Crossing the Andes, No Road (Part II)
From Port Velho across Acre into Madre de Díos and over the Andes to Cuzco
BR319, a post-vehicular experience (Part I)
Even now as I sleep in Cusco, Peru, 3,300Metres into the Peruvian Andes, my dreams are filled with desperate attempts to traverse perilous roads. This phase of our journey finished here just days ago on October 20th, 2004; it began […]
Medical Emergency in Manuas
Manaus, Amazonas; but all was not well in my world. I started to experience what I first thought was severe indigestion. By 4 A.M. back in my not-so-posh hotel my temperature reached 102 degrees Fahrenheit and I relented. Waking my […]
Roraima, British Guyana and Chávez in Manaus
Manaus had been chosen for this celebration because of its proximity to Venezuela. The Amazon poses a formidable barrier to land transportation in the north of Brazil; it may never be bridged. However one working road, BR-174, connects Manaus with […]
Recall referendum: all over Bar the shouting
Accusing the national election board (CNE by its Spanish initials) of “Gigantic Fraud,” opposition leaders this morning called for the population to protest the results in the streets! After an exhausting day of long voting lines in the heat, and […]
Recall Referendum Countdown
Outside my small apartment in downtown Caracas, the countdown continues to the 15th. of August, Venezuela’s, and possibly the world’s, first presidential recall referendum. The Venezuelan opposition forces are fragmented into various parties with one aim to oust Chavez. One […]
Venezuela votes with its feet
With one week until the recall referendum on August 15th, the people and the pollsters have taken to the streets of Venezuela. Today, Sunday, marches were held in cities and towns all over Venezuela. The biggest demonstrations were in the […]
Driving Rivers in the Venezuelan Andes
The town of Biscucuy is quiet this morning, the wind still. There are many levels of cloud but they move slowly over the steep Andean foothills that surround us. Touching the lowest peaks the rain-bearing clouds move quietly northward toward […]
Flying Fish & Chips
The islands of Trinidad & Tobago (T&T) form a small republic just off the Venezuelan Coast at the bottom of the Lesser Antilles, an Island Archipelago arcing north-south through the Caribbean from just below Cuba in the north to the […]
Mind The (Darien) Gap
There is no way to drive from Central America to South America because the Darién jungle separates the southern tip of the Panamanian isthmus from Northern Colombia and no road passes through. Though insignificant when compared with the tens of […]