The Wonder Trail : True Stories from Los Angeles to the End of the World

The Beginning / Los Angeles: -- A travel book -- How I came to write this book -- Los Angeles, I'm yours -- Don't wake up LA! -- Where I was from -- So why was I restless? -- The wonder trail -- Possible alternatives for this book -- So: -- Mexico: Spanish level: de gravedad -- The bad north of Mexico -- If you have one hour in Mexico City -- The first white people in Mexico. The first Europeans in Mexico -- Cortes the killer -- Montezuma of the Mexicans -- The fall of Tenochtitlan -- Lost on La Condesa's racetrack -- Recommended walk -- Under the Oaxacan sun -- Up in the hills of Chiapas (with Marco of Croozy Scooters) -- Gringolandia -- Karst -- Idiots and heroes -- Night ride -- Waterfalls to Palenque -- Ancient writing of Central America -- Guatemala Pam in the Lacondon Jungle -- The murals at Bonampak -- Central America-Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama: -- Catherwood & Stephens -- Disasters of Guatemala -- Wonders of Guatemala -- Over EL Salvador -- Surf pioneers -- The excellence of surfing -- Me and Kelly Slater on the Gulf of Fonseca -- Pupusas -- To the sunny isle of Meanguera -- Bizarre mural at the Hotel Gran Francia -- Walker, Nicaraguan ranger -- The perfect cup of coffee -- Wait a second -- A Nicaraguan canal -- Costa Rica: these guys are awesome -- Panama: cut that thing! -- Kidnapping -- How did they dig the Panama Canal? -- The world's biggest bathtub -- Fish the Panama Canal -- Thoughts that just occurred to me -- The ruins of Old Panama -- Wallet stolen in Casco Viejo -- Around the Darien Gap and Colombia: -- On the beach in Guna Yala -- The Darien Gap -- Pirates of the Caribbean -- Australians abroad -- The dread ship Jacqueline -- Islands in the stream and the drug canoe -- The A-team -- Port of call: Cartagena -- One last word about the A-team -- Sick times in Medellin -- Cocaine -- Center of innovation (and partying) -- A story of a kidnapping -- Good Friday in Popayan -- Saturday night at El Sotaren~o -- Easter in Popayan -- The Amazon and Peru: -- Amazonia -- Downriver -- Banisteriopsis caapi and her amazing friends -- The shaman's house -- Three commandments of a brand-new religion -- Best qualities of my good friend Alan Tang: -- Oh! One more quality -- In the Inca capital -- The rise and fall of the Inca in four pages -- Saqsaywaman with San Pedro and Alan Tang -- How to get to Machu Picchu -- What is Machu Picchu? -- What to do at Machu Picchu -- The Galapagos and Bolivia: -- Away team mission to the Galapagos -- Memory of a nerdy childhood -- Good company -- Second-best thing: snorkeling -- Witness to a heroic deed -- "Going to town" -- Oompa-Loompa hunting -- How to survive prison in or become president of Bolivia -- Lake Titicaca -- A hippie theory -- Simon Bolivar -- Chile and Patagonia: -- Chile: the longest, skinniest country -- Austenland (2013, PG-13) -- ATVs, hot dogs, and relationships in the Atacama -- Aliens of the Atacama -- Che Guevara -- The Museum of Memory -- The funniest guy in Chile -- Sandwiches of Chile -- In Patagonia -- Bruce Chatwin -- The bottom -- (Free offer for a bonus E-book) -- Appendix: Female travel writers -- Guides (human) -- Guides (books).;"Steve Hely, writer for The Office and American Dad!, takes a trip south--all the way south. The trip was ambitious--Steve traveled through Mexico City; ancient Mayan ruins; the jungles, coffee plantations and remote beaches of Central America; across the Panama Canal; by sea to Colombia; to the wild Easter celebration of Popayán; to the Amazon rain forest; the Inca sites of Cuzco and Machu Picchu; to the Galápagos Islands; the Atacama Desert of Chile; and down to the jagged and wind-worn land of Patagonia, at the bottom of the Western Hemisphere. Steve's plan was to discover the weird, wonderful, and absurd in Central and South America, to seek and find the incredible, delightful people and experiences that came his way. And the book that resulted is just as fun. A blend of travel writing, history, and comic memoir, The Wonder Trail will inspire, inform, and delight"-- Steve Hely, writer for The Office and American Dad!, and recipient of the Thurber Prize for American Humor, presents a travel book about his journey through Central and South America. Part travel