The first Salvadorean who I asked about visiting his country advised me to avoid its capital, San Salvador, entirely. “I love my country, but….” He urged that I get a bus direct from Guatemala (where I was based) to a beach town, chill there, and try not to even go through the capital. The countries… Continue reading One Night in San Salvador (El Salvador)
Author: Mike Pole
From New Zealand. Traveling the weyward path trying to figure out how the world works. I study fossil plants, past climates, travel, walk, hike, read, take photos, struggle with computer graphics and plant trees.
Yes – Go to Nicaragua now
The news coming out of Nicaragua back in October 2018, was uncertain. Violence from the political situation seemed to have abated, but various travelers and locals were reporting that the tourism infrastructure was in chaos. Hostels had closed down, buses weren’t running, etc. I went to Guatemala in October, to be based there for a… Continue reading Yes – Go to Nicaragua now
The Return from Mexico – the Joys of Modern Travel
There’s nothing to focus a man’s mind like an execution in the morning – or the knowledge that it will cost $500 to “change” your air ticket. I’m just back home after about two and a half months in Central America. When I was first organising my tickets, from Queenstown, New Zealand, to Mexico City… Continue reading The Return from Mexico – the Joys of Modern Travel
Academic Misconduct at Otago University – what Misconduct?
What happens when you make the serious charge of Academic Misconduct at the University of Otago? I decided to find out. In 2015 a doctoral thesis was awarded to one Tammo Reichgelt, under the senior supervision of Associate Professor Daphne Lee of the University of Otago Geology Department. The thesis concerned plant fossils, climate and… Continue reading Academic Misconduct at Otago University – what Misconduct?
Ready in Teotihuacan Player One? (Mexico)
I’m no gamer, but….. ***** Mexico City’s National Museum of Anthropology is simply stunning. It’s task is to somehow present the bewildering range of peoples, cultures, languages which are, and have been, in this huge country. It does this in the range of usual ways: sculptures, textiles, photos, cinematic projections, reconstructions. When I visited (fortuitously… Continue reading Ready in Teotihuacan Player One? (Mexico)
A Short Walk in the Lamington Kush – The Stintson plane wreck, Australia
“If I had a camera I could take a photo and show guests what my uncle’s legs looked like after he found the Stintson”. ****** Between teaching my groups of American students ecology up at the rainforested O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat, and in the adjacent Lamington National Park, it often seemed like there were a couple… Continue reading A Short Walk in the Lamington Kush – The Stintson plane wreck, Australia
Australia’s Bunya Mountains and Alternate World Histories
Could the Bunya Mountains be the one place to turn your preconceptions of human nature on its head? *** I recently finished Bruce Pascoe’s book ‘Dark Emu’. It’s an accumulation of the abundant evidence that Australian Aboriginals practised what was, by any objection definition, agriculture – and on a large scale. It’s not just a… Continue reading Australia’s Bunya Mountains and Alternate World Histories
Tracking in the Ancient Dunes of Kings Canyon, central Australia
A camp-fire, such a simple pleasure, second-nature to a lot of us, and yet a whole new experience for some people. Our Emu Run tour arrived in their private camp site near Kings Canyon, Watarrka National Park, towards sunset. We had driven from Uluru for hours along dead-straight roads, flanked on either side by a… Continue reading Tracking in the Ancient Dunes of Kings Canyon, central Australia
Caterpillar Dreaming – Hiking Australia’s Larapinta Trail
The 220 km Larapinta Trail is a bit of a con…. ________________ It’s a funny thing, despite the Larapinta Trail being regarded as something of a toughie, just about any one I mentioned it to had either done it, or done part of it. Officially, it runs for 220 km along the MacDonnell Ranges, to… Continue reading Caterpillar Dreaming – Hiking Australia’s Larapinta Trail
What’s Happening to New Zealand’s Haast Pass?
It was next morning that I heard the bridge had washed away. I had hammered over it during the night – back in the 90s – a time when you could do a tad over the speed limit on country roads, with reasonable confidence nobody in uniform was waiting somewhere in the murk. On that… Continue reading What’s Happening to New Zealand’s Haast Pass?