On Saturday afternoon, I stepped out of the lovely little La Roca hotel, and was greeted by Andres, a local guy hanging around the plaza doing nothing in particular. He and his rescued dog Venga escorted me to the weekend market, where I proceeded to go nuts over all the luscious fruits and veggies. Fresh produce: my idea of heaven. Andres introduced me to a variety of fruits I had never before tasted... including a sweet-potato thing best eaten drenched in honey and salt, with a tiny round of coconut fruit in the middle. Yum! Unlike I would do back home, [View Full Entry]

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I woke early this morning to the sound of church bells clanging and roosters crowing. Glancing around the room, I sighed with relief and went back to sleep. Ahhhh.... I though, no roommates. For the sheer kick of paying only $7 per night for a place to stay, I spent Friday night in a shared dorm room at a backpacker hostel, the ecolodge Renacer Guesthouse. One night was more than enough. Especially since my roommate for the evening was Alistair from the UK. A lovely man, friendly enough, but it just felt really uncomfortable, especially when I came into the cramped [View Full Entry]

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I recently read that in 2008, Colombia ranked the third happiest country in the world. From what I have seen so far, I have absolutely no reason to believe otherwise. And I am not referring to a "they have nothing but they are happy anyway" kind of situation. Quite the contrary: Colombians seem to enjoy a very high quality of life, and appear to have everything they need. There are no obvious displays of materialism or extravagance, and I also haven't seen much blatant or desperate poverty, as I did in India, or even in parts of the U.S. Services are [View Full Entry]

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My first taxi ride in Bogota involved a lot of fearing my personal safety. Can you blame me? After all, I had just stepped off the flight, during which I had carefully read LP's in-depth warnings to women (and related horror stories) about taking a taxi alone after dark. But my flight was delayed, and I was to arrive after 9pm. What choice did I have? So the entire ride from the airport I am clutching nervously at my bag, steadily holding down the broken lock on the door, and staying more alert than I have ever been in my life. [View Full Entry]

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When traveling, there are only two reasons a backpacker doesn't go out to party at night in a city like Bogota: 1. He has no money. 2. He doesn't want to get mugged. For me, the latter is most definitely true. Such is the reason I find myself deep in a game of poker with 7 guys at the youth hostel Destino Nomada, enjoying the relative comfort and security of being off the street, without a money belt digging into my pelvis bone. I can pretty much guarantee that these 7 guys are staying in tonight because they have no cash. [View Full Entry]

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I often wonder why my brain works the way it does. Just one month ago, I altogether gave up coffee. Cold turkey. Done. And I haven’t touched the stuff since. Tomorrow, I am flying into Colombia… a country that boasts one of the best coffee roasts in the world. In fact, my hostel in Bogota offers free coffee service All. Day. Long. What was I thinking? Two weeks ago, I purchased a shiny new pair of Newton running shoes (which by the way are awesome). “If I wear these out the door now, can you donate my old pair for me?” [View Full Entry]

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(This is an old story, never before told) A small trickle of blood collected on my neck as I tried desperately to recall the Spanish for “stop humping my leg, you stupid dog!” In all my confusion, the words failed to come, and that mangy mutt just kept doing its thing against my bare, sweaty leg. Its owner seemed to neither notice nor care, and she brushed me off despite my pleas for help. Where on earth were the police when I needed them? Probably not the wisest idea, but in my desire to escape the deceptively pretty confines of Havana’s [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday, while driving my sister’s minivan to the nearest Target store, I got smashed into by a car that had spun out of control on the freeway. Four cars total were involved, but thankfully that minivan is sturdy and everyone was fine. For over an hour, I was one of those people standing by the roadside being gawked at by slow-moving, donut-munching drive-bys, as though they had never seen an accident before. I was annoyed, and in that moment, I wished I was in New York City taking subways and not having to deal with these incidents. And I realized this [View Full Entry]

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“Hey Evan, how about this” I said. “Next time you go to your dad’s house, spin the globe. Wherever your finger stops, that’s where I’ll go.” He looked up at me with those big brown eyes, and a knowing smile lit up his face. He seemed to understand: my life is wide open at the moment. The possibilities are infinite. That blank page before me is, to steal a line from a song, unwritten. Two weeks later, a telephone call and a sweet 10-year-old voice revealed my potential destination: “Auntie Emily, I spun the globe! You are going to… ([ [View Full Entry]

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Follow me here! ejroundtheworld.blogspot.com/ [View Full Entry]

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