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The Tamarins of the Mata Atlantica
The Atlantic rainforest is just waking up at the project site of the Associação Mico Leão Dourado (AMLD, or the Golden Lion Tamarin Association), two hours outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. The night...
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A Wild Evening In Potosi
My foray into South America was all too brief. A little over a month. During this short amount of my time I had covered a lot of ground. Bus lagged and sun burnt, I found myself in Potosi, Bolivia. A...
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Win a Trip to South America with LAN Airlines [Sponsored]
Cartagena was one of Spain’s most highly prized cities in the New World during the colonial period. Spices, exotic animals, gold, silver, gems, natural resources, and people flowed through its port and...
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The Struggles and Triumphs of Learning Spanish in Buenos Aires
For seasoned travelers or multilingual folk this information will likely be old hat. But for those of you who are a little naive like I was and come to a foreign country expecting people to speak your...
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The Road Ahead: South America, Where and Why
Starting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, I plan to backpack around South America in a somewhat circular path, encompassing other parts of Argentina as well as Uruguay, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia,...
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Why You Should Learn Salsa In Buenos Aires Or Die Trying
“Uno! dos! tres! cinco! seis! siete!” Gabriel Rodriguez, the Timbalaye Rumba Tuesdays salsa teacher at Conventillo Cultural Abasto, shouted while punching the air. While I initially laughed at...
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Why You Should Always Ride the Elevator to the Top Once
Too lazy to walk after having indulged a little in the nightlife of Palermo Hollywood — a trendy Buenos Aires barrio infested with cafes and bars and home to several radio stations and television...
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Exploring Argentina’s Paraná Delta of Tigre
28 kms north of Buenos Aires city, my English friend and I arrived at the Tigre River boat dock for our ‘one hour, five river’ boat trip through the lower section of the world’s fifth largest delta –...
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Miners Take the Streets, the Experience of Being Caught in a Bolivian Protest
During an inspection of a hostel in the arid, mountainous tourist thoroughfare town of Tupizia, Bolivia, I thought I heard fireworks in the distance. As I was preparing to leave the hostel to continue...
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Crashing a Movie Set in the Bolivian Desert
A phone call informed us that our horse ride had been cancelled. Apparently, all of the horses had been taken for the day to film a western movie. I was staying in Tupiza, Bolivia, a few hours away...
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The Road Ahead: David to Northwest Bolivia and Peru
Over the past two months I have learnt the hard way that arriving in a foreign country with no understanding or sense of the language spoken is a guaranteed recipe for disaster and a sure fire way to...
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The Yerba Mate Experience: Understanding Argentina’s National Habit
Mate (pronounced “ma-té”) is a traditional South American caffeine-rich infused drink, prepared by steeping dried leaves of yerba mate in hot water. It is defined by law as the national infusion of...
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Reminder in Rosario, Argentina: It’s the People, Not the Place
This is Rosario: In a touristic sense, it was a far cry from Buenos Aires and I couldn’t help feeling like I had just landed in the equivalent of a slow country town in Australia. Even as the third...
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What’s Slackline? Feel the Good Vibes of this New Sport in Argentina
The brand of rope is called ‘Good Vibes’ – ‘Buenos Vibras’ in Spanish. The rope, pulled tight and hung between two trees, has enough slack that it is dynamic, stretching and bouncing like a long and...
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Why Sucre, Bolivia, is the Ideal Resuscitation Point for Spoilt, Middle Class...
A common question that many backpackers have after being on the road for a while is “how can I stretch this out?” A common solution is to go to the countries where the cost of living is cheaper. In...
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Of All the Things That Could Strike Me Down in Bolivia, This is What Happens?!
Tongue firmly in cheek, there are many ways to die in Bolivia, especially for those with a vivid imagination. But of all the things that could have struck me down in Bolivia I can’t believe it was...
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The Road Ahead: David to Lima and Into the North
I have arrived in Lima, Peru to cover the People’s Summit Against Climate Change, which is running parallel with the COP20 (Conference of the Parties), “the supreme governing body” of the United...
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Reminder in Lima: Don’t Get Mugged
It’s unsavory, but it’s not a defining feature of my South American experience. It was the first time something dangerous had happened to me in almost four months in Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru....
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Climate Lima: Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation,...
Arrival at COP20’s (Conference of the Parties) “Voices for Climate” Fair We were spat out from Lima’s traffic choked throat at the “Voices for Climate” Fair, an interactive exhibition space in the...
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Climbing Down a Bolivian Mountain At Night, or Why It’s Sometimes Best To...
Leaving my hostel under sunny lunchtime skies, and the approval of the receptionist abated my fears that it was getting a little late for a full days’ value, I set off for Sucre’s Sietes Cascadas. I...
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Motorized Bicycles
Throughout the streets of Colombia you can find bicycles that have been rigged up with motors, essentially creating low horse power motorcycles with pedals. Putting a motor on a bicycle is perhaps the...
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Yellow Fever Vaccination in Colombia is Free
CARTAGENA, Colombia- “Is yellow fever common in Colombia?” I asked the vaccination specialist who was logging the pertinent details of my bio into a little yellow booklet that was sitting before her on...
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Fishermen of the Colombian Caribbean
As I travel I pay special attention to the fishing methods of people living along coastal regions and inland lakes. Humans have been fishing since our species first wandered down to the oceans, seas,...
