Deserts

There are two sides to new city building: what is to become and what was there before. Straddling the divide between the two is what I do for a living.

An exploration of the Joshua Tree, a symbol of the American southwest, the advance guard of the perennial invasion against civilization.

A story of traveling into the deserts of southern California and finding a small highway town that was born out of a dream.

Evan Carson, a biologist at the University of New Mexico who specializes in the evolution genetics of desert fishes, has been conducting research in the the Cuatro Cienegas Basin in the north of Mexico since 1998. He refers to this pocket of unique bio-diversity as being, “without question, one of the most remarkable natural systems on Earth.” The pools, springs, and rivers of the Cuatro Cienegas basis give life to an ecosystem that does not have a compliment anywhere else in this world.

A one of a kind oasis teeming with ancient life is on the verge of permantly drying up in the desert of northern Mexico, taking dozens of endemic aquatic species and potentially useful microbes down with it. Researchers say that time is running out for the Cuatro Cienegas Basin, as its water levels are receeding at an alarming rate, and parts of it have already vanished. “The Cuatro Cienegas Basin is probably the most diverse site on the microbial world,” stated the molecular biologist, Valeria Souza, in an interview with vagabondjourney.com

LIVINGSTON, Guatemala- At 7:30 AM I was awoken to a young American girl standing out in front of my hotel room door complaining about being robbed. “I just want to get out of here, my money belt was stolen,” she spoke with strong emotion. Her money belt was stolen from the dorm room she was [...]

I enjoy the stories that often get attributed to the naming of things. There are many things that have a nomenclature that was obviously influenced from a story, a legend, a cultural pattern, or history. I like all of the gun and shooting references in modern English: “On target,” “Taking aim,” Trigger happy,” “Cocked and [...]

A travelogue entry about border jumpers and Chaya’s experience doing relief work on the US/ Mexico frontier — On that side is Naco, Mexico, on this side is is me, America. There is a fence between us. “How long is that fence?” I asked my friend, Al, who traveled be RV for 15 years after [...]

I become a member of the Quartzsite Yacht Club — “Welcome Aboard – long time, no sea!” -the motto of the Quartzsite Yacht Club I joined a yacht club. I joined a yacht club in the middle of the Sonoran desert. There is no water, no sea access, no rivers in sight of this yacht [...]