by Todd Pitock
In 1992, Jean-Yves Brizot, not yet 30, went to Niger to create a guild of blacksmiths. He had spent most of his 20s guiding young adventurers in rugged environments all over the planet, but the place that captured his imagination was the Sahara. There, he’d encountered Tuareg blacksmiths creating exquisite silver jewelry using [...]
by Kevin McCaughey
1. Go
For a long time I scorned the idea of a Love Boat-style cruise. From what I understood heard, all you did was eat. Well, occasionally you called at ports, but only to explore the crooks and grannies of duty-free shopping malls. Then you hurried back on board for [...]
by Pamela Alma Bass
“I want to be kissed tonight,” I say. I can’t remember the last time I was kissed. Really kissed, held, adored. It’s been a virtual drought since Noah. In Mexico it seems anything is possible. Like no one here will know I was that dorky girl in high school with the navy [...]
by Peter Mandel
The Rio Negro, I am told, is a river like any other.
This is Brazil, the jungle, so it keeps tropical fish. It’s an air force base for brightly colored birds. And like the Amazon, which it empties into, it supports our boat.
But the Negro that I know a little now isn’t [...]
by Gail Harrington
“Roberto, Roberto, come see!”
I’d made a remarkable discovery in the Ocucaje Desert, 12 miles inland from Peru’s southern coast, but my guide was a quarter of a mile away, relieving himself in a gully. I jumped up and down, screamed, and did a few cartwheels, which made my head swirl, but still no [...]
by Wendy Knight
Bumping along in a white Toyota Land Cruiser, Rehan motioned for Justus to veer right toward a huddle of mud and grass huts. Well-trodden dirt paths wove through the low elephant grass, a lone acacia tree stretching its meager canopy across the savannah.
“There’s one,” Rehan, an aid worker from the Dinka tribe, announced, [...]
by Tom Joseph
Don Juan says the Río Grande de Quetena holds trout. To make the point, he extends a muscled arm as if signaling a left turn: long as this and thick, too. He’ll meet us four days from now at his hotel, Mallku Cueva. “Voy a llevarlos.” I’ll take you there. I’m skeptical about [...]
by Nancy Penrose
I am a traveler in search of flamenco. In a nightclub in a cave in Granada, I sip Cruzcampo beer and watch and wait for the music to begin. Stools scrape, tables shift, and that narrow room grows crowded. Fellow tourists. British accents. A small stage; a backdrop of wrinkled cloth. In [...]
by Jennifer Baljko
I close my eyes, hoping not to witness imminent destruction. A young child, about five years old, hovers two stories above the ground, barely balancing on top of a shaky pillar of flesh. I can’t resist. Despite the pounding in my chest, I peek through my fingers and watch another boy scamper towards [...]
