Posts in the South American Trip (2007) Category

June 9, 2007

The Mines of Potosi


Raj, Ben, Dave, and I before the mine tour

Potosi, Bolivia is the highest city in the world at 3,967 meters (13,015 feet). At one time in history, it was also the worlds richest city largely due to the vast amounts of silver deposits concentrated in the mines of ¨Cerro Rico¨.
¨Cerro Rico¨ translates to ¨Rich Mountain¨. The Spanish Conquistadors had an especially good time with the city of Potosi as they looted the hell out of the silver and copper rich region and vastly increased the wealth of Spain.

Ben, Dave (profile below), Raj (profile below) and I decided that while on our way to the Salar De Uyuni we would stop off in Potosi and tour the mines.

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June 2, 2007

How does one come to the conclusion to quit the “real world” and travel the “Real World”?

In late August of last year, I was sitting in a bar in Federal Hill (downtown Baltimore) completely miserable, talking about my life with one of my best friends Mark Fruhling. I hated my job, I hated my life and found myself at a crossroads.

I had been planning for about a year to move to LA to try and take my career to the next level. I was looking for a big radio job so that I could make the big money that goes along with selling advertising in the number 2 market in the United States. The decision to move was by and large due to my desire to make a lot of money.

I had plans to initially live with two of my closest friends in Southern California. Dave Binck would be moving to LA from Miami (He is my friend who was attacked last week), and Mike Russek who is living in LA currently as an actor and screen play writer. I had flown to LA to check everything out in January of 2006, liked what I saw and decided to move there.

I was going to go to LA in September of 2006. I had planned to quit my job in DC in June of last year. So, when September was getting ready to roll around and I was still in DC, I had a bit of personal crisis. Or better yet, lets call it a full blown meltdown. I was extremely unhappy and in the most uninspiring place of my life.

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May 29, 2007

Trying to come to grips with a darker period

This last week has been by far the toughest week of my travels.

> Two weeks ago in La Paz, I met a 20 year old girl English Girl who was in Bolivia to volunteer at an orphanage. I found out last week from my friends Leah and Jess that this girl went to the Al Alto market (the same gigantic market that I wrote about a few weeks ago), and was raped. She had a knife put to her throat. Every day in La Paz there are many protests. Apparently, she went alone (which is highly unadvisable), and found herself in the middle of a protest. A guy that she thought was trying to help her find an alternative route into the market committed an unspeakable act. I hope he burns in hell.

> Two days ago, a tourist bus coming back to Sucre (I am in Sucre) from a local market collided head first with a taxi. The bus flipped over. Last night I met an English guy who was traveling in a bus which was the first to reach the accident. He said that it was an scene from a horror movie.

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May 28, 2007

Ayahuasca in the Jungle- The Internal Journey Part 1

I first heard about Ayahuasca a few years back. A very good friend of mine, Mike Russek (he is an actor living in LA), sent me an article about about a center in Brazil where you drink a concoction made by a Shaman and hallucinate. This vine grows only in the Amazon Basin and has been used medically by the indigenous people of South America for 2000 years. I was interested, but soon forgot about it.

Two years later, in the airport of Lima, I met an Australian guy that was going to Puerto Maldonado, Peru to study hallucinogenic medicine and to work with Ayahuasca and San Pedro. We talked for an hour about Ayahuasca, and Mikes email came rushing back. One month later I found myself in the Amazon Basin, walking in the jungle, standing face to face with an Ayahuasca vine.

The Vine

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If you have never heard of Ayahuasca before, I would advise you to read the National Geographic article linked to this post before reading about my experience. Its an amazing account of a women’s experience with Ayahuasca. It also gives much of the background information about the medicinal and physical properties of Ayahuasca. The article is very much worth reading.

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May 26, 2007

A Reality check in Sucre….. Opening the book a little further

In the next few days I will write about the significance of this photo.

Over the course of the last few months of writing this blog I have had quite a bit of internal and external dialog about the contents and subject matter that I am writing about. I know how many people are reading, and much of my audience are “friends of friends” and people that I do not know very well.

In short, my dilemma has been how much to reveal about my travels and myself. For four and half months I kept a very detailed personal journal in addition to the blog. Last week some asshole in La Paz stole it from me.

So in accordance with my personal philosophy and the way I live my life, I have decided that I want reveal a lot more of myself through the blog.

What you will see more of is some of the downsides of my travels. My life these last few months has been amazing, but, it has not been 100 percent positive.

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