Backpack Costa Rica Off The Most Beaten Path This tiny country was a gorgeous start to my travels in Latin America. My first visit was also my first backpacking experience. I avoided the touristy spots and took my mother to waterfalls, jungles that ran along beaches, and cloud forests of colorful birds we had never seen before. On my second visit Marcela and I hitched… Read More
Passing Through Cartagena Cartagena served as a base for accessing other destinations in Northern Colombia. During my brief visits I enjoyed strolling the historic district and the charming Getsemaní neighborhood, all the while hunting down specific street foods that my Colombian roommates made me promise to ingest. Transportation The Rafael Núñez International Airport (CTG), was a convenient $4… Read More
Island Hopping From Rincón Del Mar To Casa En El Agua When people start saying they don’t have time for somewhere on the map, roll your eyes and head in that direction. Parbs and I wrapped our trip in the San Bernardo Islands and it quickly became our favorite destination—we couldn’t get enough of how isolated we felt. Here, we shared our best meals and got to… Read More
Dodging Crowds And Feeling Timeless In Tayrona I was hesitant on visiting the unique beaches of Tayrona National Park because I didn’t want to deal with such a large volume of tourists, but according to the bathroom wall of The Journey Hostel, “The only impossible journey is the one you don’t take.” With the help of Inti, the founder of the hostel,… Read More
Hammocks And Hitchhikes Beyond Minca Colombia is the only country in the world that has snow mountains bordering the ocean. Nearing the Sierra Nevada meant birds were more beautiful, nights were more chilly, and sand flies were unexpectedly belligerent. This place was a playground for adults. From our hostel and its 8-person hammocks, we took a walk in the opposite direction of everyone else,… Read More
In Conclusion My Summer Taught Me How To Do Life Better Becoming a better person. Connecting the pieces of my past. Mindfulness. You and I both knew prolonged periods of indulging in wanderlust and fending for oneself is enough to instill these cliché transformations upon anyone, but this is my written version. And just wait, because this was only four months. 6. I am better at recognizing differences in… Read More
Ending At The Beach: Máncora And Around Why would I wrap a long trip anywhere other than the beach? Practicing wave-catching and the warmth of restorative napping were interrupted with green juices, omelettes, hash browns, seafood. I knew I would miss the low prices of dining out so I let the gringo in me indulge. I tried to get in the ocean twice a day and… Read More
Laguna 69 And Santa Cruz In Four Days: A DIY 2-In-1 Trekking Combo The mountains were calling again. After my last salteñas in Bolivia, I took bus after bus until I reached the glacial lakes and shaggy peaks of Huascarán National Park in northern Peru. I guess I’m pretty decent at showing up to hostel breakfast and meeting boys with a sweet plan that I can hop on. This… Read More
Las Pampas: Edge Of The Bolivian Amazon My wish was simple. I wanted to swim with pink dolphins. Searching for anacondas and fishing for piranhas sounds great too, but dolphins. DIY Booking A Tour and Transportation The best advice I can give is to organize everything by yourself in La Paz, before going to Rurrenabaque. As counterintuitive as that sounds, all… Read More
Floating Islands And Sinking Spirits At The Peruvian Border Marcela was hugging and dancing with the indigenous ladies in their stockings and thick dresses the moment we crossed into Peru. Our last destination was the Floating Reed Islands of the Uros tribe in Puno, at the other end of Lake Titicaca. She had decided she would stay on this side and head to Cusco. My… Read More