Dave Go Round

I TRULY wish I had taken more pictures here. The city of Arequipa is sprawling; truly spread out. This is something you would never know if you came here. The city center and everything nearby does a fantastic job of appearing very small. Everything is walkable, and the city lacks much of the smog and [...]

Taking advantage of a sick day today. As I’m finally able to sit up straight, I’ll do what I can to catch you up on Peru. After the mess at the Peruvian border I really didn’t want to like Peru. I thought I would breeze through here, hit Machu Pichu and head to Bolivia. Such [...]

When was the last time you used counterfit money to pay for something? When was the last time you saw a gunfight? When was the last time someone tried to kidnap you? Before today, I may not have been able to answer these questions. But now, thanks to the miracle of the Ecuador-Peru border near [...]

I feel I must tell you; there are a great many things to jump off of in Mindo. I, the intrepid explorer, have done my best to bring documentation of said things to you, my wonderful readers. Behold. Camera 1: If you think that was stupid, check out Camera 2: Ecuador rainstorms smell different. Rainstorms [...]

Quito is a big city. It looks and feels like almost any large city in South Americs in some parts. That being said, it is set in an amazing valley that is absolutely breath taking once you get out of the city proper. Some of the parks have clever looking structures of wood, metal, and [...]

Dancing is not my forte. That being said, I actually like dancing, or at least the idea of it, quite a lot. Hence, my reason for coming to Cali; to take salsa lessons. Cali has become the beginning of so much more. The Guest House Iguana in Cali is a welcoming place filled with all [...]

There are pink striped girl’s pajama pants on the floor of the bathroom. I really can only image why. Bogota mornings are cold. Colder than any I think I have seen so far. I didn’t bother to take off my underarmor or undershirt until some time after I arrived at the Platypus Hostel. The Platypus [...]

Santander has been a running joke between me and a friend Jason in Arizona since we had to travel there for work a few years back. Bucaramanga is in the Santander district of Colomba. When we arrive at the station, Carlos even goes to a store and buys me a container of fried ants and [...]

The bus ride is cold. As wonderfully congenial as Cindy and the rest of our staff were at getting us on the bus, they did nothing to prepare us for the hyperactive air conditioning. By the end of the night, I had pulled on a pair of pants to cover my legs, was wearing two [...]

The heat of the day doesn’t fade completely during the night, but 100 feet from the ocean as I am, the evening is quite palatable. Fresco, as the locals say. The howls of the street have dwindled to almost nothing and in the far corner of the hostel away from the others, I can almost [...]