Seattle is so crunchy, now with an icy coating (ice storm 2012 w/photos)
As I watched the beleaguered SeaTac airport try to open and then close again, all day long, first watching my 11:55 AM flight get cancelled, and then watching my 8:45 PM flight do the same, I realized that the short Smith family reunion was getting shorter and...
Here be (a) dragon, ice storm in Seattle
In a stealth move that I told precious few people about, I am on the other side of the world now. I think the people on three flights I was on had an inkling that I was on the move, as did everyone on line at the three separate security lines I suffered through where...
Recycling fail in Santiago Centro
I believe myself to have some of the best-traveled recycling in the city. This is hubris, you might say. Why just the other day you went around the block to find a place to lovingly deposit your empty plastic bottle, and that is some darn good traveling. It may be, my...
Happy New Year, more Suriname and are you wearing plaid?
I take it from what I see on the internet that I am expected to do an accounting of 2011, lauding it or maligning it. 2011 deserves neither from me, it was a year, like many others (but not this one!) with 365 days in it. There were some very good moments, and some...
Suriname Report, part 4, language and some photos
Now that the photos have been rescued, the latkes have been cooked and consumed, Christmas pavlova has been ingested and copious amounts of iced drinks sit ready and waiting for me to guzzle, I can finally take a minute and talk about Suriname. I arrived to Paramaribo...
Shelter in place, or what to do when Chile wins
The other day was the finals in the Copa Sudamerica, I believe. There's a system of points which has nothing to do with goals, but has to do whether the team won, lost or tied, and whether they were home and away. Chile had three points against Ecuador which meant...
Sometimes I think I might be West Indian
Suriname story interruptus, or oops, I went to Trinidad, too! So before I went to Suriname, I went to Trinidad. I did this for a variety of reasons, the main one being that you've got to get to Suriname from somewhere, and Chile definitely isn't it. At the time,...
A few practicalities re: Suriname trip planning
It all started with an innocent conversation with another traveler in the hallway of the spacious and wood-paneled Vancouver Convention Center earlier this year at TBEX. We'd run into each other before in NY, Santiago, and then Vancouver. He's one of those...
On sleep, and being home after much movement
A funny thing happened to me this afternoon during one of two naps that I took. Yes, two. I was in transit for 28.5 hours, during which I slept not nearly enough, and last night I even managed to dream that the turbulence on the plane was an earthquake (remember, I...
Reading my former me, with photo from 1992
Nineeteen years ago yesterday I wrote the following in an unlined sketchbook during a six-month backpacking trip to Central America I took with a good college friend, who I am now friends with on facebook, but haven't really spoken to in years. Nov. 14th, Saturday...
