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Cost/day: $15
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately?
It’s really hard to imagine a sight much stranger than the one of dinosaur foot prints standing right next to your own feet but that’s what you get in a lot of places in Bolivia. When we visited the incredible but often overlooked Torotoro national park, we had heard that there were some old prints that you could get close to but we never expected to get this close to them. It’s mind bending to image what your surroundings must have looked like a few million years ago standing in the exact same places where these creatures roamed.
Cost: $20/day
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately?
My good friend Alex was bitten by a piranha whilst attempting to swim with pink river dolphins outside of Rurrenabaque. Our guide had assured us that the alligators lining the rivers edge and the piranhas dwelling within the brown water wouldn’t bother us, because they were scared of the dolphins. One rogue fish, however found Alex’s fleshy thigh too enticing and decided to attach it’s toothy grin to him. He was left with a series of tooth marks and a good story to regale fellow travelers with. Unfortunately after telling his story and revealing his battle scar people were rather disappointed that there wasn’t a sizeable chunk of flesh missing. Our guide informed us after the incident that the attacker hadn’t been a piranha, but some form of sardine. We quickly established that our guide was wrong, because being bitten by a river sardine doesn’t make for nearly as good a story.
Piranha bite wound
Cost/day: $60/day
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately?
The massive amounts of Soviet-era and communist monuments were the strangest. As an American and son of Polish revolutionary parents who were involved in overthrowing the communist government in Poland, it was very interesting to see such communist icons be idolized and celebrated. Most places don’t exactly have Karl Marx statues these days.
Cost/day: $15
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately?
Visiting the Huaca del Sol ruins near Trujillo was fascinating and is a great reminder that there is a lot more to Peru than just Inca ruins. Indeed, the Huaca del Sol is around 1500 years old and well predates the Inca ruins which are, relatively, brand new. The Huaca del Sol has some incredible murals. This guy was probably the most fascinating image we captured while we toured around.
(Sydney - Harbor Bridge)
Cost/day: $75-250 (depending on lodging and meals)
Hello and g-day from down under! How are you going? That last bit, “how are you going” always trips me up – I never know whether to answer to “how are you doing” or “where are you going”. I’ve been living in Sydney since September, and here are a few of the things that I have learned… (more…)
A curious lama along the way
Cost/day: $45/day
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately?
People still drive the Yugo here – commonly known as the worst car in history. I learned a few Yugo jokes while here: How do you instantly double the value of a Yugo? Fill up the fuel tank. Why are there rear-window heaters in the Yugo? To warm your hands while you push it.
Cost/day: $15
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately?
If I could have seen myself, it would have been me as I climbed over a fense into a field with a bunch of cows to go around a pack of angry dogs that were on our hiking trail and scared the stuffing out of me when they started to chase me off their path.
I know the cows thought I looked funny trying to quietly sneak through their pasture since they made a fuss and blew my cover and attracted the pack’s attention. Darn cows!
(more…)
Cost: $20 a day
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen recently?
In and around Huaraz it’s common to see elderly Quechua woman ambling along paths, bent backed, hauling heavy loads in carrying cloths called K’eperina. Garbed in colourful attire, bowler hats perched upon their heads, they doggedly trek along steep, high altitude slopes that would have fit twenty-somethings huffing and puffing. One of these woman I remember particularly well, because she looked positively ancient. She hopped into a colectivo van I was taking into Huaraz, plopped her K’eperina down and took a seat. She was a tiny desiccated figure, with dark leathery skin and an expressive face full of crevices like the surrounding glacier ridden landscape. When she croaked in the local Quechua dialect she revealed a few crooked, yellowed and lonely teeth. Despite the heat she was heavily bundled in traditional attire and I couldn’t help but make the ghastly comparison with one of the wrapped Incan mummies I had seen recently in a museum in Lima. But alive she was, and after she got out of the the van she hoisted her goods over her shoulders and started shuffling determinedly onward to her destination.
Heading to Punta Union pass on the Santa Cruz Trek
Cost/day: $40/day
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately?
With a pint of Guinness in hand, I listened to an old, Irish man play his guitar and sing folk songs about Ireland’s beautiful country side, fight for independence and love of drinking while the entire bar sang along. It is rare – and strange – that prior perception and reality are aligned when traveling, but this scene was exactly how I had pictured Ireland in my mind.
