by phil | Jul 27, 2011 | Mali, Senegal, Stories, W. Africa
Four hours into a 35 hour bus ride and the sky dropped an ocean on western Mali. Rivulets formed in an instant and brown water submerged a police checkpoint, normally a hub of commerce but temporarily abandoned because of the storm. My seatmate moved to the stairwell,...
by phil | Jul 6, 2011 | Stories
A certain Pigeon Eater nominated me to reflect on my writings as part of the 7 Links Project. The idea: dig around in the attic of your blog and dust off a few posts that deserve a second look. Or a first look, as the case may be for many of my earlier posts, written...
by phil | Jun 29, 2011 | Stories
June 29th 2010: I left Washington, DC with a one way ticket to Ghana. I arrived in Accra with one foot in a flip flop and the other in a smelly, disintegrating protective “boot,” which was strapped to my foot after I inadvertently kicked a tree stump some...
by phil | May 16, 2011 | Mali, Senegal, Stories, W. Africa
This post has 7 parts: Senegal? The Bus The Passengers Hot Season is Hot The Bad The Good The Cutest Girl in the WorldSenegal?I arrived in Dakar last Monday. I stayed until Wednesday night. Depending on what happens in Mali, I may spend more time in Senegal on the...
by phil | Feb 22, 2011 | Stories, W. Africa
Solo travel makes it easy to meet people. You seek company. Company seeks you. You are spontaneous, present, open to possibilities. Perhaps it is because of these mental wavelengths that serendipitous meetings happen in the first place. I do not have a bucket list....
by phil | Dec 27, 2010 | Morocco, Stories
Essaouira, Morocco. The town that inspired Jimi Hendrix’s “Castles Made of Sand.” Actually, that’s not true. In fact, just about everything hasslers tell you about Jimi Hendrix in Essaouira is false. Some of their other talking points –...
