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...]

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...]

When I started planning the itinerary for The Global Citizen Project, my 12 country, 12 volunteer project over 12 months plan to give back, Peru was a priority. I toyed with volunteering in places I know, love and have seen need in, like Cusco and Puno, but decided that this was an opportunity to give Lima a fair shake – and not simply for an overnight stint. [Continue reading...]

Taking a taxi in Lima is not for the faint-of-heart. You really have to have a thick skin and an affinity for close calls to even get into one without cowering at the surrounding chaos of traffic. The fact that most of the seatbelts in these cabs don’t work or are missing altogether doesn’t help the matter much either. Aside from the unstable and ungoverned condition threatening the safety of traffic in Lima there is an equally pressing reason to take the road seriously in this city – taxi theft. [Continue reading...]