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THE MAGIC OF MACHU PICCHU
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THE STARK BEAUTY OF THE N.W.T. HUMBLES HARDCORE HIKERS
GUATEMALA ON THE TRAIL OF THE MAYANS
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Swimming with Sharks A DOCUMENTARY-MAKER HANGS WITH HAMMERHEADS
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Outpost TRAVEL FOR REAL
NO.56
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MATT ROBINSON matt@outpostmagazine.com Deputy Editors
KATHLEEN DORE, LIZA FINLAY deputyed@outpostmagazine.com Editors-at-Large
CHRISTOPHER FREY KEVIN VALLELY kevin@outpostmagazine.com Senior Editor, Travel Health DEBORAH SANBORN deborah@outpostmagazine.com Senior Editor KEVIN BLACK black@outpostmagazine.com Associate Editors
RYAN MURDOCK, ROBERT J. BRODEY, LIONEL MANN, KRISHNA RAU, MARC-ANDRÉ ROY, CALE BAIN Editorial Assistants
SHELBY HILSON, MELISSA OWENS, MARIA CALLEJA Photographers-at-Large
Ryan Murdock (second from right) is an associate editor of Outpost, and a member of the RMAX Head Coaching Staff. His work has taken him to 28 countries, including Mongolia, Nicaragua and North Korea. He’s travelled by motorcycle, dugout canoe, horse, camel, and in this issue his own feet, which take a beating in “Walking the Line” (see page 44). Ryan’s previous feature, “The Worst Desert in the World,” was nominated for a National Magazine Award in 2006. His guilty pleasure after the Canol hike? Chocolate and fresh coffee.
JASON GEORGE, FRANK WOLF, DONALD WEBER, LORNE BRIDGMAN Art Director
CHRISTINE AGER-SMYTH production@outpostmagazine.com Graphic Designer JEFF GUSCOTT production2@outpostmagazine.com Map Design
STEVE WILSON Assistant Designer
ALEXANDRA ISHIGAKI Food Editor
DON DOULOFF
Dear Readers:
Contributing Editors
I just finished reading the article “Ice Dreams” in your last issue and noticed in the quick facts at the end you mention that it’s illegal to transport marine mammal parts or products across international boundaries. As someone who travels as much as I can, I try to be careful about what I purchase in other countries. However, I mostly rely on my own common sense to figure out what I shouldn’t buy because I haven’t been able to find specific information or a list of what is illegal. I would love to read an article in Outpost that lays that out more clearly for travellers so we don’t inadvertently transport something illegal. Thanks. Valerie Vuillemot, via email EDITOR’S NOTE: Thanks for your suggestion. You’re right, finding specific information regarding illegal exports for travellers isn’t easy. We suggest checking out the World Customs Organization at www.wcoomd.org, where you’ll find links to customs websites for nearly every country. If the site doesn’t have the info you need, there’s also contact information for various government departments.
Feedback? Comments? A travel tidbit to share? Outpost welcomes letters to the editor: editor@outpostmagazine.com
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A Road Less
trav e
Mount Humantay looms in the near distance.
28 Outpost march/april 2007  www.outpostmagazine.com
v elled A one-week walk to historic Machu Picchu, Peru, provides one hiker with new perspective on life and the art of living it Story and photography by Robert J. Brodey
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WALKING
The aurora ghosts the sky above Dodo Canyon.
44 Outpost MARCH/APRIL 2007
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THE LINE
The remote wilderness of the N.W.T.’s Canol Heritage Trail can be hauntingly beautiful and frighteningly indifferent to trekkers who challenge it STORY BY RYAN MURDOCK PHOTOGRAPHY BY COLIN O'CONNOR www.outpostmagazine.com MARCH/APRIL 2007 Outpost
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The city of Antigua de Guatemala contains a treasure trove of Spanish Baroque architecture.
Civilization
Deep in the heart of Guatemala lies the remnants of the mysterious Mayan culture and maybe even the key to the riddle of all ages
Story By Larry Frolick Photography by Don Weber
July in th e we stern Caribbean is what th e Caribbean has always been and always will be—pure indolent summer. Distant islands, peacock waters and emerald focal points. Our aircraft approaches the misty Central American coast when, without warning, heavy weather marches out of the hills to confront us. The landscape crumples and folds, the little red lights go on above our heads and everyone runs to their seats. Somewhere below this barometric implosion is a country.
Guatemala City reveals itself in long blips and patches, an octopus of red tiles and tin shingles. The capital sits under a staggering array of thunderclouds, locked up for the duration of the rainy season and battered by the clash of sky-armies at this green gate dividing the Pacific and Atlantic. The plane circles to avoid sheet lightning to the west. Finally we’re on the ground where the rain falls as if it’s shooting from a fire hose. We get drenched on our way to the car.
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Fantastic vistas greet the trekker above the valley of Antigua de Guatemala.
The radio in the car is set at FM 100: “Música transparente,” the male announcer calls it. “Grooving the afternoon with you in Guatemala City.” The green hills above the city are part of the Sierra Madre chain, glowing like caged animals in the rains of July. The towering black peaks, lost in the clouds above them, are volcanoes. El Paco looms over us and behind the black cone stand two more, like brothers pressed shoulder to shoulder. “You can look into El Paco from your hotel,” Karen, our guide, says. “If it’s not covered with rain clouds you can stare right into its mouth. See the orange lava fires?” “It’s still active?”
“Everything here is still active.” Not everything. According to some theorists, the intriguing Mayan civilization mysteriously disappeared in the 12th century, long before the Spanish invaded. Guatemala was the heart of the Mayan domain. I’ve come looking for answers. Today, the population of Guatemala is 12 million. It would be more had it not been for the civil war, which lasted for 36 years from 1960 to 1996. It summarily ended the lives of 1.6 million peasants, families and soldiers. The Peace Accords of 1996 have been ritualized in a daily ceremony that takes place at
below, left to right: A watery suburb of Porto San Jose, on Guatemala’s Pacific Coast; green lawns disguise ruins, many of which remain to be excavated; ferry operators ply their trade across a network of mangrove swamps, lagoons and slow rivers on Guatemala’s Pacific Coast; architectural gems greet guests around every corner of the fabled Antigua de Guatemala.
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