Overnight bus from Sofia to Istanbul
[Turkey] I feel a great deal of warmth towards and from these Muslim men. One of them speaks good English, and translates. With the Turkish music blaring, a swirling nicotine haze, and the bus hurtling down the pitch black highway, we ask each other questions. “Why did you (America) shoot down the Airbus?” asked the […]
The town of Sibiu
[Romania] I’ve crossed the Hungarian border and had entered the strangeness of Romania. I’m on a train in Transylvania, and there isn’t a person who speaks a word of English. I’m baffled, and can’t figure out where I am. Nothing makes any sense. We enter a small city, and the train just stops in industrial […]
I meet Bistra in Sofia
[Bulgaria] I had a name of someone to look up. Bistra Dragon treated me to a magical day. She was 56 and a retired biochemist who had worked for 30 years in a state research lab. Graduate degrees from the University of Moscow. Work relating to something in proteins. Serious, earnest, devout, enormous energy. We […]
Up the Rio Coco
[Nicaragua] I helped put a group of people together to go look at social projects along the Coco River. Our agreement was to find a worthy project and then work together over three years to support it through helping to raise money in Seattle. (Photo essay on the venture philanthropy trip) Later, we did some […]
Lake Atitlan and the stolen pack
[Guatemala] Near the end of our trip to Guatemala, we took a small tourist boat on a day’s excursion around the lake, stopping at different towns. We planned to get off and stay at a place that we had heard was about the most beautiful place in the world. It was one of those days […]
Up the Rio Santiago to Playa de Oro
[Ecuador] I observed a development project that was helping several communities of Afro-Ecuadorians living up a coastal river. We had missed the plane to Esmeraldas from Quito. So then, in the enveloping equatorial darkness, we stuck all the video gear into one of the trucks and took off for the 12 hour climb over the […]
Sophie tastes world travel as we walk in Chichicastenango
[Guatemala] My ten year old daughter, Sophie, gets her first glimpse of the larger world though a backpack trip to Guatemala. I wondered how she’d do. I found an entirely different layer of experience as I traveled largely through her eyes. We got off the plane in Guatemala City, and jumped right in a cab […]
Petersburg
[Alaska] A group of us were on a “Zen Kayaking” trip. It was led by a monk/spiritual leader, and we spent almost the entire week in silence observing various meditation rituals. I am exactly the sort of person who loves the idea of meditation, yet am pretty much a disaster at it. Neither my body […]
Delicate Arch, Utah: The family hikes together
[Southwest USA] I had the fun of teaching my 65 year old mother how to enjoy a hike. “Go slow and steady – even at snail’s pace – and don’t let yourself become even remotely winded. Don’t stop either. See how hard it is to make yourself go slowly?” My parents had a great time. […]