James Varone at Gaston County Jail. Photo: Ben Goff/The Gaston Gazette
If this doesn't make the point for national health care in the United States, nothing ever will. James Varone, of North Carolina, held up a bank for $1. He is now in jail. But he finally got what he wanted: A meeting with a nurse and an appointment with a doctor.
In keeping with this blogs theme, I thought it was only fair to find some friends for Gaucho Gil on my travels. A cowboy's gotsta work hard to keep a woman - hardly a surprise given that his saintly ladies really do hang out in the strangest of places...
Staying holy under the trees [small village, Amazon Rainforest, Brazil]
An airport shrine - for the fearless only [Leticia Airport, Colombia]
Keepin' night drivers safe since 1989 [roadside, Colombia]
These saints just gave up and took off all their clothes [Mompox, Colombia]
In lieu of finding the words to describe the past six months traveling up from Buenos Aires to Nicaragua (I honestly can't remember any, Spanish or otherwise) I'm going to begin with a numbered list. And pictures. In no particular order:
1. Boat Crash in the Amazon. The Brazilian civil defense unit eventually kick into action and we're rescued by an aircraft carrier... eight days later.
2. Hot Sauce
can never get enough
3. I like big butts and I cannot lie: Anything and everything in Rio.
Ipanema Beach
Jesus Walks...
Wouldn't you?
4. Working hard at The Naked Tiger
The hardest workers the hostel has ever seen
5. Finding a Lost City
La Ciudad Perdida, Colombia
6. Sailing the San Blas
Jump in
7. Anything PHat. And yeah, that's with a PH.
Colombia's most famous artist likes all things PHat
8. Street Parties, Southern hemisphere styleeeee
Lapa Street Party, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
9. Sunsets and beaches (including tandem canoe trips as seen below)
Playa Blanca, Cartagena, Colombia
10. Papa Americano. I heard this song once a day without fail - for an entire year.
I'm not going to make any excuses for my absence as of late because I just don't have the words. (honestly, I've forgotten how to write). Instead, I'm hoping this will say it all. 182 days (six months if you're into numbers) of this. With some productivity thrown in there for good measure...
San Blas Islands, snapped during a five day sailing trip from Colombia to Panama
Soldiers of God on a Mission. Virreyes, Buenos Aires (photo: Kate Redburn)
God's soldiers have arrived on Argentine turf. Self proclaimed 'Modern Day Saints', the Mormon missionaries of Buenos Aires trawl the streets of the city for converts. They preach on the Subte. They preach on the buses. They preach in the rain. And when they hear no, they preach some more.
B.A. is home to three Mormon missions; and South America is currently playing garden of Eden to 50 different missions, populated with solid mid-Western stock; young men with glowing white teeth and an urgent message to share. I trekked down to the Virreyes Mission in the North of the City to hear it from the experts... Click here to learn how to do it, Missionary Style.
