Common Sense and Whiskey

One of Our EarthPhotos Shots Featured in the Current Afar Magazine

Proud to tell you this photo is featured on page 38 of the September issue of the Travel Magazine Afar Magazine, on newsstands now. Get yours today.

It's an HDR from an afternoon spent with a group of tree climbing lions of Ishasha Wilderness, Queen Elizabeth Park, southern Uganda. At EarthPhotos.com, it's in the Uganda, wildlife and HDR Galleries.

Many thanks to Afar Magazine.

Wednesday HDR: Church in Panama's Old Town

Churches and cathedrals seem to lend themselves to HDR processing. This is La Iglesia de la Merced, Casco Viejo, Panama City, Panama. It's from three handheld exposures (-2, 0, +2 ev). combined and tonemapped in Photomatix Pro and finished in CS5. Click it to make it quite a bit bigger.

There are currently 333 other HDR photos in the HDR Gallery at EarthPhotos.com.

Quick Travel Links

Chernobyl, My Primeval, Teeming, Irradiated Eden: Story of a visit to the exclusion zone, in Outside magazine.

The Pizkuny Wall: Story in Der Spiegel about life along the Lithuania/Belarus border, and their own mini-Berlin Wall.

Where is Resolute Bay, site of a 20 August 737 crash in northern Canada? Way up there, it turns out. Several maps. The air carrier was First Air. Here's its route map, from its web site:

 

Gorbachev on Yeltsin

"He should have been shunted out of the way and made an ambassador in a banana republic, where he could have smoked water pipes in peace." - interview in Der Spiegel.

Photos from Russia at EarthPhotos.com.

Common Sense and Whiskey, the Book - Chilean Patagonia, Chapter Seven

Here is Chapter Seven of Common Sense and Whiskey, the book. We'll publish each chapter over the course of the year (Track down previous chapters here). You can order the entire book direct from EarthPhotos Publishing, or at Amazon.com. Photos and additional commentary are available at A Common Sense and Whiskey Companion. And here's the Chile Gallery at EarthPhotos.com.

 

A band of cold rain swept over the Hotel Cabo de Hornos, churning the Strait of Magellan dirty gray. Punta Arenas’s “oldest and grandest” hotel was, well, it was just a hotel, all of its walls painted a determined shade of mustard. A bare minimum of staff kept the Cabo de Hornos open and we all watched cold squalls spray over the strait.

The Pan American highway stops at Puerto Montt, 816 miles of Chilean coastline to the north, so there are no roads here. There is little tourism. You have to be damned determined to get here.

Feliz Navidad. Punta Arenas was closed tight, for we came in on Christmas night.

•••••

I think I snared the last car for rent in southern Chile.

I bought coffee and stopped on the plaza to rub the shiny toe of a statue of Magellan, then I found Hertz.

“Buenos dias. You have a car?”

“No.”

A happy smile.

“If I go to aeropuerto?”

“No.”

I looked across the street. “Budget?”

This “no” betrayed a smug certainty, and at the same time a creeping regret that he wasn’t helping. He allowed that I could always “ask the question” across the street at Budget and furthermore, the man down the street at Santander might have uno auto. He wouldn’t open until ten and it was only 9:30. Still, that was something, so I bid him and another man who was washing cars adios.

At Budget they had big smiles but no cars.

“For today!?” He acted amazed.

He phoned around, but nothing. At least I had “asked the question.”

•••••

It’s hard to imagine that the nearly Antarctic tip of South America came to be known as Tierra del Fuego, or land of fire. It’s likewise hard to imagine being so far from home – so isolated – as Ferdinand Magellan and his crew were, sailing through appalling weather where nobody they’d ever heard of had been, five centuries ago. Especially when they spotted huge bonfires onshore.

Friday Photo Quiz #125 - Where in the World?

The metro area of this handsome European capital is home to some 3.2 million people. The river that splits the town is Europe's second longest, after the Volga.

Can you name the city? The country? The answer is below.

And a good weekend to all from Common Sense and Whiskey and EarthPhotos.com.

Wednesday HDR - Ecuador: Pigs!

Colorful small animal market outside Quito, on the road to Volcan Cotopaxi. Mostly llamas and pigs, as you can see in the Ecuador Gallery at EarthPhotos.com. Click this one to make it bigger, and see 330 more HDR shots in the HDR Gallery.

When Money Doesn't Matter #9

Michele Bachmann's in the news for politics, but more importantly, how does she travel?

Ryan Lizza's long biography in the current New Yorker informs us that Bachmann's campaign has traveled in a Dassault Falcon 900, and that she told Lizza, "Isn't this an incredible way to fly? I've never been on a nicer plane in my life."

So let's see.

