During a recent trip to Panama, I spent a few days in a small town called Las Lajas. It was really small–as in, it had just a store or two, a handful of restaurants (mostly closed due to it being rainy season), a couple farms, a cemetery and a lovely beach nearby that required a …
Read more “Panamanian Butterfly Nibbling on Nectar (Photo of the Week) – chickybus”
This week’s “trippy travel photo” of mine represents a random moment in time that was definitely off the beaten path. I don’t know anyone who’s ever been there. And that means it might be challenging (and fun) to figure out… You may guess what this is/these are, but not where/why, etc. So…I hope you’ll give …
Read more “Trippy Travel Photo #2: 'Cave of the Mad' – chickybus”
I lived in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, 15 years ago and recently had the chance to visit it again for the first time in 13 years (I did visit it a couple years after I left). Of course, the first thing I noticed was that the city has changed. A lot. The second thing …
Read more “Quirky Quito: 8 Ways It's Changed Since the Mid-90s – chickybus”
When I heard about award-winning Geisha, Panama’s best coffee—which is one of the best/most expensive in the world—I really thought I wanted to try it. So, while in Boquete, known for its climate and fertile soil that’s ideal for coffee growing, I considered several tours. I then settled on one with Café Ruiz, one of …
Read more “Geisha, Panama's Best Coffee—and Why I Didn't Drink It – chickybus”
“Want to go to a Mexican baby shower?” asked Jeanne, a woman I’d just met hours before. We were at a bar in La Paz, Baja Sur, and she was a friend of a friend–someone I’d met randomly on a shuttle bus (click here for that story). The mother-to-be was her (Jeanne’s) friend. Of course, …
Read more “Blindfolded and Force-fed Baby Food in Mexico! (Random Travel Moment #9) – chickybus”
The Assistant Director of the Exorcist? In Amman, Jordan? Pretty random and yeah, just a bit bizarre. What the heck would…um…possess someone to claim that identity? And why did he choose to speak to me and my 12-year-old Circassian-Jordanian friend Shamel? And was he really who he said he was? Read on to find out… …
Photo credit: þä½ “The only way to learn is through encounters.” —Martin Buber With blurry vision and a semi-paralyzed face, I sit in front of my computer, struggling to write, pausing every few minutes to rest. I fantasize about being somewhere else, someone else (non-disabled)….and in a completely different moment. But I know that’s not …
Read more “Dialog in the Dark: Journey into Blind Awareness | Chicky Bus”
Written on October 7, 2013 by CB Driver in Trippy Travel Photos As you can see in this photo, the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart (more info below), located in Newark NJ, is both beautiful and trippy–especially when you look at it up close. The winner of this round of the Trippy Travel Photo …
Read more “Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Newark, NJ (Trippy Travel Photo 29) | Chicky Bus”
I was on a day tour in Chiapas, Mexico, when I met this woman who was making tortillas. We’d visited the mysterious Chamula church and the nearby Mayan cemetery in the highlands, then stopped off at a local arts and crafts center to check out the weavings. While there, we had the chance to meet …
Read more “Mexican Woman Making Tortillas (Photo of the Day) | Chicky Bus”
Written on January 15, 2014 by CB Driver in Locals, Photo of the Day My Jamaican minibus–from Black River to Billy’s Bay in Treasure Beach–was running late yesterday and I was in the mood for a snack. So I was glad when this particular vendor stopped by to offer me some of the goodies in …
