My patience was put to the test last week when I decided to ride solo to Arequipa for a grand Colca Canyon adventure. The trip began with a very interesting flight, or lack of flight, at the Jorge Chavez International Airport. Who knew you could mess up a 1 hour domestic with an almost 4 hour delay, only then to try and cover it up with mystery meat triangular sandwiches. Well at least they cut the crusts off. [Continue reading...]

After spending junior year abroad in college, I returned to school with severe wanderlust. The solution, I figured, would be to join the Peace Corps. I was seeking serious adventure, Spanish language skills and most importantly, the opportunity to submerse myself into an unknown culture. A year later, I was a college graduate headed to Peru as a small business development volunteer in the Peace Corps. There was no turning back… [Continue reading...]

When I decided to make the 5 hour bus ride to Ica for the second time this summer I expected to soak up the hot sun of the Huacachina oasis, take a refreshing dip in our flower-trimmed exotic pool after which I would then make my way through the lime green vineyards of the Tacama estate while sipping on a nice semi-seco vino tinto. No where in that itinerary did I expect to add visiting a witch town in the middle of no where. [Continue reading...]

I was completely lost. Not directionally lost (it would be an accomplishment for even me to lose my bearings in a three-street town), I was lost in the chaos, the madness, the anything-goes that is the Virgen del Carmen Festival. I dug into my homework research to make some sense out of it all, but nope, textbook knowledge doesn’t apply today in Paucartambo. [Continue reading...]

Though I’ve only been here a week, 9 days to be exact, there is one thing I learned rather quickly: I can go ahead and toss any schedule I might even have thought about out the window.  I live by routine: class schedule, work schedule, gym and meals…it’s just the way I survive.  What can I say, I am organized in my disorganization, but boy was I in for a rude awakening. [Continue reading...]