Small town, big sky
There is a noticeable lack of urgency in Cabanaconde, Peru. It’s likely that this placid state is related to the lack of people and of things to do. Buses arrive, buses...
South America
Hitting rock bottom in Colca Canyon
I’m not the kind of chick who cries. Though I’m overflowing with empathy, I’m cut from stoic stock. I cry more often while cutting onions than from sorrow or...
The condors of Colca Canyon have a posse
Who would travel deep into Colca Canyon via a pot-holed, fear-inducing, six-hour bus ride and still say to hell with seeing the area’s acclaimed and rare Andean condors?...
Let’s terrace the clouds
This bus smells like I imagine alpaca farts must smell — a mix of ripe compost, dry grass, wet wool, and barnyard sweat. For the next six hours, I have no choice but to breathe...
Cusco, Peru travel guide – The YEH, MEH, NAHs
Cusco, Peru is a town teetering on a precipice of unpalatablility. Touts interrupting private moments, taxis careening through small streets, tourists drinking to excess, smutty...
Wetting my whistle with someone else’s spit
“Chicha de jora? Isn’t that the stuff they make with spit? Eww.” Such was the typical reaction when someone heard chicha de jora in the list of foods and drinks...
Pisco sours: Drinking and making a tasty little bird
Just as ouzo has never tasted as good as it did is Greece, pisco sours have never tasted as good as they do in Peru. Chilly pisco sours kept the sweat at bay in Lima and...
Call me “Captain,” because I’m eating beef heart
Marinated, char-grilled skewers of cow heart schmeared with hot pepper sauce, bought from a smoke-shrouded street food vendor. If that vision of Peruvian anticuchos doesn’t...
Soroche suffering: How to prevent altitude sickness in Peru
After visiting Cusco, Peru and the rest of the Sacred Valley, I am now all too aware of the fragility of human beings. Specifically this human being. I’m a sea-level...
Cusco’s offally interesting Mercado Central
Though I’ve explored the aisles of markets all over the world, the meaty bits on display at the Mercado Central (Central Market) in Cusco, Peru challenge even my steady...
