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The Atlantic end of the Panama Canal, at Col n, is west of the Pacific end, at Panama City. What? That's impossible! Fortunately, Vasco N

1 Panama City

Panama · 2026 · 121 photos

In 1848 Col n did not exist. Instead, there was Manzanillo Island, consisting of a spit on the west and a swamp to its east. Some American

2 Colon

Panama · 2026 · 95 photos

Starting in about 1540, the Spanish began sending gold and silver from Peru to Spain. Leaving Lima, the stuff landed at Panama and then wen

3 Outliers

Panama · 2026 · 55 photos

If only it were this simple! Here's a picture painted by Charles Muret in 1881 of a sea-level canal through the Isthmus of Panama. It conv

4 And the Canal

Panama · 2026 · 72 photos

We're going to be looking here at the southern tip of the country, around the red marker.

The Shire Highlands

Malawi · 2026 · 140 photos

Fresno's Airport laboring under the IATA code FAT, from Fresno Air Terminal sits in the middle of a county whose leading farm products are g

Rural California 7, State Route 49

Western United States · 2026 · 396 photos

Savai'i is a little over 40 miles east to west. The interior is almost empty, and as late as 1900, most of the south coast was almost uninh

3 Savai'i

Samoa · 2025 · 52 photos

Here we are, a bit over halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand. There are no flights from the mainland United States, and there's only one

2 Upolu

Samoa · 2025 · 163 photos

Here's Viti Levu, literally Great Fiji. East to west, it's about 90 miles across. Population: 600,000.

Ten years ago I drove from Nadi at

Fiji 2

Fiji · 2025 · 89 photos

Here's the main island, Tatuila, 20 miles long tip to tip, but by road 30 miles taking 90 minutes.

1 American Samoa

Samoa · 2025 · 99 photos

No, it's not fog. The air-quality index is a bit over 300 today.

Delhi 14: 2024

Northern India · 2025 · 20 photos

We're heading north from the airport. Slow, crowded, interminable.

Calcutta 7: 2024

Northern India · 2025 · 72 photos

Welcome to Dimapur, the commercial capital of Nagaland State. The town, population pushing 200,000, is getting a new bridge over the Dhansi

Kohima

Northern India · 2025 · 149 photos

The approach to Arequipa from Lima. The coast is dry as a bone, but wherever water comes down from the Andes, somebody catches it.

Arequipa

Peru · 2024 · 25 photos

Heading east out of Arequipa on Route 34A.

Puno and Pomata

Peru · 2024 · 33 photos

Highway 115 offers one of the two standard routes from Arequipa to the coast. The view is eastward here, with the highway making a huge loo

Mollendo

Peru · 2024 · 21 photos

We're inland less than a mile from the coast and looking toward high rises mostly along the coast.

Miraflores

Peru · 2024 · 5 photos

Rio Rimac, 500 feet north of Peru's presidential palace.

Lima

Peru · 2024 · 25 photos

Just north of Lima's airport: Terminales Portuanos Peruano.

Chimbote

Peru · 2024 · 27 photos

The cathedral.

Trujillo

Peru · 2024 · 42 photos

Chiclayo's plaza and the Santa Maria cathedral, 1869-1939.

Chiclayo

Peru · 2024 · 21 photos

Cancun's airport sees 34 million passengers annually, which is just about the same as DFW or Denver or O'Hare or LAX. I'd call that a bad s

Yucatan 1: Merida and Uxmal

Mexico · 2024 · 83 photos

We've jumped a dozen miles from Uxmal to the much quieter ruins at Kabah, connected to Uxmal not only by a modern road but by a straight pro

Yucatan 2: From Kabah to Calakmul

Mexico · 2024 · 87 photos

Leave Xpujil, head west to Centenario, go north to Edzna, and continue to and around Campeche. Duck soup.

Yucatan 3: Campeche and Edzna

Mexico · 2024 · 34 photos

Here we are just east of downtown Reno and enjoying the Truckee River on its cheerful way from Lake Tahoe to Pyramid Lake.

Virginia City, Nevada

Western United States · 2024 · 79 photos

We're at the head of the Krishna River's delta and looking at the Prakasam Barrage, a modern replacement of a low dam built by the British i

Buddhist Andhra

Peninsular India · 2024 · 125 photos

It's hard to see the deities portrayed on the tower but easy to see the stone work of the gopuram base. It crams so many elements together

Cauvery Temples 1. Ranganatha

Peninsular India · 2023 · 27 photos

We can get away from that stuff. There are several pools on the grounds.

Cauvery Temples 2. Jambukeshwara

Peninsular India · 2023 · 25 photos

How can we not look at this and think of the man-hours that went into it? Followed perhaps by the a little prayer of thanks for the Industr

Cauvery Temples 3. Thanjuvur

Peninsular India · 2023 · 20 photos

An Immaculate wall, even modern if you overlook the little Nandis up top. This is the Airavatesvara Temple at Darasuram, just outside Kunba

Cauvery Temples 4. Kumbakonam

Peninsular India · 2023 · 34 photos

We're between Kumbakonam and Chidambaram and at the parking lot in front of the jawbreaking Gangaikondacholapuram Temple. Built by Rajendra

Cauvery Temples 5. Gangaikondacholapuram

Peninsular India · 2023 · 26 photos

The old road from Kumbakonam to Chidambaram.

Cauvery Temples 6. Chidambaram

Peninsular India · 2023 · 13 photos

Here we are on Highway R521 about 30 miles north of Polokwane alias Pietersburg. Still lost? No problem: we're about 220 miles north of Joha

Four Other Zimbabwes

Zimbabwe · 2022 · 85 photos

We're on the main road in from the airport and just a block from the intersection with Hospital Road, Jaffna's main street. A temple's been

Jaffna in January, 2020

Sri Lanka · 2020 · 160 photos

We’ll start at Stabroek and at the water's edge, with fish to prove it.

Guyana: Central Georgetown

Guyana · 2020 · 40 photos

This is the prime minister's house. It's on High Street about midway between St. George's Cathedral and the ocean and was originally a priva

Guyana: From Wood to Concrete

Guyana · 2020 · 44 photos