Foreign Affairs

Hanging around in 'wild weird climes lying most sublime, out of space, out of time' can be a good thing---or not.

All told I have spent more than 14 years teaching, traveling, exploring, hitch-hiking, writing and backpacking alone while living far and away from the US.

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. It was a life lived in all the fullness of my imagining.

There was the near shipwreck off the Mosquito Coast of Honduras. There were the many animal encounters of a personal kind. There were the many exotic diseases. There was that unpleasant introduction to Venezuelan quicksand. There were the all too frequent run-ins with men with guns.

There were dinners aplenty with foreign ambassadors and their families. There was cigar and whiskey sharing among high and mighty CEOs.

There were the very entertaining run-ins with American mercenaries and soldiers in the oddest places in Central and South America.

There was a lifetime of days spent wandering around jungles and Andes. There were the many treks to ancient ruins and remains of vanished civilizations.

There was the unplanned and quite unwelcome meeting with some Guatemalan communist guerrillas.

There were the fantasies of lost cities and gold mines far distant. There were the Indian tribes---some friendly, some not.

I am surprised I survived it all. It was a time well and truly spent.

And such things still beckon, a call from lands south of the Rio Grande that will one day pull me back.

Soon.

2023	Guatemala	Three months spent backpacking and hiking in the jungles and highlnds.
2010/2011	Guatemala	Spent 14 days backpacking through the jungles of the Petén region, visiting Dos Lagunas, Campamento El Cedro, Uaxactun, El Zotz and Tikal.
07/08	Guatemala	General travel throughout the nation. Camping at the Mayan ruins of Tikal. Walking around Lake Atitlán.
06/07	Guatemala	Solo backpacking to the Mayan ruins of El Zotz and on to Tikal.
03/04	Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Belize	Year long sabbatical generally spent solo backpacking and writing.
2000	France	Completed class work for Maryland Teaching Certification.
93/03	Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, Guyana, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, Paraguay	Living and teaching in Argentina. Traveling and backpacking throughout Latin America. General photos here.
89/91	Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala	Living and teaching in Costa Rica. General travel throughout the region.
86/87	Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru	Year long adventure spent solo backpacking throughout Latin America. Eleven days spent walking through the Darien Gap between Panama and Colombia. Some photos here.
83/84	Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Belize	General travel throughout region. Some photos here.
80/81	England, Ireland, France, West Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Italy, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Morocco	General travel and hitch-hiking.