Our bridge is only a few hundred hauled-stones away from completion when I wander up the hill following a rumor that the men of the Quelqanqa are constructing a traditional “earth oven” or pachamanca in…
Browsing Category mis-adventures
Footprints in PeruDay 3: living in my tiny, little head
I call it, “living in my head” and am usually sequestered to this claustrophobically small space under one of the following conditions: my 12th consecutive hour in an office, my 4th cup of coffee in…
senegal circling
An anthem by birds replaces that of the night bugs as sun floods my room and scrambles my eyes and ears to snappy attention. The walls of my world spin only for a moment before…
swallowing shame
Nothing strikes me as particularly interesting or memorable about the US embassy in Dakar. It’s a formidable building, with the same broad shoulders of those that neighbor it, identified by a simple gold plaque on…
getting to the period
getting to the period Africa is a guru, of whom any and every encounter provides another opportunity to master grace in the practice of patience. And just as my lids close down and wipe clean…
stomach aches
holes Our seventh passenger halfway arrives. He isn’t actually going where we are going, but his destination is along the way and if we’ll chip in, he’ll pay a little extra and we’ll all…
sacred ego stomping
The Sacred Lake Namtso (For more stories from Tibet, visit the archives for April, 2005. For more pictures from Tibet, visit the Tibet Photogallery.) I’m in the mood for a story. And this one is…
art of alchemy
3 times stranded without cover in sudden rainstorms. 3 expeditions sent to “get help” to pull our minivan out of the mud. 20+ group efforts to push or pull our car out of muck-ruts. 6…