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Browse: Home » Travel Stories » Page 2
Cabana woman in a traditional embroidered hat, Cabanaconde, Colca Canyon, Peru photo

Haberdashery: Better than head-smashery

January 24, 2013 · by Lauren · in Peru, Travel Stories

Back in Pre-Hispanic times, two ethnic groups in the Colca Canyon area of Peru deformed their babies’ skulls — the Collagua into a taller, tapered noggin, the Cabana into a mesa-shaped cranium. Was the Collagua’s headscaping a disturbed bid for…

Funeral procession in the plaza, Cabanaconde, Colca Canyon, Peru

In the sun, in the shade

January 22, 2013 · by Lauren · in Peru, Travel Stories

Today, the remote village of Cabanaconde in Colca Canyon, Peru feels like a place that’s just rolled out of bed — mussed, shuffle-footed, and a little slow to react. The mood is the same as in that first part of…

Sad pasta, fork grabber by Allie Brosh, Hyperbole and a Half

I’m a sad person holding a fork

January 16, 2013 · by Lauren · in Travel Stories

What is it about having future plans for travel adventure that makes all the difference in how I feel about today? There’s a drawing that shows up on my computer’s desktop, in rotation with others I’ve kept because they make…

Sunset in the Colca Canyon valley, Peru photo

Views to die for in Colca Canyon

September 19, 2012 · by Lauren · in Peru, Travel Stories

Having carrion-craving birds circling in the hot updrafts above you can indicate that those expert hunters of the dead and dying consider you a likely next meal. The condors in Colca Canyon, Peru may have smelled my sweat, thick with…

Llahuar Lodge cabin 105, Colca Canyon, Peru photo

The greatest fool in Peru

September 4, 2012 · by Lauren · in Peru, Travel Stories

During dinner in a rustic hiker guesthouse at the bottom of Colca Canyon, Peru, Todd decides to treat our fellow travelers to a conversation to remember, for all the wrong reasons. His choice? A story about a penis.

Sign to Llahuar hiking trail, Colca Canyon, Peru photo

Hitting rock bottom in Colca Canyon

August 30, 2012 · by Lauren · in Peru, Travel Stories

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 joy. Yet, at the bottom of the world’s deepest canyon, I…

Mountain view through tower window, Cabanaconde, Colca Canyon, Peru photo

Small town, big sky

August 28, 2012 · by Lauren · in Peru, Travel Stories

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 depart, one set of backpackers replaces another. Yet, it’s…

Andean Condor over the mountains of Colca Canyon, Peru photo

The condors of Colca Canyon have a posse

August 27, 2012 · by Lauren · in Peru, Travel Stories

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? Anyone who hates early morning wake-up calls. Namely, me.

Collagua woman in traditional hat and embroidered outfit, road to Colca Canyon, Peru photo

Let’s terrace the clouds

August 16, 2012 · by Lauren · in Peru, Travel Stories

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 it in. As we begin…

Glass of chicha de jora, Cusco, Peru photo

Wetting my whistle with someone else’s spit

July 31, 2012 · by Lauren · in Food, Peru, Travel Stories

“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 I wanted to try in Peru. That or a confused,…

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Photo of Lauren and Todd

Lauren's the writing shutterbug. Todd's the artist. Together we have a bit of wanderlust. Learn more...

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