It started with a trip to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: 16 days rafting through 30,000 square miles of wilderness that I hoped would transform me from a Greenhorn into a seasoned adventurer. I expected to return, satiated, to my civilized life. Instead of satisfying my wanderlust, however, the trip made me hungry. Hungry for more adventure. More discovery. More exploration of myself and this great planet of ours...
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20Sep
The Man of My Dreams
Posted in: The AmazonWhen my song of praise ended, its melody fading into the sounds of the awakening jungle, the baby girl reached up and held onto my finger that had been brushing her cheek. Mercedes leaned over and patted my other hand, soothing the tears that pooled in my eyes. Then her head lifted, and she cocked […]
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31Aug
Stepping into Mystery
Posted in: The AmazonThe rising sun threw long, leafy shadows across the trail, as I took one slow step after the other away from the dream-sharing ceremony, my rubber boots squishing into the soggy, slippery path. My stomach, empty after the purging of guayusa, rumbled in anticipation of the breakfast of fried plantain that was waiting in the […]
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14Sep
Following My Dreams
Posted in: The AmazonThe knock comes at 3:45 a.m. I lay still under my mosquito net, trying not to lose the images from my dreams, letting them sink into me so I can carry them through the starlight to the village elder. I hear my companions rustling awake. But still I linger, as not one but three dreams […]
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05Aug
A Different Sort of Welcome
Posted in: The AmazonAfter a weapy goodbye with Nancita and Raulito, our group drove southeast along the Avenue of Volcanoes to the town of Shell. Yes, that Shell. As in petroleum. A town that wouldn’t exist except for the world’s hunger for fossil fuels. As we enter the town, we are greeted by a billboard exclaiming “Shell! Working […]
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16Jul
Under an Undivided Sky
Posted in: The AmazonSteve and Joanne and I are speaking quietly in the darkness, marveling at the sky. The Andean fog has settled in the valley below us, blocking the lights of the town that climbs up the lower slopes of the volcano. The mist reaches toward us over the vine covered rock wall that encloses the garden, […]
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21Jun
Into the Amazon
Posted in: The AmazonDateline: Quito, Ecuador I can’t say I had ever really thought of traveling into the Amazon. All those creepy books and movies about violence and insanity deep inside an unforgiving jungle, spied on by menacing natives just never made it seem all that appealing. But in the past few months, I’ve been dreaming, literally, of […]
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29Dec
Learning Not to Breathe
Posted in: The JourneyBreathe in…1…2…3…4…Breathe out…1…2…3…4…5…6… Breathe in…1…2…3…4…Breathe out…1…2…3…4…5…6… I place my masked face in the water, continue breathing through my snorkel … in for 4 counts…out for 6… My arms and legs dangle loosely at my sides, gently swaying with the swells. I feel my heart rate slow, watch the light paint the sandy bottom of the […]
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11Sep
The Space Between
Posted in: MadagascarLiminal Space. It’s a term I had never heard before. It means being betwixt and between. No longer what you were and not yet something new. For the caterpillar it is the time in the cocoon, for the human it is the moment when old certainties dissolve. It is the time of transmutation: the cells of the […]
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22May
Our Lady of the Goats
Posted in: MadagascarA minor miracle happens here every afternoon: a herd of goats materializes out of the sand. One by one they climb over the dune behind our huts nuzzling along our porches for any food left foolishly unguarded, or cling their way along the sandy slope above the shore browsing the fleshy, thorny brush that determinedly […]
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24Apr
Madagascar? Why Madagascar?
Posted in: MadagascarIt’s a reasonable question. One I received a lot before leaving on my trip. Most people come to Madagascar to see its strange and wondrous creatures. Perversely, what brought me to Madagascar is the environmental degradation. Most of the country’s mammals, insects, and plants have been driven into, or are under threat of, extinction. The […]
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