The rain of Madre de Dios is similar to that of the Amazon, but there is a petrifying aspect to it, as if it seeks to wound rather than to nurture.

There's nothing like a pack of mules to give one a sense of entourage.

If hot food is they key to maintaining an expedition's stamina, then low grade gut-rot alcohol is the key to sustaining its sense of pleasure.

Move to a new country and you quickly see that visiting a place as a tourist, and actually moving there for good, are two very different things.

One senses that, in these conditions, no amount of wet-wiping could bring true hygiene.

Usually, there is nothing more pleasing that returning to a place where you have endured hardship.

Once in a very long time you come across a book that is far, far more than the ink, the glue and the paper, a book that seeps into your blood.