Category: Human Atlas
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I was staying in a tent on the roof of the Carmine Hotel in Dahab when I met Boka. I’d been in Egypt for three or four days, and he offered to take me to the best fried chicken joint around once he learned I was American and had, in fact, been craving fried chicken…
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2019, moving into 2020: the era that we now look back on with a trace of nostalgia. This was mere months before Covid-19 shut the world down – before many of us realized how much life can change literally overnight. Beginning in November of 2019 and spilling into the early weeks of 2020, Colombia experienced…
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I often think about the vast differences in human perception. All 8 billion of us live on the same planet; we see the same sun, moon, and stars. We all breathe oxygen and we all bleed red. But our experiences are seen through different personalities, insights, and tastes. I love hearing stories from others –…
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Have you heard of the unit of measurement called Scoville Heat Units? It’s a method of measuring the spiciness of chili peppers – for example, jalapeños are around 8,000 SHU at their hottest. With that information, imagine a score of 2,000,000 SHU. This score is among the spiciest known peppers in the world: the Carolina…
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I’ve met a young man, about my age, who has fled two wars in two different Middle Eastern countries. He has memories of being a kid and U.S. soldiers raiding his home. I can’t imagine what he and his family might’ve experienced or witnessed. I can’t imagine the feeling of moving from country to country…
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I spent three weeks with Anbu, as he and his wife hosted me in the Czech Republic on my third workaway. They live on a farm with chickens, horses, and alpacas (!!) that doubles as a hotel called Mezi Jeleny. They run frequent horse rides and alpaca walks for guests, children’s camps, ski seasons, and…