The Blog
Amazon Travel Part 4: Nauta
By Gary Tomlin NAUTA, PERU — The Ucayali and Marañon Rivers merge together here and become the Mighty Amazon. It’s the place where native Kukama dissidents chose to resettle in 1830, after fleeing from their home in Lagunas, following an uprising against their Jesuit overlords. The first Brazilian steam boat to navigate all the way…
Amazonia – Travel Challenges Part 3
By Gary Tomlin Yurimanguas, Peru — This thriving river port city of 70,000 is at the end of the highway. It’s all boats and waterways from here. Large multi-decked, self-propelled, cargo barges and smaller, faster, people boats, called rapid boats, transport all that is necessary, from spaghetti to tractors, to sustain life for all of…
Amazonia – Travel Challenges Part 2
by Gary Tomlin Northern Andes, Peru— Started today in the city of Jaén, in the shot-gun seat, of a shared taxi going to the historic city of Chachapoya. It’s a pretty drive to the southeast. Stopped at the junction in the interesting looking city of Bagua Grande to take on two passengers. There was a…
Amazonia – Travel Challenges
by Gary Tomlin High Andes, Peru — For this adventure, I planned to enter the Amazon watershed at the city of Yurimanguas, Peru, where there’s a port on the Huallaga River. I went into it with only a sketchy idea of how I was going to get there. Part of type-two adventure is in figuring…
The Gocta Falls
By Gary Tomlin Cocachimba, Peru — The few streets are unpaved in this little known, mountain-side village of simplistic and rough-hewn charm. There’s a horse stable and soccer field in the town center. There is one road south, down slope, to civilization. On the north side is the trailhead to the stunningly high Gocta Waterfall.…
The Heart of a Child
By Gary Tomlin It’s Carnival weekend in Vilcabamba, Ecuador, where traditionally, the Lenten season is welcomed with a community water fight. To celebrate Christ’s ministry on earth, the good Catholics administer a public, mass baptism. So much so that the most popular items on the street vendors’ carts are plastic zip bags, that hang around…
The Canadians
By Gary Tomlin Yukon Territory — The current antagonism between our northern neighbors and our Titan Capitalists has escalated so fast I’m concerned that in our lust for their real estate and tax base, we might forget who are the Canadians, and who they have been to us. Let’s take a trip down there AlCan…
The Hazelton Group
July, 2018 Hazelton, Wyo. – Hazelton Peak is in Wyoming’s Big Horn Mountains near Powder River Pass. There are two other named peaks in this group: Hazleton Pyramid and Hesse Mountain. “Why does everyone want to climb Hazleton Peak,” the Mayor of Caribou groused at me. “There was another guy who came out here last…
Our Neighbors in Los Cabos
By Gary G. Tomlin Lo Cabos, Mexico -This Mexican adventure started with a broken tooth. I took it to a happy-assed dentist office in Fairbanks. Staff seemed like a bunch of little forest fairies on mushrooms who were covering up a gross hustle with phony cheerfulness. It was going to be $2800 to instal a…
This Could be Heaven or This Could be Hell.
Los Cabos, Mexico — Been rambling around Baja California South for a week or so, and happened onto a town that claims to host, “The Hotel California.” It wasn’t a place of mystical intrigue and danger as the Eagles’ song suggests. It was more like the New Orleans French Quarter with a Mexican twist. Full…