Stuart Wild, head guide of Wild Earth Llama Adventures, likes his llamas. Thirty-one llamas that Stuart rescued make up the staff of Wild Earth Adventures, accompanying tourists on summer treks and snowshoe clomps through the winter forest. According to Stuart, llamas are the “eco-friendly pack animal.” With their soft two-toed… Read the rest

From Albuquerque, highway 25 sprawls northeast to Santa Fe and Taos, alongside vast mountain ranges, beside pastel-red adobe homes and flashing casino lights, past cholla cacti and ranching supply stores and tribal reservations. The Rio Grande River Gorge cuts through the landscape, quietly winding south under a brilliant blue sky.… Read the rest

From Flores, the capital of the Petén region in northern Guatemala, we headed north, through the dense jungle of the Maya Biosphere Reserve to Carmelita—the most remote town in Guatemala, the last stop before the Mexican border. The 70-family town of Carmelita is the center of the Carmelita concession, an… Read the rest

As dusk was falling, we rose up out of the smog and congestion of Guatemala City, and began the long ride up the mountains to Xela, winding along the Pan-American—a curvy beast of a road–confined to one lane in many areas from where mudslides collapsed the hillside during summer rains.… Read the rest

Just past the Guatemala-Belize border, our Guatemalan driver pulled over. “Aqui les dejo,” he said. “Buen viaje, nos vemos!… Read the rest” We got out, stretched our legs, and greeted Dirk, the driver of the van waiting to take us to our first project in Belize. “Hey mon, how was