The Traveling Wizard, aka Bill Wiatrak, visits the most bizarre landscape on the planet at the Danakil Depression , one of the hottest places on earth. A trip from Mek’ele, Ethiopia to the Afar region journeys through salt flats, salt mountains, toxic bubbling pools, and mineral deposits that defy description.
When you think of Jamaica, you’re likely to conjure up a mental picture of Bob Marley before you think of anything else. There’s no other country in the world where one musician seems to represent the embodiment of an entire culture like Marley is to Jamaica. The dreadlocks, the red/green/yellow color scheme seems sooooo Jamaican. But is it...
Some of my friends chide me about my world travels and refer to me as Indiana Jones. Maybe it’s the hat I wear when I’m traveling, my bizarre adventures or seemingly near death experiences that I always seem to escape from unscathed. If you saw Raiders of the Lost Ark you probably know that Indiana Jones had to journey...
I’ve been shopping today. It’s my final day in Ethiopia and I’ve been buying everything from refrigerator magnets to an Amharic Bible that looks like a prop from an Indiana Jones film. As I have been popping in and out of various shops, I’ve seen a handful of inexperienced tourists attempting to buy souvenirs. It’s sometimes painful for...
I know all the scams. I see them coming a mile away and am often amused that people fall for them in their travels. There’s a million of them, but they’re all centered around separating a tourist from his money. I’d been taken years ago in Thailand in a gemstone con and since then, have made a point to distrust most any stranger I meet...