Who says there are no travel bargains anymore? Who? I want names! Listen to this: to promote a new route starting in May, JetBlue is flying from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Bogota, Colombia for $99 one way or $228 round … Continue reading
(As always, my generalizations are based on a whiff of a shred of a morsel of evidence.) -Don’t bargain for a haircut in Colombia. I learned this the first time I was here, and I looked scalped. This time I … Continue reading
If I ever finish the redesign of my website, one focus will be to encourage Americans to travel. I think a stumbling block is the perception of bus travel, and as one example, the anxiety of dealing with bus stations. … Continue reading
I love flea markets. I love airports and embassies and Trader Joe’s tomatillo salsa, too, but those are subjects for another time. San Alejo is the most well-known in Bogota, but it isn’t a favorite of mine. The sellers are … Continue reading
One month on the road as of now, but it hasn’t been much road. On the one hand I am a little embarrassed that I have stayed in San Gil so long. It goes against the norm for me, and … Continue reading
Sam charges 10,000 pesos (about US$5.25) to do a load of laundry. There are virtually no lavanderias in this town, oddly, so I do it through him. Lots of people just go without. Apparently there’s no shame in wearing the … Continue reading
These are the hands of a guy selling big ass ants on the street corner. Yes, these ants have wings. He explained why they don’t fly away, but I couldn’t grasp what he was saying. It was hard to concentrate … Continue reading
If you don’t speak a word of Spanish and you heard me speak, you would think to yourself, “Wow, that guy is fluent!” If you speak a little bit of Spanish and you heard me speak, you would think to … Continue reading
For travelers already in the country, this conversation makes everyone’s eyes roll with impatience, simply because if you were too scared to come, you wouldn’t be here. Travelers are sometimes surprised at how normal everything is in Colombia, how straightforward … Continue reading
…is travelling by bus. It makes me crazy. Young hotshot drivers on a testosterone overdose careen dangerously around curves and pass slow trucks on blind stretches, making it hard to enjoy the spectacular mountain scenery. I am the only one … Continue reading
