Category Archives: 2014

“It’s incredible,” I said. “I’ve never seen a bigger dam.” “Neither have I,” replied the Brazilian chief of staff for Itaipu Dam, which was for decades the world’s No. 1 energy-generating hydropower plant (a few weeks ago, it was surpassed … Continue reading →

Would you say this waterfall is ótimo or excelente? The answer might depend on what side of the falls you’re standing. That’s because this waterfall is known by the Portuguese moniker Cataratas do Iguaçu in Brazil and the Spanish name Cataratas … Continue reading →

It was Saturday afternoon and I’d just finished a walking tour through Montevideo’s old city, a peninsula of narrow streets and old colonial buildings with quaint shops, restaurants, book stores, museums, churches, and the delicious-smelling Mercado del Puerto with its … Continue reading →

I could have eaten chivitos every day in Uruguay. I only didn’t because of the cost of living on a travel budget. Still, in three weeks I enjoyed one chivito platter and two chivito sandwiches. Each time, I immediately wanted another chivito. … Continue reading →

“Stephen!” a muffled voice yelled. I groggily looked up and saw two strange men staring at me as I lay in my underwear. “Stephen!” one of the men exclaimed again. I took out my earplugs and said, “Yeah?” They said they’d come … Continue reading →

Had a few stories recently that I was pleased with. One was an analysis for Americas Quarterly of Brazil’s election through the lens of a pair of hipster glasses that Dilma Rousseff’s presidential campaign embraced in an effort to win … Continue reading →

Hop aboard! We’re taking a tour bus around Curitiba, the state capital of Paraná. This city arguably has the best public transportation in all Brazil so the ride should be moving fast as we see lots of public parks and cultural … Continue reading →

This past weekend I climbed Pico Paraná, the tallest point in southern Brazil and the 11th tallest peak in the entire nation. At 1,877 meters (6,158 feet) it’s about the same height as Mt. Washington in New Hampshire. I was the only foreigner … Continue reading →

The Amazon has taken up a lot of my writing time this past week. The Monitor published my article on what the big Brazil election means for future destruction of the Amazon, while Americas Quarterly and Zócalo Public Square both gave me generous space for a long … Continue reading →

Owning a cottage sounds fun. But at what point do you realize you’re in over your head in renovating up a run-down lake bungalow in northeastern Connecticut? When I peeled up layers of carpet, linoleum, and asbestos tile to find a mostly rotted subfloor? When my roofer failed … Continue reading →

Perhaps the best-known ridge hike in the East is the Presidential Traverse, a 20- to 22-mile jaunt above treeline across the White Mountains. Summiting the tallest five peaks in the northeast, plus two or three more 4000-footers, the total elevation … Continue reading →

Something about the humidity and water-filled flatness of the Amazon helps transform the sky into a thick pastel painting, full of colors and milky hues. Below are photos of Amazon sunsets over the cities of Manaus and Rio Branco, on the Amazon River, … Continue reading →

I thought I loved acai after living in Rio, where every corner shop sells tall plastic cups overflowing with the deep purple sweet icy slush made from the juice of acai fruit (harvested from a variety of palm tree). It turns your … Continue reading →

It was a fun party. Perhaps the best I’ll ever go to. Me and hundred Brazilians were crammed inside a stuffy room of a triple-decker riverboat that was motoring slowly down the Amazon River. Everyone wore knock-off versions of the … Continue reading →

I’ll never see a bigger tree. This one is somewhere around 750 years old, and it sits inside Brazil’s Tapajós National Park in the state of Pará, about three miles inland from where the Rio Tapajós (the second-largest tributary of the Amazon River) cuts a nine-mile-wide trench through … Continue reading →

As the World Cup kicks off tomorrow, security is kicking into high gear in Brazil’s 12 host cities. The country is spending $850 million to provide 24-hour security for the 32 national teams, fly drones over the stadiums, monitor airspace with … Continue reading →

Manaus, capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas, has a unique cuisine influenced by its location on the Amazon River in the heart of the Amazon jungle. The city has colossal fresh water fish, mouth-numbing plants, communal street tables with … Continue reading →

As the moon rose over the Rio Negro, I stood god-like upon the water in the middle of the river. God-like! I may have nearly died a very human death to get there on the back of a motorcycle taxi, but still. … Continue reading →

“Have you seen the Amazon rainforest?” my mother asked. It was a fair question. But even after living two weeks in Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonas, which is 98 percent Amazon rainforest, I still couldn’t answer “yes.” In … Continue reading →

Three degrees south of the equator and 900 miles up the Amazon River, in a run-down Brazilian port city stands one of the greatest opera houses in the world, built in 1896 and the inspiration for Werner Herzog’s film Fitzcarraldo. Who knew? Certainly not I, … Continue reading →

LANTERN HILL is said to offer the best outdoor climbing in eastern Connecticut and western Rhode Island. I’ve hiked up the 500-foot hill many times to see and show off the beautiful view of Connecticut’s hills rolling down to Long … Continue reading →

STOP means Go, right? Ummm, right? I got myself into quite a situation while winter hiking this month in the Northern Presidentials of New Hampshire, in part because I have a hard time knowing when to stop. Acting as something of a … Continue reading →

I dislike New Years Eve like I dislike Valentine’s Day. It’s contrived, sappy, pressured. It’s lonely and crowded at the same depressing time. After plenty of boozy New Years Eves in crowded cities and towns, this one was going to … Continue reading →