All Gone South

You're in the process of finding your footing while crossing a colonial era cobblestone street in flip flops. You clutch your phone in one hand as you look down at where you're stepping while simultaneously checking to see if that Guatemalan chicken bus is going to acknowledge you or simply keep accelerating with secret hopes of plowing gringo meat into the pavement. They chose the latter, but you don't run out of the way. You simply pick up the pace by walking just a little faster, narrowly avoiding the fume spitting, "Jesus'd out" rickety school bus without even batting an eye.  And why should you? You have to reserve dinner at a restaurant you've never been to because your usual "go-to" options are closed, so you need to check the menu for prices and options before taking your group. It's also important to know step-for-step exactly how to get there because you cannot for one second look like you don't know where you'r

Tacos al Pastor in Playa del Carmen, MX Nothing is more awkward, frightening, and fun at the same time like your first few days in a different country. People usually don't like to admit this, but it happens to everyone. Sometimes you don't even have to leave your home country to feel it. Even in the extremely touristy Playa Del Carmen, it happened to me. In spite of all the time I've spent living in Latin America, that uncomfortable sense of foreignness still tugs at me whenever I clear customs. It's a familiar sense of awkwardness that I've come to embrace while traveling. Mexico in particular likes to slap you right in the face. It's walking out of the bus station onto the jam packed pedestrian  Quinta Avenida  in Playa to be greeted by a welcome party comprised of  tour operators, restaurant greeters, oblivious tourists, "massage" ladies, and drug dealers. It's loud. Muffler-less cars with tinted windshields blasting " Mi Gente &

In June of 2013,  I was given the most incredible opportunity to become a tour leader with an adventure travel company, running backpacking trips in the southern cone of South America. Part of it was through connections, part of it was performing well in the interview process, but to be completely honest I still feel to this day that it was mostly luck. After having to constantly answer the question  "How did you get this job?" (emphasis on the YOU), that's the best answer I've come up with. I don't blame any travelers from my trips or really anyone for that matter for asking me this. If I took my valuable PTO from my job and flew halfway around the world only to came across my pale skinned, 22-year-old, American self at a hotel in Brazil explaining that I was there to ensure you have a safe and kick-ass time from city to city all the way across a continent, I would not have taken myself seriously upon first sight either. Flying into the monster sprawl of Bu

FSLN political ad. These are everywhere. I'll sit in my room and read articles and check Facebook to see what's going on in the States and sometimes I'll have the tv on CNN watching news when after coming home from work my host dad, Manuel, will come in and ask me, " ¿Cómo va la jugada?"  How's the game going? Or the "play" rather. The "play", referring to the election in the United States, really looks like one when you are outside the country looking in. Frankly, this couldn't be a better time to  not  be in the country, when the tv's are filled with negative ads that bend truths, and everyone becomes hyper-political all of the sudden. The second part hasn't entirely been avoided cause people pour their souls out of Facebook about how Obama is a commie or how much Romney hates poor people, or the one's who talk about how much they don't care about politics, so much so that they'll tell everyone that they don

Repping the USA hard in the Arena Das Dunas in Natal.  Prelude On this day, one year ago, I was part of a moment so unbelievably surreal that I still cannot fathom whether it actually happened or not, and it has changed my life. It occurred during a soccer match. I call it soccer because I am an American. I guess that is what this story is essentially about: America. But not about war, politics, or economic standing, something far more significant: The World Cup. Every four years, this month long war of nations occurs on a field of grass with a ball and a net. Something new has been happening in the US in recent years. Since the end of the 2010 World Cup in which the USMNT (United States Men's National Team) lost in extra time to Ghana in the first elimination round, the nation has been left wanting more. There was something about Landon Donovan's goal  ag

It’s been about four months since leaving home. Life as a CEO in the Southern Cone of South America has been moving pretty fast but at the same time, has felt like I have been down here forever. I think back to just a few months ago when I arrived in Buenos Aires. I had zero knowledge of getting around the city and was a little worried how I was going to navigate this place on my own let alone have to lead groups of other travelers here. I now shred around the city on a skateboard, j-walk like no other, and take the subway (or subte ) as if I were anywhere in the states. And it’s not just Buenos Aires that I have to get used to; it’s Rio, La Paz, Santiago, Montevideo, and every little stop we make in between. There are many things that I have learned and seen in my short time being a guide down here. Here are just a few I have put down: 1          Adapt quickly To say you have to be highly adaptable is a severe understatement. Life as a guide calls for constant change. You are