Most of my blog posts are full of pretty pictures, and the next one after this will be too. But the subject of this one, the physical parts anyway, are gone, except for now-fading abrasions and on-going pain of bruised ribs. Here’s the anatomy of my assault… On April 27, in San Sebastian Etla, a small village a short way outside of the city of Oaxaca in Mexico, I was assaulted in broad daylight, knocked down in the street, my purse...

La Manzanilla, Mexico is a sleepy little fishing village and laid back beach town, so what is there to tie a nomad like me down for 6 whole months? Turns out plenty! First, there’s never a shortage of local color, especially for a photographer … Endless walks on the 6km stretch of sandy beach enthrall, delight, and soothe the soul day after day after day. Some weekends and holidays are filled with frolicking swimmers and...

Part 2 – Los Angeles and Southern California Beach Towns As a second act to my return to California, I’m happy to present a tour of the Golden State’s best southern beach towns, along with a tiny glimpse of LA. The Megabus droned on through the night for eight hours from San Francisco, depositing me in the heart of Los Angeles in the wee hours, where my friend Lisa was kind enough to scoop me up. It had been several years...

Part 1: Hopping House Sits in Northern California After 18 months outside the US, it was time for a brief return. Leaving Thailand when my six months of visas were up, and with the first draft of my book manuscript completed, I made a sweep through California to renew my passport, and more importantly, to see family and friends. Keeping with my backpacker’s budget, this included house and pet sitting, a cobbling together of places to...

  Have you ever wondered what it would be like to move to another country? To be an expat in a foreign land? For six months I had a sampling of what that’s like in Thailand. It’s easier than you might think. At first, it can seem really foreign, different language, even different alphabets…     different foods…     different religions, and different customs.     For someone like me, who finds all of...