Up the river: the Bolivian wetlands South America » Bolivia » Rurrenabaque By TheTouringTexan December 16th 2006 Andrew Stone Husmann In the north of Bolivia west of the Andes is Bolivia's tropical region. Unlike the equatorial rainforest, this area is more of a swamp/wetland. Because the canopy here is not [View Full Entry]

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3300 meters of descent in 64 km of single lane dirt road. Side of a mountain. No guardrails. With bus traffic. Woo Hoo! [View Full Entry]

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Lake Titicaca South America » Peru » Lake Titicaca By TheTouringTexan December 7th 2006 Andrew Stone Husmann[url='/Videos/2336.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/2336.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;'] squishy floating islands! Lake Titicaca is the world's highest navigable lake (4,000 meters). I [View Full Entry]

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The Nazca Lines South America » Peru » Nazca » Nazca Lines By TheTouringTexan November 27th 2006 Andrew Stone Husmann The Nazca lines are extremely large, old formations carved into the deserts of Nazca, which have been well preserved over hund [View Full Entry]

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Southwestern Peru from the coast to the mountains is completely desert (south of here is the Atacama of Chile). A few miles east of the departmental capital of Ica into the aforementioned desert is Huacachina, an actual desert oasis. The small town is built around the lagoon. It has turned into a sort of extreme sports hangout, with the primary activities being sandboarding (we got lucky and were in town for a sandboarding tournament) and riding in big dune buggys where the crazy driver flies over dune ridges, of which he knows where the buggy will land, but you don't because [View Full Entry]

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Into the Unknown: Monoliths and Miracles South America » Colombia » San Agustin By TheTouringTexan November 12th 2006 Andrew Stone Husmann After determining that safe passage was reasonably attainable, I headed into the primarily guerrilla controlled southeast of Colombia to see the giant statues of San Au [View Full Entry]

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From the tropical Caribbean coast to the verdant highlands, Colombia is a place of extraordinary beauty. Skipped by many travelers because of security concerns, the people of the country are very warm and inviting, excited to meet foreigners willing to visit this 'dangerous' land. Since 2004 the security situation has quieted down alot, and the government is rapidly eliminating much of the guerrillas' control. I had no problems whatsoever in my stay there, despite contact with both guerrilla and paramilitary soldiers. My trip into Colombia began on the northern (Caribean coast), where I go [View Full Entry]

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Travel in equatorial rainforest is by one of two media: plane or boat. The jungle doesnt like roads and reasborbs them as fast as you can build them. To get into the jungle, I flew into Manaus, a city of 2 million people surrounded by millions of square miles of sparsely inhabited jungle. This anomaly of a city came about at the turn of the century thanks to the rubber boom, for a short time making it one of the richest cities in the world. It has since returned to relative poverty, but because it's a tax free zone, most of [View Full Entry]

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No really, that about sums it up. Thousands of kilometers of idyllic beaches with good breaks (and strong currents, whatchout!) line the coast of the Bahia and the northeast of Brazil. And in Salvador..they beat drums. All the time. They really really really love drums. Unforturnately, I didn´t have enought time to really see all the spots around the northeast, but I did have a few days in Fortaleza before my flight. Well, let´s just say I will definately be back to see all of you, northeast. [View Full Entry]

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Rio, the marvellous city. One of the most visually stunning urbanities Ive ever seen, strung out between tropical mountaintops and the coast. Rio is the beach and the beach is rio, the beach culture totally pervades this city, with the footwear of choice (even, it seems, in the business district) is the havaiana sandal, invented here. And in one of the strange ironies in the class war (Brazil has the largest rich/poor gap in the world), the favelas, the poor, took the high ground...and the views. One of the most interesting tours ive taken is the tour into the favelas in [View Full Entry]

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