The Witches’ Market – Thomas Carroll encounters strange luck charms in La Paz’s famous market.

Sweet Like Sucre - Esther Press  meets some young entrepreneurs, has a bargain lunch, and takes a ride on a “Dino-Truck” in the southern Bolivian town of Sucre.

Diggin’ Deep . . The Potosí Mines – EPress buys some gifts for the Cerro Rico miners and blows up some dynamite in Potosí.

The Bolivian Salt Falts: Mother Nature’s Watercolor Playground – Uncornered Market has a photo essay on the surreal Salar de Uyuni.

Bolivia by Boat – Tom Dibblee meditates his way down a river in the Bolivian Amazon.

I’ve Been Up the Mountain and I Had a Choice – The trek up Huayna Potosí bends, but not breaks, Michael Bonnet.

Rainforest Could Be Traded on World Market – BBC reports on the collaboration of private energy firms and environmental groups in conservancy projects.

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Brad Scriber, an editorial researcher for National Geographic magazine, showed off his iPod playlist from a recent trip to Barcelona.  Scriber says that he likes his travel soundtracks to include “a few puns, allusions, or inside jokes.”  Well, the joke is on Brad.  The Decemberists, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, and Paul McCartney?  Toad and the Wet Sprocket?  Not exactly the first music that comes to mind regarding the Catalan capital.

It seems all Scriber did, and he admits as much, is type words related words into iTunes, such as Barcelona and Spain.  Its a lazy way to make a mix tape, which Brad claims to be intimately familiar with as a child of the ’80s.  The only natives on his list are a Swedish group who’ve adopted the city as its home.  It is akin to listening to Jimmy Buffett’s “Jamaica Mistaica” instead of Bob Marley and The Wailer’s “Trenchtown Rock” while hiking in the Blue Mountains.

Rather than purchasing pedestrian indie rock from iTunes or Rhapsody, Scriber would’ve been better suited to research actual Catalan music to enrich his trip to Barcelona.  Furthermore, rock catalá could have satisfied his musical tastes, turned him on to another genre, and supported local artists.  There’s an ingenious concept – supporting the local economy where you are traveling.

Scriber even rubbed salt in the wound, promoting an artist on the Nat Geo Music label who is a native of Madrid, Barcelona’s eternal rival.  That shouldn’t go over too well with Barça and the blaugranes.

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Brave New Traveler has an article that will please every traveler’s mother, profiling cocaine bars in Bolivia.  I was shocked to read the author state “drug bars could be the thing Bolivia needs to jump-start tourism.”

Yes, just what Bolivia needs right now.  It’s almost a reverse of Bush’s “better to fight them over there than here at home.”  American and European demand for cocaine has a brutal legacy in South America.  The last thing the continent needs are inconsiderate backpackers flooding the country to get high.  There is so much more Bolivia has to offer tourists it is a shame Brave New Traveler went so far as to suggest drug tourism could be beneficial to the nation’s economy.  The sad part is there seemed to be no remorse for implicitly promoting such tourism.  The author chastises “tactless tourists” who might blow the cover on the Route 36 drug bars rather than give warnings on the negative effects of drug use, tourism, and trafficking.

If you want to know how a local would react to gringos arriving in their town looking for the “blow bar,” read the comment from a Colombian in the article’s comments section.

I created this blog to document my second trip to South America last year.  Does this mean another trip is on the horizon?  Patience is the companion of wisdom.

Meanwhile, I’ll be blogging about travel-related items to keep up on my favorite hobby.  Not forgetting that there are great escapes just outside my front door, I’ll also be highlighting Midwestern attractions (the world’s largest popcorn ball is a short drive away).

Here are some things to note:

• Do you Know Your Flags? I know my flags fairly well and I’ll be posting a new one each week.  Click on the flag to learn its history.

• Check out the “Blogroll” and assorted links.  If you have a site you like send it my way and I’ll add it to the list.  Travelindependent.info is the best travel site I’ve found.  Kayak usually provides the cheapest airfare on the Internet.

• Note the two illustrations, Seth from Greece and Seth from Peru, illustrated by Mike Sgier.  The images in the illustrations are taken directly from my own photos.  Mike has a couple other illustrations in the works – keep an eye out.  Browse Mike’s site for the other great work he does.

• If you live in or near Omaha, visit Brown on the Towne where Homer and Jordan explore Omaha’s fine ethnic restaurants.