LivingTheDream's Guestbook

Lange her....
Hey Ben, deine Mail heute morgen zu sehen war wirklich eine Überraschung. Mensch hab ich lange nichts von Dir gehört. Ich hoffe es geht Dir gut! Alles was ich sagen möchte ist....genieße Südamerika und Grüße mir Brasilien. Ich bin gespannt auf deine Eindrücke und freue mich, Dich begleiten zu dürfen. Ich wünsche dir eine grandieose Zeit. Bis bald, Jenny

Small minef
Listen you small minded asshole. Their culture is completely different Then western soicity and working as a bar girl ( not a prostitute, very offensive) is the best option to keep from starving over there and they get to chose who they go with. Not like over here where there beaten, have pimps and are drugged out. Activity’s like that are always around but instead of pretending like it doesn’t exists Philipines bring it into the day accept it and it becomes safer for the girls that will do it anyways and give them an option to make money gets better life in the future of pay to finish school.

planning a trek to Daisetzu and looking for your advice :)
Hello Ben, I have been reading your blog with a lot of interest, as I am traveling to Japan with my boyfriend in a month. We were planning on relying on the Lonely Planet's Trekking in Japan guide, but as you seem to consider this a bad idea, I was wondering whether you could give me the link to the website you recommended (the link on your page does not work). I am taking good note of your advice, and am very glad I came across your website!

Hi Ben, My husband, Pascal Giacomini, and I have been dealing with the Matsés people in the Peruvian Amazon for several years. They harvest the jagua fruit for us and ship us the juice, which we use to create a temporary tattoo product. I've written a book titled Jagua--A Journey into Body Art from the Amazon. (You can see more about our company at www.earthhenna.com). It's a win-win situation. They're able to turn a fruit which normally falls to the ground and rots and turn it into a cash crop; and we have partners we can trust to get us our raw materials. At this time, we're interested in developing additional sources for the juice, and have considered Panama. Pascal has made a couple of trips very similar to yours into the heart of the Peruvian Amazon where the Matsés live; but it turns out that the fruit, along with plenty of Matsés also live in Quitos (gateway city to the jungle), and they are currently harvesting the fruit from there. I'm wondering if you can tell me whether you encountered Embera Indians or people from other groups selling the jagua fruit or juice in a main city in Panama? For obvious reasons, it's a lot easier to do business from a city than from the jungle! Look forward to hearing from you. All best, Carine

Grand traverse in September
Hi Ben, Great blog. My wife and I are fairly experienced hikers. Your blog makes the trek sound pretty difficult though. We are planning on going over this year in September. I guess one of the big problems we'll face is water. If you have any information or maps that may help us out, could you please send them to me? Thanks for your time. Craig

Did you climb Mt. Ngauruhoe with your backpack?
Hi Ben, I plan on doing this track on Dec 31 this year and I wonder what's your advice regarding backpacks while scaling up Mt. Ngauruhoe. Naturally, I prefer to do it without such heavy weight on my back. Is it safe to leave it at the base of the mount, or is it possible to hide it somewhere closeby? Thanks in advance.

Love this woman!
I admire this person for not being hung up that her body isn't that of a slender 20 something and having to cover it with clothing . Why must age discrimination and media driven body image be so controlling of our choices/attitudes/values?

Prejudiced Generazation from a German!
It is sad when someone lists his home country as Germany....a country that murdered millions not too long ago...to make such insulting generalizations about both El Salvador (obese, nothing to see) and the USA. I have long protested the actions of the US government but that does not translate down to a blanket hostility toward Americans from Central Americans. In fact, I feel like a movie star in El Salvador and many people are keen to come to the US. You blog is poppycock, sir.

Why not "Guatemala, Guatemala"?
I apologize Ben, I had not read that you are actually from Germany and not American as I thought. Regardless, everyone in the world knows about New York, New York and no one finds it odd.

Craftsman
I like this one because it captures the focus of a craftsman. Headed to Kerala now.