When Mattias finally got to the circus, he’d been traveling Central America for six months. He had heard about the circus in Ecuador, where he started his travels, from a couple that were also circus performers. They told him that the co-founder of Cirque Du Soleil had become fed up…

They were on the water for 8 days before spotting the Chinese shark fishing fleet. The scale of the armada was absurd. Not only were there 30–50 liners, but there were double that many support vessels — supply schooners, gas refuelers, security ships, and two gargantuan reefer ships. It was…

’Twas summer, and a hot one at that. And the girl was inside for being a brat. “But why?” she had moaned, and Mom had yelled back: “You must listen, and follow, and never talk back! Look at those girls, all done up right. With hair all curled and frills…

When I saw massive Ku’kulkan slithering down the mighty Mayan steps of Monte Alban I knew it was time to answer the call of the road. His ferocity stood in stark contrast to my bookishness and snapped the cord that had been tying me down to Merida. Tendrils of history…

The hostel was big. Too big. Composed of three concrete stories dominating a central courtyard, with each story holding two 12-person dorms and a few privates, the hostel seemed more sardine can than anything else. Alan stood in the center of it all, hovering at reception. “It’s more of a…

They are beautiful, heart-rendingly beautiful, those summer days, with a quality of weightless, lofty, soul-bearing freedom that my sagging, stifled quarantined days no longer possess. — Stagnant dusk had deepened into suffocating darkness. — The brittle boredom passed like an injured slug across the dull concrete of the perplexing quarantine. …

It’s 2009. You’re slouched on your couch watching the MTV Video Music Awards. Taylor Swift wins Best Female Video. You’re unsurprised. Suddenly, a man wearing a leather shirt and sunglasses snatches the microphone from Taylor and claims that she doesn’t deserve the award (Beyonce does). If you’re most people, you’re…