There is always that one person on most every group travel trip. You know… “the one.” They often exhibit one or more of the following characteristics: An exhausting personality or offensive sense of humor. The embodiment of the crass and entitled (North) American tourist stereotype. Talking your ear off at dinner, all the while complaining about […]
For longer than I can remember, my work has had a tradition where fellow staff give lunchtime presentations about their international trips. It’s a fun way to learn about the world and dream up new exotic locations to visit before returning to the email-meeting-email hamster wheel we all seem to find ourselves stuck on. When […]
My experience with off-roading has generally been limited to a few hours here and there in the hills around where I grew up. So I was intrigued with the idea of embarking on a 3 day off-road trek from San Pedro de Atacama (in Chile) through the high-altitude deserts, mountains and salt flats to the […]
I have a confession. I have fallen totally and completely in love with the Atacama Desert in Chile. The varied landscapes created by the wind, the sun, and the presence or absence of water are mind blowing. We spent the first few days here exploring closer to the town of San Pedro de Atacama. These were […]
“Ride like a Chilean. Like you are making love to a woman,” Yasu our guide said about our impending horse ride. This…was our introduction to the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. Glenn’s brother Chris had flown down from Santa Cruz, California, to join us for a little adventuring. On this first morning we found ourselves […]
Chile’s Lake District is a very dangerous place and not just because of the looming active volcanoes. Known as the Región de Los Lagos in Spanish, much of the Lake District was populated by thousands of German immigrants in the mid-1800s (following the eventual subjugation of the indigenous Mapuche people by the Chilean government) and […]
Traveling is hard work, it turns out. I’ve had several well-travelled friends warn me of this, “be sure to plan plenty of down time” they all said. One friend recently reminded me that there is a big difference between traveling and vacation. The trick to enjoying the long-haul is to sprinkle just the right amount […]
Glenn spent our first night on Easter Island writhing in pain on the bed in our hotel room. We had come to the island, whose true name is Rapa Nui, to visit the stone figures called moai. (sounds like “mow-eye”) Unfortunately, Glenn decided to bring some stones of his own in the form of kidney […]
