LATIN AMERICA MEDIA PROJECT

Featured Writer: Dominic Hamilton

LAMP UPDATE

Dominic Hamilton is the author of the award-winning Traveler's Venezuela Companion, and co-author of the Traveler's Ecuador Companion guidebooks.

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We've had the pleasure of corresponding with Dominic Hamilton for a decade. He has written more articles and more broadly than any other writer featured on Planeta. His features run the gamut from Belize Leads the Way to Venezuela's Gran Sabana.

Regarding his collaboration with Planeta, Dominic writes:

"In the dim penumbra of the early days of Internet, when screens were still green and peppered with DOS prompts, I discovered El Planeta Platica. From the start, I knew I wanted to write for it, and support it. My first article Tepuis dates from 1996. I had just spent six months in Venezuela's Gran Sabana, researching a guidebook that was never to be. Ron encouraged me from the start, and has continued to do so down the years, as Planeta has grown exponentially and my career as a journalist and guidebook writer has developed. Our friendship is one of mutual support, exchange of ideas and generosity. And it's one truly born in the Internet age -- eight years on, and we've yet to meet in person!"

PLANETA FEATURES

Belize Leads the Way
Aldous Huxley once asserted that Belize 'is not on the way from anywhere to anywhere else.' But Belize's diverse natural attractions, and its extensive national parks system, prove him wrong.

Colors of Chichicastenango
Chasing the mist and magic amid the markets of Guatemala.

Doug Tompkins' Pumalin Park
When the millionaire Doug Tompkins returned to northern Chile in the 1990s, he didn't come to raft, climb or bike. He came to buy, buy, buy.

Tikal Lessons
Things I learned in Guatemala. Lesson one: don't push your luck. Lesson two: always take advice from people who know better. Lesson three: always have extra cash on you. Lesson four?

VENEZUELA

Venezuela's Great Outdoors
Think Venezuela, and most people come up with beauty queens, petrodollars and beaches. But the country's huge variety of ecosystems, coupled with experienced and knowledgeable tour operators, make it an adventure- and nature-lover's top destination.

Venezuela's Gran Sabana
A community in the outback. A chance encounter on a road one evening. A meeting of minds. Such is the stuff of my early experiences in the Gran Sabana.

Baptism by Beat
Down on the beach, the drums call for the San Juan Festival on Venezuela's caribbean coast. The party doesn't stop till dawn, but can the gringuito hack the pace?

Tepuis
King, queen, giant, revolutionary fist... A eulogy to the strange and mystical mountains of southeastern Venezuela, known as 'tepuis.'

ELSEWHERE ON THE WEB

Ecuadorial
We called it 'The Experts' Ecuador': for the first time ever, a group of guidebook writers got together to promote the country they know so well. The result is a combination of colourful features, great photos, and plenty of how-to advice.

Venezuela Voyage
One of the few sites recommended in the Lonely Planet Venezuela guide, Venezuela Voyage is a mix of practical information, photos, features and notebook jottings from my researching and boondoggling travels.

The Lost World
Begun in 1998, the site remains the most extensive and best source of information for Venezuela's Gran Sabana, Canaima National Park and Angel Falls. I trust it has aided hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people to enjoy, understand and contribute to the unique region.

Travels in the Lost World
Since my first 'Tepuis' article on Planeta, I've continued to research and write about this region I fell in love with in 1993. I've been working on a book of my travels over the last years, and this site is the work in progress.

Chile Source
Stories, images, bits and bobs from my travels in 1998. Warning: includes gangrenous feet photo.

Going, Going...Not Gone - Babylon Travel
A rant against Hotmail and 'umbillically-bound travellers.' It was written after a girl I met in Chile (who would later become my girlfriend) recounted her amorous encounters to me via emails from South American internet cafes.

Peru
Although it's taken me ten years to finally reach Peru, I think my love affair will last forever. These pages are work in progress, but already include a fair amount of material on the country.