Like Writing on Water

In western Uganda, Christopher Vourlias met Colin, a farmer and poet who questioned the purpose of life while happily revealing the meaning of nohandika ha maiise.

My Senegalese Cousin, the Rice-Loving Pig

When the woman selling peanuts at a Samba Dia market learned the Senegalese name adopted by Katie Krueger, negotiations took an insulting turn

First Step to a Great Airplane View: Get a Window Seat

Dead Sea Scrolls Go Digital

The Ethics of Nicholas Kristof’s Travels

The Art of Noticing: ‘People Don’t Notice That Noticing is Important!’

A Tourist With a Shovel and a Hoe

When she arrived in Kenya to volunteer with the Maasai, Daniela Petrova looked down her nose at tourists there to have a good time. But was her own motivation much different?

How Should I Spend My Time in Spain?

Vagabonding traveler Rolf Potts answers your questions about travel

Paul Theroux: Invisible Man on a Ghost Train

Jim Benning asks the author of “Ghost Train to the Eastern Star” about his new book, aging and the challenge of disappearing in the age of the BlackBerry

Eat Ceviche in Lima

Grab a Cusqueña and get comfortable. As Nicholas Gill explains, a trip to a Peruvian cevichería can be an all-day immersion in good conversation and raw seafood.

Unsentimental Journeys: Wrestling With Paul Theroux

Bronwen Dickey considers “Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: 28,000 Miles in Search of the Great Railway Bazaar”

My Travels, My Feet

After taking one too many headless torso shots of herself, solo traveler Sophia Dembling started snapping photos of her feet around the world, from the Grand Canyon to Red Square

Seven Reasons to Have a Foreign Fling

Sure, having an overseas romance is fun. But Terry Ward points out seven other benefits to cross-border love, mon petit chou.

Maps, Mumbles and Miss Teen South Carolina

The TambourineMan would like to offer Caitlin private cartography tutoring.

He also gives big props to the great Mario Lopez, who held it together like a pro.

Hah! Just watched the video for the first time… TambourineMan, thanks for the confirmation on the Mario Lopez sighting. I was so distracted going “Is that AC Slater??” that I almost missed her second round of “like such as"…

To be honest, I’m not sure that geography is this gal’s biggest issue.

Whatever subject Caitlin needs help with, I’m there for her.

Yes, it is indeed AC Slater, Saved by the Bell LEGEND...and the next Bert Parks.

Oddly enough, Miss Teen South Carolina’s answer was correct, and the question was wrong:  according to the 2006 Roper Public Affairs-National Geographic Study of Geographic Literacy, it’s not true that one-fifth of Americans can’t find the U.S. on a world map-- 94% can. (Perhaps the pageant organizers meant to ask: Why can’t 63% of Americans find Iraq on a Middle East map?  That would be true). But if you dissect Miss Upton’s answer about why Americans are geographically challenged, it turns out she’s right.  According to the Roper-NatGeo study, only 19% of the Americans they polled owned a world map.  So buy a world map today, and fight geographic illiteracy!  There are some nice ones here:
http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/gateway/120/105.html

Report of the Roper-NatGeo survey here: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/roper2006/pdf/FINALReport2006GeogLitsurvey.pdf

This poor girl is a victim of the public education system, with a smattering of personal responsibility for not applying herself in school No doubt she has been taught those wonderful social courses offered on “Women’s Studies”, “Cultural Diversity” and the always riveting “Environmental Global Warming” hype.  Perhaps if reading, writing, arithmetic and geography were brought back to the forefront we wouldn’t have to be subjected to the Ms. South Carolinas of the world.