I’ve been traveling around the world for years and always attempt to practice socially responsible tourism. I had read about the Ariau Amazon Towers for several years and decided to make it my eco-lodge destination …

This is a place of extremes. The name alone brings to mind images of explorers and traders in tall sailing ships working their way against horrendous seas and hurricane-strength winds. Set on its own small …

Strangely, the noxious swarm of mosquitos intent on doing me harm had ebbed, and the growl of the Chiribiquete waterfall (below) no longer sounded, as if its familiarity to my ears after a few hours …

There was more than just a luscious countryside of diversified vegetation and smooth, rolling hills, where a clean river ran steady and uninhibited over gardens of round stones. More than just untouched wax palm trees, …

Most of the Caribbean has long since lost its authenticity, being overrun by cruise ships, high-pressure touts and one too many Jimmy Buffet wannabes. But there are still a few places where you can find …

The gravedigger noticed me looking a bit lost among the weeds and snakes of the old cemetery. He shouted to me. "Bakra, over there." I looked up. "More further," he said, wiping the sweat away …

Bolivia is unique. It is the only country in the “New World” where the indigenous still predominate. Imagine if 65% of our population was still Native American (versus the less than one percent we have …

Keith the Kelper grapples with the wires, yanking some down, twisting them, forwards, backwards and then finally wrapping them tightly around the post. “It’s those cows that do this, they chew the signs I suppose …

There is a family somewhere near the Colombian Caribbean coast who have a novel way of caring for their elderly, infirm grandfather. Supposedly, along the banks of the river Magdalena, the very same river that …

My head was pounding. Fireworks crackled overhead. Hordes jeered, screamed, waved and then broke into joyous whirls of samba. The smell was unbearable, an open sewer ran beside our Sambódromo warm-up lane, and yet thousands …

I picked the wrong year to stop sniffing glue – but of that, later. The following post makes me vulnerable A) because I'm not given to beauty salons anywhere, and B) you'd never find it …

“Can you carry the backpack on your chest instead?” Gino asked me as we were about to enter Belén Market in Iquitos, Peru. I nodded, turning it around. He winked. “That's a gringa inteligente,” he …

Over Christmas break in 2009, I chose to participate in a brief volunteer project in Quito, Ecuador, working with street kids. Once my volunteer stint was over, I wasted no time exploring this magnificent city …

Those who abide in the coastal state of Bahia in northeastern Brazil live according to something like "tidal time": when it ebbs, and it ebbs hundreds of meters, it's time for business; when it flows, …

Below the heat and subtropical savannas that spread out across millions of acres of the sub-Amazonian Brazilian interior is the Serra Gaúcha. "Serra" is a Latin American subtropical forest. The Gaúcho is the Latin American …