Adventures of a culture vulture and hazard buzzard: Rainier to Kilimanjaro, Bhutan to Borneo

The author visited 60 countries on five continents. In Peru and Ecuador, he traveled by jet, Cessna 172, boat, sea launch, bus, train, SUV, limo, rickshaw, in the back of a pickup, on horseback, on foot, hitchhiking, and glissading down the slopes of Cotopaxi. This book is mostly a travel memoir but also contains advice including how to fix a sprained knee with duct tape, how to save oneself from a riptide, how to rescue a climber on a slippery slope using two trekking poles, how to avoid aggressive dogs, or to how to survive in a foreign country without any money or access to credit. Parts of the book can also serve as climbing, hiking, or survival manual, explaining what to do and what to avoid in various situations, all based on personal experience. The author photographed orangutans, proboscis monkeys, penguins, orcas, hippos, and baboons, all in their natural habitat. He also photographed Tibetan monks and Salma Hayek. He survived moose and rhino attacks and had his lunch stolen by a monkey. He saw four volcano eruptions, one up close, in harm’s way. He volunteered for clean water and sanitation projects in Rwanda and El Salvador and for HFH in Guatemala and Pennsylvania. As a part-time mountaineer, he climbed Mount Rainier, Mount Hood, Longs Peak, and Kilimanjaro. He attempted Cotopaxi with the same outfit as Bear Grylls. He travels on a budget, trying to get immersed in the local culture and to meet fellow travelers. He camped with the Bedouins and the Berbers and even developed his own camel-riding technique. His culinary experiences include putrefied shark meat, roasted guinea pig, ant larvae, seasoned grasshoppers, silkworms, tea with yak butter, and fried sheep intestines. Read more