Columns

A trip to Uruguay in April ’04 was my first to that country. I went to see Montevideo, its capital city. I also wanted to visit the small town of Colonia (its full name is Colonia del Sacramento) in the southwestern corner of the country, about a 2-hour drive from Montevideo. Having seen photos of its quaint, cobblestone streets and having heard that it had begun its existence as a Portuguese settlement, I was intrigued.

It is hard to believe that this lovely town beside the Rio de la Plata River was once of immense importance to two empires, the Portuguese and the Spanish, which...

I first visited Egypt 22 years ago. On my fourth trip to the country, in November 2004, I traveled with my 25-year-old daughter, Katie. I wanted to see her eyes light up at the sights that make Egypt one of this world’s greatest tourist destinations. I wanted her to say, 40 years from now, “Way back in ’04, I saw the pyramids for the first time with my MOM.”

Katie could only take one week off from her job. Friends and relatives questioned, “Only one week? What can you do in just one week?”

Well, as it turned out, quite a lot.

No hesitating

There are numerous...

(Part one of two)

Bolivia is a land of former fantastic riches and present poverty. A major part of the country is steaming Amazon lowlands. Most tourism is to the nearly 3-mile-high Altiplano, with the highest capital in the world, La Paz, and the highest airport in the world. On an 8-day trip in October ’04, I stayed in modern 5-star hotels with room rates in the $40-$50 range.

Amazing Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world, has floating islands made of reeds along its shorelines. Traditionally, homes have been built on these islands by indigenous Andeans....