The Only Gringo: Third World Travel in a Pre-Digital Age

Paul Theroux never made reservations as he a rode old trains around the world. Tim Cahill didn't book an adventure travel specialist when he ended up in the worlds weirdest places. Not knowing what will happen is the adventure in adventure travel. Before adventure travel web sites and adventure travel magazines and blogs there was just travel. It was more of a "wherever you go, there you are" mindset put forward in the People's Guide to Mexico.

When you travel alone, strange things happen.Close calls, questionable decisions, the road not taken becomes the road not on the map. Somewhere between dazed and confused and Hunter S. Thompson, Robert Lanz channels both Dr. Phil and Dr. Drew and sometimes Forest Gump, hitting the gringo trail when it wasn't always well marked.

And between his travels he always ends up back at his straight job as a psychiatric social worker in a busy Emergency Room where the list of "everything else" is long and challenging and where the adventures are every bit as intense as those on the road. A good social worker no matter where he is has good stories. Of course they don't all end well, but well, they end.

Some of his stories make you cry. Some make you laugh. Some are disgusting. Some piss you off. Hey, just like a night in the ER.