book, part pop history, part comic memoir, Hely's writing will make readers want to reach for their backpack and hiking boots. The Wonder Trail is the story of a trip from Los Angeles to the bottom of South America, presented in 102 short chapters. From Mexico City to Oaxaca; into ancient Mayan ruins; the jungles, coffee plantations, and remote beaches of Central America; across the Panama Canal; by sea to Colombia; to the wild Easter celebration of Popayán; to the Amazon rainforest; the Inca sites of Cuzco and Machu Picchu; to the Galápagos Islands; the Atacama Desert of Chile; and down to wind-worn Patagonia at the bottom of the Western Hemisphere; Steve traveled collecting stories, adventures, oddities, marvels, bits of history and biography, tales of weirdos, fun facts, and anything else interesting or illuminating. Steve's plan was to discover the unusual, wonderful, and absurd in Central and South America, to seek and find the incredible, delightful people and experiences that came his way. And the book that resulted is just as fun. A blend of travel writing, history, and comic memoir, The Wonder Trail will inspire, inform, and delight. From the Hardcover edition "Steve Hely, writer for The Office and American Dad! and recipient of the Thurber Prize for American Humor, presents a travel book about his journey through Central and South America. Part travel book, part pop history, part comic memoir, Hely's writing will make any reader want to reach for their backpack and hiking boots. The Wonder Trail is the story of Steve's trip from Los Angeles to the bottom of South America, presented in 102 short chapters. The trip was ambitious--Steve traveled through Mexico City, ancient Mayan ruins, the jungles and coffee plantations and remote beaches of Central America, across the Panama Canal, by sea to Colombia, to the wild Easter celebration of Popayan, to the Amazon rainforest, the Inca sites of Cuzco and Machu Picchu, to the Galapagos Islands, the Atacama Desert of Chile, and down to the jagged and wind-worn land of Patagonia, at the very end of the western hemisphere. Steve's plan was to discover the weird, wonderful, and absurd--not to ignore the challenges and problems in Central and South America--but to focus on the incredible, delightful people and experiences that came his way. And the book that resulted is just as fun. A blend of travel writing, history, and comic memoir, The Wonder Trail will inspire, inform, and delight"-- Provided by publisher Steve Hely, writer for The Office and American Dad! , and recipient of the Thurber Prize for American Humor, presents a travel book about his journey through Central and South America. Part travel book, part pop history, part comic memoir, Hely's writing will make any reader want to reach for their backpack and hiking boots. The Wonder Trail is the story of Steve's trip from Los Angeles to the bottom of South America, presented in 102 short chapters. The trip was ambitious—Steve traveled through Mexico City, ancient Mayan ruins, the jungles and coffee plantations and remote beaches of Central America, across the Panama Canal, by sea to Colombia, to the wild Easter celebration of Popayán, to the Amazon rainforest, the Inca sites of Cuzco and Machu Picchu, to the Galápagos Islands, the Atacama Desert of Chile, and down to the jagged and wind-worn land of Patagonia, at the very end of the western hemisphere. Steve's plan was... "Steve Hely, writer for The Office and American Dad!, takes a trip south--all the way south. The trip was ambitious--Steve traveled through Mexico City; ancient Mayan ruins; the jungles, coffee plantations and remote beaches of Central America; across the Panama Canal; by sea to Colombia; to the wild Easter celebration of Popayán; to the Amazon rain forest; the Inca sites of Cuzco and Machu Picchu; to the Galápagos Islands; the Atacama Desert of Chile; and down to the jagged and wind-worn land of Patagonia, at the bottom of the Western Hemisphere. Steve's plan was to discover the weird, wonderful, and absurd in Central and South America, to seek and find the incredible, delightful people and experiences that came his way. And the book that resulted is just as fun. A blend of travel writing, history, and comic memoir, The Wonder Trail will inspire, inform, and delight"-- Provided by publisher