The longest I’ve went without passing through a town was five days. It was while crossing the Andes dividing Chile and Argentina. Though doable in the moment, coming to a town only once a week isn’t sustainable. While walking I’m performing a continuous balancing act of consumption and resupply. I must have enough water, enough […]
I was roughly a hundred kilometers from Popayán and the landscape was transforming from farms to desert. Gradually the trees turned prickly, and fat cattle were replaced by gaunt horses roaming the dusty earth. Cars were rare. Houses were rectangular blocks of dried clay. In the unbridled heat, I crossed a long yellow bridge above […]
I had a spectacular view; each mountain taller than those in front of it, winding paths arriving at isolated farmhouses, and a clay-colored river cutting through the valley far below. La Plata, the last city I passed through was sixteen miles back. Belén, the next town was some undetermined distance ahead, and beyond that were […]
The hotel’s rusted gate was swung open. To my left a plywood sign hung over an old plastic one. The place didn’t seem like it was open, but I was decidedly finished with the day so it was worth checking out. I stood a little straighter to make myself as presentable as possible as I […]