Category: Travel Writing
Oh The Places You’ll Go
E20- Oh The Places You’ll Go Rodrigo was a local Peruvian teen who worked at Chaq Chau. While working together, we would do our own twist on language exchange: he helped me with my Spanish slang and I helped him create clever DJ names in English. He was always wonderful to talk to about Peruvian…
A Life Made of Great Mistakes
E15- Life Made of Good Mistakes I met Deano at the base of a small waterfall in Costa Rica, outside of a small town named Uvita. I had trudged for an hour on a hilly dusty road in punishing heat, the type of humidity that sticks to you in. A thin layer of dust mixing…
The Rewards of Teaching English in Costa Rica
E13-What’s Meant For You, Won’t Pass You By…. San Jose, Costa Rica Sara and I also met at the hostel in San Jose, Costa Rica where she was working at a program that teaches English to locals. Sara says exactly what’s on her mind and has a specific pep about her that is emulated by…
How to Find the Pura Vida Life
E11-Life Full of Laughter Caryn and I bumped paths while still working in a hostel in Costa Rica. She is hard to miss between her immeasurable height, voice, and personality to match. As boisterous as her presence is, she is attracted to the relaxed, Caribbean sway that is hard to come by in frigid Minnesota.…
Why Travel to Quintana Roo
The bedrock of the Yucatán peninsula is unique to the world. The layers of carbonate and soluble rock, mostly limestone, allow cenotes to form. Local to only this region of the world, cenotes are fresh water pools created by collapsed limestone around the land that was once ruled by the Mayans. The intensity of the…
~How to Exprience the Spiritual History of Tulum~
Before Tulum was the up and coming tourist attraction filled with yoga studios, boutique jewelry shops, and a wall of luxury hotels blocking the town from the beach, it was an epicenter of trade and spiritual conquest. The ancient Maya area of Tulum is located on the Yucatan Peninsula, juxtaposed the Caribbean Sea. Archaeological research has…
Hoogly
E8-Hoogly Lake Atitlan, Guatemala Are you about to finish university and have a future that is unsettlingly open? Are you afraid you don’t have a clear direction and are nervous about leaving the structure of school? Are you uncertain on whether you should take a little time to go find yourself and journey to someplace…
No kids ‘till 50 countries
E7- No Kids ‘till 50 Countries Tulum, Mexico Have you ever felt that all the gadgets and things you have bought for yourself still leaves you emotionally unsatisfied? Have you ever thought of selling everything you have to hit the open road?Ed and V Noriega were having those same feelings too. They realized that they…
Wedding Ring Tattoos
E5- Wedding Ring Tattoos Puerto Escondido, Mexico The Texans are the last group of people I interviewed at our surfer hostel community in Puerto Escondido, Mexico. They were the mom and dad of our volunteer community and in charge of the organic garden, always tending to both people and plants. They had decided to abandon…
In Defense of Strangers
The word “strange” originally meant “being beyond the usual bounds or boundaries,” and evolved to mean foreign only later. The notion of foreignness eventually became personified in the word “stranger”—a new or unknown person. A person beyond the usual bounds or boundaries. Outsider, newcomer, a person who is, whatever else they may be, assuredly not…