Visit Bodie, California with the Amateur Traveler: This video shows the old gold mining ghost town of Bodie. Bodie was founded in 1861 and largely abandoned by 1932. The town is kept in a state of arrested decay. It is not restored nor is it allowed to continue to disintegrate.
click here to download (m4v)
click here to download (Apple TV)
Visit Costa Rica with the Amateur Traveler: This video shows an eco tour traveling by bus, train and boat to the rain forrest north of Puerto Limon on the Caribbean coast. It was part of a longer cruise I talked about on the Amateur Traveler Episode 113 - Theme Cruise to Panama (Shakespeare at Sea / MacMania).
click here to download (m4v)
click here to download (Apple TV)
Find Costa Rica Condos on Condo.com, the world’s largest condo marketplace.
The Amateur Traveler talks to Richard Miller of the SparkleTack podcast (about San Francisco history) about San Francisco. Richard guides us in a driving/walking tour from west to east. We start at lands end and end up near fisherman’s wharf while talking about the sites and history of many of the places in between. This is a great companion episode with the 2 part soundseeing walking tour of San Francisco.
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click here to download (mp3)
click here to download (iTunes enhanced)
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The Amateur Traveler talks to Rachel about Seoul, South Korea. Rachel is a college student from Hong Kong who studied in Seoul for the Summer. She talks about historic palaces, museums, customs and shopping in this city that she describes as a “kaleidoscope.”
Travel News - TSA Targets The Anxious, Ryanair Not Content to Be Hated just in Great Britain
click here to download (mp3)
click here to download (iTunes enhanced)
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Visit Tijuana Mexico with the Amateur Traveler. 13 times in the last 15 years I have made a trip down to Tijuana Mexico to work with a group from my church and a Mexican organization called Esperanza International to build houses out of concrete for and with the working poor. Esperanza means “hope” in Spanish. This video shows what that work is like.
Esperanza says that what they are actually trying to build is community, houses are just the byproduct. They put in credit unions and teach people how to save money, help people help their neighbors as they build sweat equity in the program, and teach people how to build cement bricks. The family and their neighbors must construct every brick for their house before a volunteer crew like ours will help dig trenches, pour a foundation, pour a floor, stack walls or pour a roof.
In our last trip we moved 85 cement mixers full of concrete (about 500 pounds per load) by hand using a bucket brigade. We also moved 3 dump trucks full of dirt. You end up with very sore muscles a few scrapes and very very dirty. You also end up with friends South of the border. One of the neighbors who we worked along side on this trip was a woman whose house we had helped build on a previous trip. Nothing cements a friendship like… well like cement.
Oh yeah, and the food is great also. For more information check out an early episode of the Amateur Traveler on Building Houses in Mexico.
The problem of poverty is a dirty problem and it seems insurmountable. The percentage of the population that was able to help is practically immeasurable. The Tijuana landscape is largely unchanged by this effort, but the life of one family is changed. The character of one neighborhood is change. If you think someone needs to do something about poverty, I encourage you to put your money and your muscle where your mouth is.
click here to download (iPod)
click here to download (Apple TV)
