinations we haven’t yet visited. Two years later, when I was in Joao Pessoa, Brazil, Pipa was also recommended to me as a place to visit as I continued to explore the country, which piqued my interest – it seemed like the universe wanted me to visit Pipa. It wasn’t until this year, though, that I had the opportunity to do so when my friend and Brazilian ambassador, Valquiria, suggested we visit for New Year’s. Great idea! Pipa’s MacGuffin happened to be a concert by one of Val’s favorite musicians, Ivete Sangalo. However, Ivete canceled the show. We weren’t going to another concert anyway in a super well-organized venue. This is not the first evidence I’ve encountered that Brazilians know […]
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I added a collection of my favorite photos I took in 2024 here. 2024 was a big year. I did a lot and traveled a lot (19 countries). Each of these images triggers memories and emotions; I preserve them here so that they are not forgotten.
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After cruising through Canada (Edmonton, Yellowknife, and Calgary), I returned to KC for Christmas. I had the privilege of visiting my brother and his family for both Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. Double holidays, double family, double pumpkin pie. This might become a yearly tradition! I was well-hosted on both occasions, and the opportunities to spend time with my nieces, Caroline and Olivia, and nephew William were very appreciated, along with my mother and step-father. My mother’s birthday is on Christmas, and Olivia helped me find a good birthday present for her, a Stanley mug. Apparently, they are very trendy amongst middle school girls, so I was assured my septuagenarian mother would love it. My mother, in turn, gifted me a funny little man made of felt (see photo, below), which might be an artistic representation of yours truly in a few more years. I would be so happy to have a sweater like he has — it looks very comfortable and warm. Thanks, everyone (especially my brother John), for having me and for your patience in enduring the sprawl of my belongings across the living room, dining room, and stairway as I integrated Amazon deliveries and new gear into […]
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