Have you ever had a dog as your tour guide? Well it happened to me on two separate occasions. The first time was in Thailand, when Som - she of Malee’s Nature Lodge’s fame - volunteered to take two German tourists and myself for a hike through the forest.

The 2nd occurrence happened while I was visiting Bolivia this past May. I was in the small mountain resort of Samaipata when I decided to join two young European blokes on a hike to the mirador (lookout point) overlooking the village of Samaipata. The distance from town to the mirador was about 3 miles, with an elevation gain of about 1000 feet.

Along the way, a friendly yellow and rather large dog decided to accompany us. I nicknamed him Senor Perro, which in Spanish means Mr. Dog. Senor Perro bounded gleefully ahead of us and took the lead, wagging his tail like a metronome. He seemed to be very familiar with the rather rocky trail up the mountainside. Occasionally he would look back over his shoulder to make sure we were following him.

Senor Perro and the two Euros hiked fairly swiftly up the jagged trail, while I lagged behind because of a bad “right wheel” (leg). Well, I finally made it to the top of the mountain where I was greeted by Senor Perro and the two young men. Resting there for awhile, we admired the spectacular panoramic views of the valley and nearby Samaipata.

About a ½ hour later, Senor Perro indicated it was time to return as he started getting restless. So we proceeded to follow the large yellow dog back to civilization. Upon reaching the roadside, we bade him farewell as he trotted to his master’s house.

To be honest with you, I would not have been able to make this somewhat arduous hike if it wasn’t for the company of Senor Perro and the two young Euro tourists.

As a traveler, I meet many different people – of many different nationalities and ages (young and old) during the course of my travels. I have met people from all over the world – from Sudan to Korea to Kazakhstan. Of course, despite our diverse backgrounds, the common denominator is that we are all travelers.

As travelers, we share our experiences of travel on the road – the highs and the lows - and sometimes we lose all our inhibitions and go completely wild. While I was staying in Bolivia’s Amazon Basin far away from civilization, I met a small group of young travelers at San Miguel de Bala Lodge – a young couple from England and from Switzerland/Spain as well as a young lady from Korea.

As sort of tribute to yours truly, the two young blokes – Henri (from England) and Eunico (from Andalusia) went off the deep end and created an outrageous new dance style called “Do the Papa Mono”. The Papa Mono dance promises to be the biggest thing to hit the dance floors since the Lambada. Check it out and pretty soon, I guarantee that you will soon be going ape too. PURA VIDA

P.S. I would like to apologize to all our loyal subscribers for our disappearance during the last 3 months. However as you can see, we have returned bigger (and better) than ever!