December 1st is recognized as World AIDS Day and as a traveler of this great big planet I saw it fit to post a short something on the deadly epidemic which has killed 25 million people to date according to the United Nations. Yahoo News has an article that summarizes the very basics on areas with high HIV numbers, how you can lend a in helping eliminate AIDS or find a cure. Fighting the battle against HIV/AIDS doesn’t have to involve a coach class flight into Africa to help and teach orphans or teens about the disease, you can start right here, right now, where ever you are. I think many Americans are starting to discover AIDS is hitting a lot closer to home than they previously thought. Wake up and be smart folks. That’s my word and now I’m off to the Red Hot & Riot show at Brooklyn Academy of Music.
South America
Travel through South America by country:
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela
Travel through South America by popular city:
Bogota, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro
Travel through South America by popular things to do:
Adventures in the Amazon, Falkland Islands, Iguazu Falls, Tierra del Fuego
Rafting “the Fu” (in the Andes)
Apparently, if you’re a kayak-maniac (you know who you are), you’ve heard of “the Fu,” aka the Futaleufu River, spilling down out of the Andes from Patagonia, through Chile, into the Pacific.
Some of the river’s rapids are so technically demanding that they weren’t ridden until 1985 (by a U.S. Olympic kayaker, nonetheless). Well, now that he’s blazed the trail, he’s set up Expediciones Chile, an outfitter designed to help you accomplish the same feat.
An FT reporter did just that, with a little help, and lived to write about it. You can sample the 40+ miles of whitewater and breath-taking scenery that the river offers, including Class V’s spilling right down from the mountains. Tours start from $1,600 USD for an 8-day trip (travel there not included). He recommends using the service and the trip, but recommends leaving your ego behind.
Walking in His/Her/Its Foot/Tentacle Steps
While no one has yet come up an atheist themed trip yet, there are plenty tourism operators that cater the to devout…or at least the devoutly curious. for example, a company called Global Passages offers a “in the Footsteps of Lord Buddha” package tour that takes you through a good part of India including Delhi and the Taj, and that in the end (of the trip, that is) deposits you in the mesmerizing city of Varanasi, which I can say first hand is one of the most fascinating and spiritual places you will ever visit. And that’s coming from a devout agnostic.
This piece over at Frommers takes a look at a host of other religion-based trips, and tries its best to cover the Big Three as well as a few others. No trips were listed for following in the tentacle steps of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, but I imagine someones working on such a thing…perhaps in Italy.
Polo’s Bastards on Rio De Janeiro
Not to dampen anyone’s last remaining holiday cheer or weekend hours, but if you’re up for a reality check read I suggest taking a peek at this nicely written piece by Chris Wirth on Polo’s Bastards. With a certain amount of caution the author sets out on a tour of the Rocinha favela (one of Rio’s largest slums) in a group of five which includes him. Thinking it would be some sort of “poor people safari” he had his reservations and thought the people in living in the slums surely didn’t need another Third World outsider with their cameras coming around half teasingly. Setting most of his caution aside he let his curiosity seize control and went to experience the favelas tucked within the Rio’s lush green hills for himself by way of the tour. Although the almost uncontrollable drug, gang, and lack of public service problem remained like any other day when the author wasn’t on tour, he still found the spirit of the people in the community in good condition. I won’t go so far to tell you everything he discovered and how he felt as he departed from one of the world’s largest slums. I’ll only suggest you do a little of the reading on your own. For those wanting to tour Brazil who have not already you might learn something extra aside from the sun drenched beaches packed with bikini-clad women or beyond samba and mix-drinks with sugarcane you’ve only sipped at your local bar.
Colors Magazine
Don’t you hate it when someone puts you onto something completely hip and cool and then you sit on it for two months or so? You finally make the time to go check out what they were trying to tell you about in the first place and wonder why you didn’t move your arse to check it out any sooner. Such is the scenario with Colors Magazine. One of my Habitat pals told me long ago to scope out the online version of the quarterly magazine packed with vivid, bursting photography and culture topics from around the globe. I didn’t listen until now. If the online version is this awesome I think I wouldn’t mind having one of the hard-copies zipped over into my mailbox once in a while. In their current issue they discuss genetically contaminated corn, smoked reindeer meat, what kind of salmon the world will eat, in addition to tracking goat cheese by satellite. Sounds quirky for the most part, put the photos really pull you in for the read. Great magazine! Don’t wait on giving it a once over like I did.