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Police Conscription in Colombia
If many of the police officers in Colombia appear to be disproportionately young, fresh faced, and non-threatening, it is because they are: many of the youthful looking men patrolling the streets of...
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Black Faced Street Performers Reenact Cartagena History
CARTAGENA, Colombia- They call themselves the Asociacion de Artista Escemico de Cartagena, but visitors to this city best know them by their trademark black painted faces, black clothes, and black...
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How Much Money to Travel in Guyana
Guyana’s reputation as an expensive has kept budget travelers out for a long time. The cost of living here is relatively high due in part to the fact that most items are imported and the lack of...
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Dancing in Culture and Biology
“With the creation of the universe, the dance too came into being, which signifies the union of the elements. The round dance of the stars, the constellation of planets in relation to the fixed stars,...
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Extending a Colombian Tourist Visa in Cartagena
Upon arrival, most tourists receive 60 day visas to Colombia. If you sweet talk the immigration official, you can sometimes get 90 days; if they don’t like your face it is not unheard of to receive 30...
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Life Working in the Informal Economy of Colombia
“The country has become used to living with informality as something natural.” -Mauricio Cardenas, economist at the Brookings Institution “Working informally means that you don’t have the help of a...
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Last Days
Bogotá, Colombia – This is less of a cultural nuance and more of a cultural 'In Your Face!' The last days are here. The last bus rides. Last taxi’s (thank God!). Last hostel. Last weekend. Last...
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Transportation in Colombia
Colombian destinations are easily reached by the extensive bus routes throughout the country. Annoying for many budget travelers, the bus stations are often located a distance from the city, forcing...
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The Basel Convention and the Big Business of Hazardous Waste
CARTAGENA- Colombia- “Waste is big business,” spoke Cameroon’s delegate to the tenth meeting of the Basel Convention in Cartagena, Colombia. We were sitting at the breakfast table of a hotel, across...
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Travel Health in Colombia
Here is a collection of tips about how to stay healthy when traveling in Colombia. It sounds strange to people who have been traveling throughout Latin America, but the tap water is actually safe to...
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Bogota Colombia Photos
The following photos are from Bogota, Colombia, and were taken in 2011 by Wade Shepard. They feature the districts: La Candalaria, Chapinero,and Parque 93. Bogota is one of the largest cities in the...
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Where You Can Drink Tap Water in Colombia
“Don’t drink the water.” This has to be one of the most commonly offered advice to a traveler going to Latin America. Don’t drink the water? THE water, in this sense, means that which comes freely from...
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Juan Curi Waterfalls Colombia Photos
The Juan Curi Waterfalls are located about a half hour from the town of San Gil in the state of Santander, Colombia. To reach the waterfalls you can take a minibus from the local bus station in San...
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Leader of FARC Killed by Colombian Military
Guillermo León Sáenz Vargas, otherwise known as Alfonso Cano, the latest leader of the FARC insurgents, was killed during a military raid of his mountain top hideout in Cauca, in the southwest of...
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Cartagena Colombia Photos
Street performers dancing in a plaza. Cartagena de las Indias is a large city on the Caribbean Coast of Colombia. It has a population of a little over 950,000 people. Pedro de Heredia founded the...
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The In-Between Times
View from my hotel room in Banos, Ecuador I’m sitting in a house that is half empty and half mine and, mentally, I’m only half here – if that much. In-between times just suck. Basically, I am taking...
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Food in Ecuador
Ecuador cuisine is as diverse as its geography, and varies according to the region’s elevation. Along the coast people prefer foods like plantains and seafood. In the mountains people eat a lot of...
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Palomino Colombia Photos
Palm Tree on the beachPalomino is a small town on the side of a highway around two hours east of Santa Marta on the Caribbean Coast of Colombia. The town itself is little more than rows of houses with...
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San Gil Colombia Photos
The view of a street of San Gil. San Gil is a relatively small town in the Santander region of Colombia. It has become famous on the tourist map for the adventure sports it offers through a large...
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Colombia Photos
Bogota Cartagena Guane Juan Curi Waterfalls Mongui Palomino San Gil Villa de Leyva
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Mongui, Colombia Photos
Mongui is a small village in the Boyaca region of Colombia. Nestled in the mountains, it is a colonial village with a Cathedral on the main square. Mongui has features excellent hiking in the mountains...
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Colombia Travel Expectations, Expect Only to Make Your Own Travels
While it was not my intent, if someone were to read through the Colombia articles on vagabondjourney.com they may conclude that I did not really have a good time in this country. I write what I feel...
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New Family Travel Strategy
In Colombia, I didn’t have the space to set myself up for making my travels, for really digging into a place, a culture. I did not set up any interviews, only went out into the streets with a...
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Colombia Tourism Bubble About to Burst
“These people are sick of tourists already,” my wife spoke about Colombia. I had to agree with her. All too often people are afraid to speak out against the opinion of the group they’re surrounded by....
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The Buy Off of Yasuni National Park has Begun
Vagabondjourney.com reported in August of 2010 that an international community of doners have agreed to pay Ecuador 3.6 billion dollars to not extract oil from the Yasuni Biosphere preserve that lies...
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On The Streets Of Chile
The wooden, electrically-powered gateway closes firmly behind my silver compact car as I leave an upper-class residential community. Heading towards a local coffee shop, I edge onto the extremely...
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The Au Pair Diaries pt 1
Like most people, I want to experience all the wonders the world has to offer. On the cusp of graduating college I was ready to break free and go. Just go. To where didn’t really matter- I longed for...
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