A Letter to My 70 Plus Subscribers and Anyone Else Reading

Dear esteemed readers,

As you can see, things have changed a little bit here.  You’ve been redirected to my exclusive domain and with that, a smoother theme and new host.

NOTE: If you haven’t been redirected yet, i.e., if the site still looks the same, please click on the following link: http://earthdrifter.com

Things were supposed to go relatively smoothly, until they turned disastrous.  That’s an exaggeration.  It’s turned into something between disaster and perfect bliss.   I was overly optimistic about the change process, until Murphy’s Law came into play more than I’d expected.

It’s much healthier to live in the present tense, not the past, or the recent past when I spent too much time searching for just the right theme or layout scheme.  It got to the point where I’d need to find someone to code exactly what I wanted, or just pick one of the fifty thousand that I came across.  Maybe that’s an exaggeration too, maybe not.  I finally picked one.

I’m happy with the new theme, but there are little things that need to be fixed.  That’ll happen over time as things move up on the priority list.

Click on any image on this site and you’ll notice a flickr photo feature which is constantly being enhanced.  I’m very excited about it.

At this moment, there is virtual bliss.

Things are good except for one thing.   This is where I could use your help.   The email subscriber’s list from the old site didn’t pull over to this new one.  In the top right column you see an email subscriber box.  If you’d like to keep getting notifications of new posts via email, please sign up again.  If you’re not a subscriber, you’re more than welcome to sign up too.

For what it’s worth, every time someone subscribes, that will be another time that I smile.  The more we smile, the closer we come to bliss.

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I’m off to the Middle East in a couple of days.  The goal is to replenish drifting dough through teaching, a form of interaction that I enjoy.

A plan is to learn as much spoken and written Arabic as possible.  

I plan to explore a whole new culture while figuring out how to live a healthy lifestyle.     Stay tuned!

3 Tropically Exotic South American Fruits

Tropical destinations remind me that everything grown isn’t exported.  There are more fruits than us four seasons dwellers know of.

Although those of us that don’t live in tropical zones can get imported coconut, mango, papaya and pineapple, there are other delectable fruits that we don’t come across.

Many say that fruit is the single best type of food you can eat.  Our bodies crave and love it.  I try to eat multiple servings per day.

While it’s easier when I’m situated in one place for a bit, I still manage  on the road, especially in the tropics.  There, I can’t help but notice fruit all over the place.

You Went to Nazca but Didn’t Fly Over the Nazca Lines?

This question has been posed to me a few times.

Nazca is a tranquil little city off the Panamericana, on the desert coast.  It’s home to one of the biggest tourist spots in Perú.  The Nazca Lines is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Gone are the Hotel Nights That Include Breakfast

“25,000 right.”

“Actually it’s 35,000.  But that’s with breakfast included.”

I thought: Breakfast is nice.  I read somewhere online that it was 25,000 but . . .  Prices go up.  Bills need to be paid.  It’s not super easy to make a solid living off of running a little place of accommodation.

25,000 Colombian Pesos = $14.  35,000 is $19.50.  I shouldn’t have been spending that much each night in Manizales.  At the time I justified it being a good value because I had my own room and a home cooked breakfast was included.

Food Savvy Acquired After More Than a Year of Drifting

Back in December of 2010, I wrote my first post: 10 things I Want to do on My Next Trip.   I published this list before beginning my drifting experiment.

I recently got the first comment on that first post, 164 entries later. It comes from the stream of consciousness travel writer and photo blogger Pinky Binks:

Graffiti: Captured for the Camera in Cali

While travelling in the Colombian Andes earlier this year, I was sometimes blown away by the street art that I came across.  I’d think: Colombian cities provide amazing street gazing opportunities.

Graffiti acts as a visual stimulant.  Painted street decoration can induce thought and introspection.  Sometimes the messages are clear.  But more often, they leave you wondering while you’re wandering along.

Peruvian Cuisine

Ages ago I wrote a post entitled Nicaraguan Cuisine. Nicaragua was the first foreign country that I’d started blogging in.  Now, after a drifting escapade through Perú, the ninth land that my virtual publication has seen outside of the US, I’ve decided to dedicate a post to a country’s cuisine again.

There’s a consensus among aficionados in the Americas. Many believe that Perú possesses preeminence in the category of cuisine.

Perú: A Desirable Drifting Destination

In September of 1999, just two months after hiking the Inca Trail and getting a brief introduction to Perú, I managed to secure two more weeks of vacation from my job.

I wanted to visit a land where I’d never been.

Chala to Arequipa: A Bus Passage For the Ages

I found myself in the small city of Nazca.  This historic city lies about three hours south of Ica and the dunes of Huacachina.    My goal was to get to Arequipa which is about 12 hours south of Nazca.

I am Waiting for the Pictures: Memories From Chan Chan

Upon my arrival at the entry point to the vast Chan Chan ruins along Peru’s northern coast, a guide was trying to sell me a tour.  He wanted 50 soles or $18.73.  I wasn’t sure how to respond.

“Ah.  Guided Tour.  Señor.  Muchas gracias.  Muy amable.  But I really prefer to see the ruins on my own.”

I was being totally honest.  I thought:  I like to drift solo and not with a guide if I can help it.