Hundreds of wilderness experts rushed to Ground Zero—and found a maddening, hellish new frontier. At the corner of Nassau and John Streets, five blocks from the New York Stock Exchange, the usual look is pinstripes or pearls, not tan canvas shirts, evergreen pants, and lug soles with aggressive treads. But there was Phil Musgrove, a [Continue Reading]
Publications
The Cabin of My Dreams
Ever fantasized about building a restful escape, with your bare hands, in some untrammeled back of beyond—and it all coming together just as you’d planned? Moron. Comedy is tragedy plus time, and I’m telling you, not enough time has passed. Two years now and my friends automatically start cracking up when anyone says, “How’s your [Continue Reading]
Playground of the Gods
It was a whisper, barely enough to flutter the sails of Agamemnon, that originally set me careening down the mountainous coast of Turkey in my puny Renault, searching for a colony of backpackers living in the trees. A 21-year-old wanderer from Iceland, whom I’d met in Egypt, had murmured of a narrow valley that spilled [Continue Reading]
Thirty Days as a Cuban
Pinching pesos and dropping pounds in Havana. In the first two decades of my life I don’t believe I ever went more than nine hours without eating. Later on I was subjected to longer bouts—in China in the 1980s, traveling with insurgents in remote areas of Colombia and Nepal, crossing South America by motorcycle, deeply [Continue Reading]
A Wild Country Grows in South Sudan
The new country of South Sudan is blessed with oil, water, and a safari bonanza: one of the largest, most stunning animal migrations on earth. But without roads, laws, or infrastructure, can Africa’s youngest state turn potential into stabilizing profit? Patrick Symmes joins the adventure. Day one is Thursday, and we roll out of Juba, [Continue Reading]
City on the Edge
No place has come so far in so short a time as Cape Town. A generation ago, it was struggling with apartheid’s dark legacy and a tarnished reputation. Today, it’s bustling, with chic restaurants and celebrity tourists. Patrick Symmes reports from a city that’s learning to cope with the shadows of the past while keeping [Continue Reading]
Sleepless in Stockholm
The Swedish capital reveals itself to those who get an early start—or, better yet, never go to bed to begin with. Patrick Symmes stays up all night in a city that has morphed from cloistered enclave into a multi-ethnic mecca with a perfectionist streak a mile wide Arriving before dawn, dwelling in that foggy realm [Continue Reading]
New Tactics for an Old Regime in Cuba
With last Wednesday’s announcement of plans to release 52 political prisoners who were arrested during a 2003 crackdown, Cuban President Raúl Castro took his first major step away from decades of hardline policy. Under the deal negotiated with Cardinal Jaime Ortega of the Roman Catholic Church, five of the prisoners were to be released “within [Continue Reading]
Dams in Chilean Patagonia
ALLAH WAS INVOKED THAT DAY, after a wood-fired breakfast in an 18-degree dawn. The earth was cloaked anew; hoarfrost made the grass crunch under my boots. Wind ripped away the plume of Daniel González’s breath. Winter in southern Chile, one of the southernmost places on earth. The pickup truck, already humming in the near-dark, gave [Continue Reading]
Meet The Neighbors
South America contains the Amazon, the Andes, 19,000 miles of coastline, and arguably more adventure than any other continent. So where to start? These ten perfect trips, from exploratory rafting in Peru to skiing in Chile to beach-hopping Brazil. Viva South America! Where the adventure comes in one size: grande THAT’S NICE, your little Alaska. [Continue Reading]
Day of Ascension
At last, tear gas. Near noon, I was sitting quietly in my hotel room in La Paz when the TV screen started streaming live footage of a riot. The spectacle of protest and provocation is so traditional here in Bolivia that it could be the national dance. But this riot looked different from those I’d [Continue Reading]
