andy giefer

Looking back, nearly every memorable story from my year in South America centers around risk. Once in a while, remarkable things just happen to you. But courage puts you in a position to experience something worth sharing. It makes you interesting.

It takes courage for a brand to stand for something instead of trying to please everyone. It's scary to own one niche and let others pass by, or to reach for an ideal and risk failure. But it also makes for a memorable story. One that's worth sharing.

I like the concept of the of the iPad for travel -- particularly international travel. Light, compact, and almost every feature you'd need on the go. But it's missing something very important for the savvy, long-term traveler. 

During my year in South America, I lugged around a large, heavy Dell Inpiron laptop. As much as I hated the size and weight burden, it served my purposes for movies, photos, music, web, and email. Perhaps most importantly, I often used this beast of a laptop to access Skype.

I can't tell you how useful Skype was for keeping in touch with friends and family. Or when my wallet was stolen and I had to cancel credit cards and get money wired to me. With Skype I could take care of the problem at a minimal cost, and do so privately rather than in an internet cafe or public phone.

The iPad looks like a sexy travel toy, but the lack of a built-in webcam and microphone takes it out of the running as a serious travel computer. I'd like to see someone build a rugged, compact and full-featured device aimed at that niche.

In lieu of gifts, we spent the holidays in the Conch Republic (aka Key West). Wild, weird, scrumptious, haunted, potent, easygoing, musical, tropical and historical. Ideal place to unplug, but if you need a fix there are several Internet cafes on the island.

River dolphins evolved from archaic marine cetaceans (the order that also includes whales) on at least three separate occasions—first in India, later in China and in South America—before modern marine dolphins themselves had emerged as a distinct group. In an example of what's known as convergent evolution, geographically isolated and genetically distinct species developed similar characteristics because they were adjusting to similar environments.

I'm up north waiting out the heatwave. Here it's only 85.

When abroad for an extended period, you inevitably grow tired of taking standard issue tourist photos. So when I reached Valparaiso, I decided to try something different. This hilly port town is overflowing with amazing graffiti, paintings and other street art, and I set out to snap as much of it as possible. Here's the results:

A few years ago, I couldn't be bothered by the hype around Skype, the internet phone/video chat service. Living in the US, with pretty much alll my friends living here as well, it served little purpose. I didn't understand its greatness until the past year, when I lived in Argentina and traveled through South America. Now I imagine what a pain in the ass life abroad would've been in the pre-Skype era.

Sure, I had a cellphone, but it was prepaid and would drain quickly and expensively for international use. Skype on the other hand cost only 1-2 cents per minute for international calls, and is free when connecting to other users (of which there are 400 million). If I put $20 credit on my account, it could easily last me a few months.

The best part is that you can usually Skype from the convenience of your apartment, hostel or hotel room. Many in South America are now equipped with wifi so you can converse in relative privacy.

But with email, Facebook, IM and Twitter., who needs phone calls these days? The truth is phone and face-to-face is still the way much business is conducted there. Here's a rundown of situations when I found Skype incredibly useful:

• Keeping up with family and friends back home.
• Making reservations in my next destination (often faster/more reliable than internet reservation).
• Calling bank and credit card companies to cancel cards and send new ones when my wallet was stolen.
• Meeting my newborn neice "face-to-face" for the first time.
• Conversing with clients in the US for that I did freelance marketing work for.
• Confirming flights.
• Staying in touch with new friends from all over the world.
• Sitting on hold and having countless conversations with idiot customer service people tyring to resolve a duplicate charge on my credit card (Do I sound bitter? This is still not fully unresolved!)
• Practicing my Spanish.
• Tracking down my iPod after leaving it on a bus (which actually failed but worth a try).
• Arranging complicated travel details when my Dad and bro came down to visit.