All stories
Browse by category:
-
Traveling Alone Together
At 5 am, my alarm went off. I jumped out of bed and had just enough time to brush my teeth and grab the backpack I’d prepared the night before. Camille showed up at the door to my hostel 20 minutes later. We unlocked the rental bikes and pedaled into the dark dusty streets towards…
-
Individual Challenges Shared Collectively
As I headed out the door to catch the bus across the street, the proprietor of my hostel questioned, “do you have a bus card”? I was surprised that a town this small would have buses that didn’t take cash, but he assured me that they didn’t. When I asked how I could purchase a…
-
Lima to Cusco on the Gringo trail
It quickly became clear to me that the route I had planned through Peru was the same route that most people take through Peru, with the only variance being whether you start from the bottom or the top. Perhaps it was because everyone uses the Lonely Planet as their guide. Pulling from one of the…
-
Struggling with SIM cards
I’ve never had much luck swapping out SIM cards on my phone. A SIM card is the chip that gives your phone access to a network you can use to make phone calls, text, and access the internet. You can actually access the internet without a SIM card as long as you have access to…
-
Bicycle misadventures in Lima
Whether at home or on the road, my favorite way to get around is by bicycle. Upon my arrival in Lima, the bus from the airport to my hotel traveled along the coast where I saw a long bike path. After spending a day recovering from my overnight flight, I went down to the hostel…
-
Coast to coast in a day from Santa Cruz, CA to Lima, Peru
Dawn was still far away when my phone alarm went off. I leapt out of my single sized bed on the sleeping porch and strode across the room to turn off my secondary alarm. It was my first time using that phone to wake me up so I wanted to be sure nothing impeded the…
