Macapa, Brazil It was going to be a long day, and we were told we would be leaving at 6:30 a.m. I don’t set an alarm; I usually wake up by six anyway. I went to sleep late and woke up with a start, as if jolted. The room was dark because of the heavily […]
Brazil to French Guiana, June 2026 Read More »
“I’ve never sailed the Amazon, I’ve never reached Brazil; But the Don and Magdalena, they can go there when they will!” Rudyard Kipling Actually, I already was in Brazil in 2008, though in a different part of the country – the south. Now it was time for northern Brazil. The flight from Colorado involved a
Macapa, Brazil, June 2026 Read More »
Having lost 12 hours and a substantial amount of money when I had to buy a new ticket from Istanbul to Addis Ababa, I nevertheless made it from Bulgaria to Togo. It was entirely my fault that I missed the bus and subsequently the flight. Despite the nerve-racking experience and 2 sleepless nights, I arrived
Lome, Togo, January 2026 Read More »
I’m usually lucky, even in the most seemingly impossible and hopeless situations. I’m not bragging—one can’t brag about luck, health, or money—I’m simply stating the fact. However, I can’t figure out what to think about how I got from Bulgaria to Togo. Was it a warning not to push my luck? Here is what happened.
Bulgaria – Istanbul – Addis Ababa – Lome, Togo, Jan 2026 Read More »
The New Year dinner was at the Back to the USSR restaurant. When we came in, the tables were laden with entree dishes – pancakes with red caviar, cold meat cuts, fresh salads, stewed vegetables, and a lot more, every was looked and tasted delicious. The drinks were champagne, Moldavian wine and cognacs. Besides ours,
31 Dec 2025 – 1 Jan 2026, Transnistria Read More »
Moldova – Transnistria The border with the unrecognized country of Transnistria looked real – the boom gate, armed security, and passport control. In Transnistria, they do not stamp passports. Instead, they issue a paper slip with passport and entry details. After crossing the border, we stopped at the shopping mall to exchange money. Transnistria has
Tiraspol, Transnistria, 31 Dec 2025 Read More »
Romania-Moldova I had time to explore Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, on my own before the group tour began. In the Military History museum, I learned that the tiny Moldova actively participated in the Soviet-Afghan war and that hundreds of its citizens got killed there. A separate exhibit in the museum is dedicated to another
Moldova – Transnistria, Dec 2025 Read More »
“Travel, which is nearly always seen as an attempt to escape from the ego, is in my opinion the opposite. Nothing induces concentration or inspires memory like an alien landscape of a foreign culture. It is simply not possible (as romantics think) to lose yourself in an exotic place. Much more likely is an experience
Romania-Moldova, Dec 2025 Read More »
The road ran along the border with Afghanistan and we kept watching what was happening on the other side. We saw fields with cattle and few people. Sometimes, we saw vehicles – regular cars, trucks with cargo or the armed Taliban. In other wors, life went on as usual. On Tajik side, it was military
Khorog- Kalaikhumb, Tajikistan, Sep 2025 Read More »
The Pamir Hwy, Kyrgyzstan We left the Pamir Highway, turned sharply south, and entered the Wakhan Corridor. This is the border area between Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Visiting it requires a special permit from the authorities that all of us obtained before entering Tajikistan. The Wakhan Valley, or Wakhan corridor, is a narrow strip of land
The Wakhan Corridor, Tajikistan, Sep 2025 Read More »
