South America

The Colombian Amazon

The Amazon of Childhood Dreams Turbulence. An immense sea of green. My first impressions of the Colombian Amazon. A place I had dreamed of seeing ever since I was a little girl. One rough landing later, I was taking my first breaths of the heavy humid rainforest air....

Islas y Huacas, Bolivia

The harbor waters are still. Beyond the sheltered inlet a stiff wind whips the lake into whitecaps. I don’t much like choppy waters. Lake Titticaca This body of water sits just over two miles above sea level and encompasses 3200 square miles. This makes it the highest...

An Ode to Life Magazine and Gordon Parks

An Ode to Life Magazine and Gordon Parks As part of my trip to Brazil, I wanted to pay homage to one of my favorite photographers, Gordon Parks. In 1961, Parks released a photo series for Life magazine, “Freedom's Fearful Foe: Poverty” transporting Middle America from...

The Ocher Valley of Sorrows – Colombia

“I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams...” ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince The Tatacoa Desert, or the Valley of Sorrows, as it was called in...

A Stranger Roadtrippen’ in a Strange Land – How I Learned to Road Trip Abroad

Friends often call me a NASA-TV nerd. I watch transfixed by late night filler video of an earth rotating below the orbiting International Space Station, and in the same way I' m fascinated at how Google Earth maps depict the earth from space. I've found it to be my...

Embracing Colombian Beer Culture

Beer Culture in Colombia When I left the United States to be an English Teaching Fellow in Colombia, friends and family inevitably asked two things: “Isn’t it dangerous?” and “What food or drink are you going to miss most?” I’d done my research and had a friend who...

The Colors of Cartagena – Colombia

I frequently hear travelers declare that they have a strong preference for beach vacations, nature getaways, exploring an urban setting, or some other genre of travel. These proclamations are often definitive, as if they’ve found the perfect way to travel for them....

A Day in Rio Das Pedras, Brazil

A Summer Day at Rio Das Pedras, Brazil The Dance at Rio Das Pedras, Brazil I am at Rio Das Pedras, Brazil. The sun beats overhead and Maravilha dances alone on the stage with humidity heavy in the air – typical of a Brazilian summer. He gyrates and glides with style...

Birthday Memories in Copacabana Bolivia

My Birthday in Copacabana Bolivia Copacabana Bolivia at High Altitude When I mention that I had spent my 25th birthday in Copacabana, everyone thought I had perhaps joined the beautiful bikini clad women full of feathers Samba-ing the night away. Little did they...

Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni

Bolivia and the Salt Flats Something Different in Bolivia Gazing out at the ethereal landscape, I feel like I am on a different planet. What appears to be sand, or maybe even snow, continues endlessly on. The waves of heat create eerie shapes on the horizon, and the...

An Inca Trail Revelation

Exploring the Inca Trail The Inca Trail Discovery As the sun set beneath the Andean peaks I was drawn to the remains of a tiny ruined hut on a hill overlooking our camp site. It had been a long day so far, the third of a four day Inca Trail trek, and perhaps the...

Cañon del Colca – The Seed Scatterers of Peru

Ancient cultures all revere the night skies and many myths revolve around the heavens. One of the oldest in the Andes, and one involving a star cluster generating myths in cultures around the globe, concerns the Pleiades. Cañon del Colca I leave Arequipa early on a...