It stole the lives of about 8 million indigenous Indian and African slaves at "The Mountain That Eats Men" in the Spanish colonial town of Potosi in modern Bolivia.
Americas
Travels in Latin America
They often wore no clothes - staying naked, but smothered in seal oil to survive in the cold southern tip of South America.
Journeying 38 hours by ferry thru "The Land of Fire" to "the world's southern-most city" of Puerto Williams.
Watching the crazy antics of whales, sea elephants and penguins in Patagonia at Valdes Peninsula, Argentina.
Whirlwind love craziness amid the ancient Sun + Moon Pyramids of Teotihuacan in Mexico.
Some days on the road travel takes a nauseous turn. My rant about dumb tourists and mass tourism in Cusco, Peru in 2002.
The colorful, Maya San Francisco de Asis Festival in Guatemala is held over a period of days in early October.
Living on high mountain slopes, the Chachapoyas were known as the cloud people of Peru. And at the center of their world, the mighty ruins of Kuelap.
Touring San Pedro Prison in La Paz is to enter a brutal, surreal circus - where inmates run the system and drugs and violence are rife, yet prisoners' families also live inside the walls!
Impressions of crazy love amid a surreal past - MesoAmerican ruins of the Maya and others.
On my birthday, I go to the village of Santiago Atitlan to pay homage to Maximon - a Maya god that smokes + drinks.
It was a stinky bus trip in Patagonia that got the passengers gagging with laughter on the bus with the smell from hell.
The hike thru rainforest to the volcanic crater lake of Laguna Chicabal takes about 2 hours. But don't expect to swim as it's the sacred center of the Mam Maya cosmos.
A gigantic, stone face is half-buried at the ancient Pipil site of El Baul. Today, it's lost amid sugarcane plantations.
Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Cobre is Cuba’s most-sacred site, a place of miracles attributed to the "Black Virgin".
Glowing psychedelic skulls grin at me. Today is the Day of the Dead. What the Maya call Hanal Pixan also known as The Day of the Dead in Mexico.
Adventures of trekking with a mule to the ruins of the last Inca Kingdom of Vilcabamba in the Espiritu Pampa of Peru.
Video of a Mexican Mayan shaman performing a traditional ritual with words, drums and incense to cleanse, bless, and protect me. In Spanish, he wishes good health, luck with family, and my travels.