BootsnAll Travel Network



What my blog is about

After crossing the big 4-0 (you know, the "new 30") and reading a book called "Wild At Heart," I've had this hankering to indulge my wanderlust, break away from the routine and reassess the course of my life. Well, the time has come! As you probably know, I'm single and without kids--which I didn't expect would be true at this point--but here I am, completely untethered, and blessed with the wherewithal to pull this off. Maybe I'll come back "changed." Maybe not so much. But there or here, I want to live "deliberately," as Thoreau says, sucking the marrow out of life--and not, as I'm so prone to do, lumber along, myopic, letting weeks bleed one into the next. Right. So, off I go, although I'm not sure exactly when or where. God only knows, literally. Who (else) can be certain what tomorrow will bring? Anyway, enjoy the ride!

There’s No Place Like Home

June 5th, 2008

Well, I’ve been back home for weeks and weeks–months now.  I’d meant to write a concluding blog shortly upon my return.  But I didn’t.  I got busy.  I backburnered it.   Time slipped away.  Finally, I write now.  So, just in case anyone ever deigns to check out this blog so long after the travels have ended, here is the…[drumroll]…FINAL ENTRY.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Jungle Fever

February 23rd, 2008

Call me narrow-minded, but I draw the line at cross-species relationships.  The creature I encountered in the Amazon jungle clearly did not.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Part Time Lava

February 22nd, 2008

What I saw outside the bus window looked disturbingly familiar:  rocks and boulders and mud piled on the windy road´s edge at the base of fresh erosion scars in the mountain.  The driver had to steer wide to avoid the hazards as we chugged uphill.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Here´s Mud In Your Calle

February 19th, 2008

A traditional Ecuadoran meal served by waiters in bowties: $3.50. A clean hotel room in the city center, with private bathroom and cable TV, breakfast included: $9.00. Being the only gringo among 49 non-English speaking strangers stuck together in a bus for 27 hours while en route to a destination that was actually only 4 hours away: priceless. Read the rest of this entry »

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Ruined (pics added)

February 15th, 2008

When I last wrote, I was in a little beach town in the north of Peru called Huanchaco.  I´m now in another little beach town, further north, called Mancora.  Between the two, I was ¨ruined.¨ Let me explain.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Three Days of the Condor

February 10th, 2008

I did not eat condor for three days.  But I did visit their soaring grounds:  Cañon del Colca.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Science!

February 6th, 2008

Guinea-pig.jpg        I´ve never been much of a “science person,” preferring instead the worlds of social studies and liberal arts. But I do know some things scientific.  I know that matter comes in three forms:  solids, liquids and gases.  In the last couple days, however, these vital distinctions have been lost on my stomach.  Travelers in Mexico call this phenomenon Montezuma´s Revenge.  I don´t know who or what is exacting revenge on me here in Peru, but it has been sapping me–well, “draining” would be more accurate–it has been draining me of my energy.  Read the rest of this entry »

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In and Around the Lake

February 2nd, 2008

Yes, ´round about 4:00 in the afternoon of Tuesday, January 29, I arrived by bus in Puno from Cuzco, Peru.  Daniel and Perry had left on Sunday and I spent two extra nights in Cuzco alone.  Puno´s draw for me was its proximity to Lake Titicaca, which, at elevation 3830 meters, or 12,639 feet, is the highest navigable lake in the world and South America´s largest lake.  Puno itself is a small port on the lake.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Machu Machu Men

January 30th, 2008

SSCN5939.JPG  ¿Quien es mas macho? 

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Fiji Time

January 27th, 2008

Hi, everybody.  Remember me?  That guy who had at one time been maintaining a travel blog about his experiences in faraway places?  Well, I know it´s been a while, but, at long last, here´s an update.  As you read, I think you´ll understand why it´s been so long since my last entry.  Read the rest of this entry »

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