http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/A-License-To-Wander/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from A License To Wander en-us Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:08:47 +0000 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:08:47 +0000 And so she walks in the cool morning having risen early before the others in her hostel room hoping to catch one of the first buses to the boarder. But she isnt crossing. Like her life she balances on an edge between worlds in them but not of them. She waits patiently in line at the entrance and after entering walks angrily for twenty minutes over the double price for foreign tourists. 60 pe http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/blog-362190.html In the morning we arrived with our bagsone packed for storage with all the things we would not need for the jungle. Such as knitting needles a summer dress or full bottles of shampoo for example. The second bag held my mosquito tent toothbrush pants headlamp and an extra shirt. I wore my shorts and my other shirt. Underware did not end up mattering much I ended up wearing my swimsuit for http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Beni-Department/Rurrenabaque/blog-360392.html Unlike other individuals three days in the Pampas fueled my desire to see more jungle. Many people consider the Pampas to not be real jungle and indeed it is not. However of my fellow Pampas explorers Ido was the only one brave or should I say foolish enough to accompany me. In the beginning as we planned our jungle adventure we decided on seven days. Three days seemed too short and onl http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Beni-Department/Rurrenabaque/blog-360346.html The tick was the size of a small grape. I found his fat body buried in the tan fur of Tidies neck. I was careful not to grab strands with my thumb and forefinger. The tick waved his legs feebly frantic for his warm home.I dropped him on the ground and let my foot drop. Like a ketchup packet his belly split and spurted stale blood into the dirt. As Tidie trotted away to chase chickensI sat dow http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Salta/Cafayate/blog-359654.html Tiny gnats flew into my eyes crazed by my headlamp into comacozies of crumpled wings and broken legs. I wiped them free with the back of myhand and turned off my light. The LCD light though longlasting was very dim and I waited for others in the boat to spot the caimons with their handheld lights. Our boat a wooden banana that tipped dangerously with every weight shift moved forward silent http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Beni-Department/Rurrenabaque/blog-354840.html Finally I have found an empanada that did not make me question its palatability. The baked pastries filled with everything from a simple slice of cheese to potatoes meat and vegetables and folded into a calzonelike shape grace the streets of Bolivia. Most empanadas are cooked in the morning and placed in carts parked along the street by old women or in a bakery window. As the day warms the br http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Salar-de-Uyuni/blog-348858.html The animal in my belly bit tearing into my soft skin. The pain smiled at me blood dripping from black teeth. I moaned whispering words in tight gasps twisting my legs beneath me to release the pain. The bathroom floor floor was wet from the shower and soaked through the blanket I had pulled from my bed upstairs. The door was locked the light reflecting off the white tiles. Shivering in pain a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/La-Paz/blog-345557.html After spending an afternoon dodging candy stands manned by apathetic women and enduring promotional speeches by every tour company in Nasca I decided to wake early in the morning and walk the four kilometers to the airport and book my flight over the lines there. Stubbornly I refused to spend more money that what needed to be spent forgoing sleep and relaxation in the process. The early morning http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Nazca/Nazca-Lines/blog-344751.html Proud as I am to be an American for one day being a Canadian would have been the desirable option. Bolivia for reasons relating to poltical opposition of Socialism versus Democracy and drug farming has evicted American missionaries from their country and made entering the area twice as difficult for American travelers. I had heard the visa costs were over a hundred dollars that the visa would http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Copacabana/blog-344512.html At three I moved from my place by the pool to change into pants. I figured that my stretch pants had a higher capability of being pulled down or worse case scenerio completely off and cordoroys were the better bet. The afternoon was only just beginning to cool and people melted into a sludge of hot apathy began to rouse themselves and wander the town of Huacachina. I packed my backpack and m http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-340993.html Remembering a story told to me about a man who blew his nose on the buss window curtains during a Peruvian visit I tried as much as one can on a four hour journey from Lima to Ica not to let any part of my body touch the window. Cruz Del Sur the only company I actually tried to attain the prices for was double everything quoted in my guidebook. I decided to just show up at Soyuz a cheaper http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-339708.html As I closed my truck door in the darkness I could hear howling through the trees. First one then two until all had joined and the forest vibrated with the rise and fall of their voices. The night closed around me on the way to my door. I followed the faint outlines of my footprints in the evening snow moving faster pacing myself to the beat of the wild playing in my ears. Sunday was when I fi http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alaska/Fairbanks/blog-333079.html I canrsquot believe it snowed in September. I remember my first fall in Fairbanks. I arrived October 11th in a 737 on a dark evening with one piece of luggage. The sky was still thinking about dropping snow and ice cracked beneath my shoes as I walked across the parking lot. A week or so later the sky finally made a decision and the brown earth was put to sleep. Two inches of the stuff fell Thur http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alaska/Fairbanks/blog-331143.html ldquoI thought you closed the lid before you got in the carrdquo I said feeling myself panic as I stared at Peppirsquos open Thule. ldquoUmhellipI thought you didhellip.I may have left it open when I got out the dog treatshelliprdquo said Peppi. ldquoCraprdquo I replied as I started to ruffle through the Thule looking for missing items. All my clothes boots and gear seem http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alaska/Palmer/blog-329526.html Life changes after being away for a summer. But in many instances friends remain the same and you find yourself slipping cozily back into a routine like you had never left. In Fairbanks among certain circles rock climbing is considered to be a lifestyle choice one that bleeds into mountaineering and ice climbing during the winter and spring months. Fairbanks itself has little in the way of cl http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alaska/Fairbanks/blog-326480.html Fairbanks a town keen on community and participation in local events not to mention a rabid interest in physical pursuits of any kind has outdid itself again this year with the completion of the long and arduous Equinox Marathon. Last September cajoled by a friend a week before the race and completely unaware about what I was getting myself into in regards to physical exertion I had signed up http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alaska/Fairbanks/blog-325855.html I hate the moments when you know that an idea or an event a moment needs to be caught and held for the world yet to the act is entrenched in apathy. The impatient travel writer sits at his or her computer or at a bench underneath trees with a journal in one hand and a pen in the other and lacks the power to think cohesively. The ideas the memories chase each other and mix in a soup of tumb http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alaska/Fairbanks/blog-325751.html Survival is a state of mind. Taking that comment into account we can argue the pluses of having proper tools or gear while in a survival situation if one should find themselves up a creek without a paddle. However survival as many analysts or behaviorists have discovered is an inward preparation of the mind. Staying calm and collected in a dangerous situation is difficult. Many admit that the http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alaska/Fairbanks/blog-324155.html I came to Fairbanks because I was curious. I came because I was asked. I came because there was nothing to go home to. I came because home was no longer where I belonged. Petersburg was not home. Neither was Juneau. Now I am here in Fairbanks trying to make memories and build quite literally a place for myself. I look into a mirror and see the world behind my shoulder. Perhaps if I press hard e http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alaska/Fairbanks/blog-322542.html Peregrination pehruhgruhNAYshun noun A traveling from place to place a wandering.I was conceived in Africa a sign of my future. My travels first took place inside the womb. Oddly enough I did not want to leave or perhaps I always knew that I wanted to travel to places bigger than my immediate world. I have always been restless pulled by an inward energy to know and find and seek. I wa http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alaska/Fairbanks/blog-322235.html