…and then we woke up and there was this huge double rainbow in the sky. We followed it to where it ended on an island where there were no clouds, no rain, and the sun was shining bright. We hiked up the pristine mountain and along the way discovered an indigenous tribe that had never come into contact with the modern world. They served us the most amazing Christmas dinner (even though they, of course, didn’t know it was Christmas). Then they led us down to the beach where there just happened to be scuba gear waiting for us. We geared up and dropped down into the crystal clear turquoise waters. We saw giant rays, purple octopus, and then a Whale Shark! We followed the Whale Shark to a Mermaid village where the Mermaids welcomed us ... read more

Panama City. I have been here for 3 days and 3 nights, and depending on the hour you ask me I will go from telling you I love it to I hate it. Yes, within this short period of time I have developed a love-hate relationship with this place. And to be honest I am really in no mood to be writing right now…that’s one of the reasons I hate it. It does not inspire me to write about my experiences. That being said, I am in limbo right now waiting for Matty to get here, so I’ll do my best to sum up my experience. I apologize ahead of time if this is the most mundane blog I’ve ever written. In reality I shouldn’t even be here. I should be at home right now watching ... read more

A few days before we left, Sarena asked what we were going to do in Bolivia and my answer was ‘freeze our asses off and get altitude sickness’. I was being sarcastic, but I really didn’t have an answer to that question. I had no clue what we were going to do, or even why we were going to Bolivia. Some people, like Jeff, had said amazing things, but he lived there for 6 months; we only had 10 days. Others had only negativity for us. What were we going to do in Bolivia? The fact is, we did a lot in Bolivia, and it ended up being one of the best short trips of my life. I am actually amazed at how great of a time we had. It’s funny, but we met at least ... read more

It’s been 24 hours since Billy picked me up at my place in San Francisco. Woke up in California, had breakfast in Texas, lunch in Florida, then dinner and drinks in Bolivia. Amazing how travel works in the modern world. Sitting in the international terminal in Miami listening to Billy talk about Supertramp, Kid ‘N Play, what food he would eat if he could only eat one thing (beets), and something about wanting a puppy, I notice that there are 9 other people within view that are going to be on our flight to La Paz. There are the 5 Canadian mountain climbers (the one that won’t stop eating burritos is never going to make it), the newlywed French couple, the single guy trying to find himself, and a girl we just can’t peg (she’s either ... read more

I picked up this book called “The Historian” by Elizabeth Kostova in the Cancun airport without knowing what it was about. It ended up being this amazing book (so far) that is along the lines of “Da Vinci Code”. Instead of following the bloodline of Jesus through Western Europe, this book follows the history of Vlad the Impaler (the real-life Count that was the basis of Bram Stoker’s Dracula character) through Eastern Europe. About 100 pages into the book I came across this quote that pretty much sums up why I always have to go somewhere new every time I travel. “…I have often known that peculiar legacy time brings to a traveler: the longing to seek out a place for a second time, to find deliberately what we stumbled on once before, to recapture the ... read more