The Dassalut Falcon is a trijet. Various iterations of the 900 can fly from 4150 to 4750 miles. Here's the web site. I found several used Falcons on sale, ranging from a 1986 model for just $6,700,000 to a nice 1994 for $15,300,000.

 

A Visit to Chilean Patagonia, Next Week, Here on CS&W.

Coming next week, in its entirety: Common Sense and Whiskey, the book: Chapter Seven, Chilean Patagonia, in which we venture to the Torres del Paine, rent the last car in Punta Arenas, rub Magellan's toe and share papas fritas and cervezas with a giant whose father from Poland and mother from Odessa met in Palestine and moved to Brazil. Next week here on the blog.

See all the photos from the book and more in color in the Chilean Patagonia chapter of A Common Sense and Whiskey Companion. And the first six chapters of the book are here.

Common Sense and Whiskey in Award-Winning Company

Exciting, delightful news: Common Sense and Whiskey has been chosen as an Iglu Travel Awards 2011 winner. It's our second year in a row to be so honored. The category is Travel Stories. Here's how they put it:

"Our dedication to sharing experiences makes this award one of the most important. Here at Iglu, we're absolutely committed to using detailed first-hand reports. However, we've also got to ensure that the experiences are relevant, accurate, up-to-date and interesting, not to mention well-written and well-presented.

There is never a story told that was not worth hearing, especially if it is relevant and might impact on your travelling plans. The last thing you want to do is fall victim of scams or miss out on a possible bargain. You might acquire knowledge from the first hand experiences that will give you the confidence you need to barter, negotiate, and properly explore a culture. First hand experiences allow you to escape the tourist rut.

Our travel stories blogs are detailed enough to capture you're interest, but not littered with arcane factoids like some of the many blogs which didn't make the cut. The Iglu team realises that when it comes to travel stories, some of them are warnings more than recommendations. We've made sure you get the truth about hundreds of destinations worldwide."

Many thanks to Elizabeth and her fine crew at IgluCruise.com.

Three Africa Links, Fine for Weekend Perusing

• A 3,000 Mile Adventure Across Namibia

• A nicely done photojournalism site: Africa Knows

• An engaging five part series on travel across Africa from World Hum: The Roads Between Us

(Photo from Dead Vlei, Namibia. Click it to make it much bigger. More in the Namibia Gallery at EarthPhotos.com.)

 

Friday Photo Quiz #124. Where in the World?

A kind of wet, kind of polluted day, and the 'polluted' part is not all that uncommon. The partial facade on the lower right is a strong clue - at least to anyone who's ever been here.

Can you name the special administrative region? Oops. Another clue. The answer is below. And a good weekend from Common Sense and Whiskey and EarthPhotos.com.

Travel Links

A few interesting links today:

On North Korea:

Kingdom Kim's Culinary Outposts

Off the Dictated Path in North Korea

Elsewhere in Asia:

Pictures of Laos

China's dams killing Mekong

Fine headlines:

97-year-old butter found at Robert Scott's Antarctic base

Swedish envoy in Russian pantyhose probe

Missing Aussie found at pub

Friday Photo Quiz #123. Where in the World?

The city far below is the "adventure sports" capital of this country, and the mountains in the background are just remarkable. Can you name the city? The country?

Click to read on for the answer. And a good weekend from Common Sense and Whiskey and EarthPhotos.com.

New Book Review on Amateur Traveler Blog

Thanks to Chris Christensen and Josh Allen for this review, just up last night on the fine blog Amateur Traveler.

-A blunt, dare I say: “Guide Book” into the reality of “Adventure Travel”.

If you love stories about tropical beaches, amusement parks or milky white sandy beaches; then this isn’t the book for you.

Bill Murray takes a collection of his fifteen most memorable trips and opens your eyes to the frequently good, bad, and of course, ugly parts. You’ll find stories which make you ask “Why the heck did he go there?” Only to find out he might have asked himself that once he was there as well. From a hacking woman in a broken down “guide vehicle” in Tibet to an arduous train ride through endless birch forests along the Trans-Siberian Railway, this book is a wonderful insight into the world of “Traveling off the Beaten Path, Road, Waterway, or Train Track”.

I would recommend this to anyone, especially if you’ve never been to these places. It will certainly spark your interest and for most, will add to the places on your list of “places to see.”

Josh Allen

Wednesday HDR: Seeking a Curious Record

This HDR photo (click it to make it much bigger) is from a little cabin we own, about 25 miles from the Appalachian Trail, close to its southern terminus.  We sit there by the creek and waych the day go by.

There was a story on Monday that a North Carolina woman claims to have set a record for the fastest trip ever, north to south along the entire trail. Seems kind of at cross purposes.

"It wasn't about speed or strength," she said. Um, then why do it?

Another quote: "I'm exhausted and I'm aching. It feels like I'm recovering from surgery."

Same question.