— Travel and Trekking Jots & Shots
Andes and Amazon
Seen on the Bellavista – La Virgen hike in Baños, Ecuador
These are the articles and observations I wrote while journeying through Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia over 3.5 months. To read these travel tales about South America in order, use the pagination links at the bottom of the page to navigate to the last page, then come back to the beginning in reverse.
Browse the selection of articles below about travel and trekking in South America.
Highlights of my trip to South America include volunteering at Merazonia Animal Reserve, hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, and exploring the Tambopata area while staying at Picaflor Research Centre.
For help planning — and surviving — my trip, I consulted the following books, as well as many other online resources. I even carried a few of them along with me. Check out my Recommendations page for more ideas.
My attachment to my tattoos goes more than skin deep. Using them as brand icons isn’t something I planned, but I’m sure happy with how things have turned out! I’ve been using my Eco-Footprint tattoo as my brand icon for almost five years now, and it’s always served me well, ever since it was designed for me and […]
Deep in Peru’s Amazon Basin, a hacienda nestles in the rainforest along the shores of the Tambopata River. A covered walkway leads to outer buildings, then transforms into a narrow footpath leading past a banana field, lemon trees, and a vegetable and herb garden. The path ends at an enclosure which engulfs and fences an unseen part of […]
While I was in Korea, I wrote most of a book. I had to sit on it, go back to it, let it go through its process (which took a lot longer than most of the writing did). At the time, I didn’t know it was a book. I suspected it might be, but I never dreamed that […]
Get back to Cuzco late on a Sunday night after hiking el Camino Inca to Machu Picchu. Find out Monday that I have nearly a week to kill before my eighteen-hour bus ride into the jungle. Up at 4:00 on Tuesday morning to catch a beaten-up old bus to Puno at 5:30. Sleep most of the way. My […]
Familiarity. Confidence. Sometimes you have to let go. Now try incompatibility and uncertainty. Transitions aren’t always easy. That’s what I told myself when I decided to crop my hair shoooort before travelling sola to Ecuador and Peru for three months. The locks fell away and I was smitten. Why did I ever have long hair? External self-discovery before […]
I was out on a day hike in Killarney Provincial Park, located on the shores of Georgian Bay between Parry Sound and Sudbury, Ontario, when the idea struck for the March for Merazonia. It was early May, the weather was beautiful, the northern verdure was blooming and blossoming in every direction, and I was inspired. I thought to […]
Imagine zooming along winding mountain roads in a rickety old bus, feasting your eyes on the changing scenery heading south from Quito, insatiable. Imagine chatting away with an amicable Ecuadorian who points out various sights: a famous waterfall, a deep ravine, a bridge off which to bungee jump, a good discoteca, his own restaurant. Imagine being dropped off […]
I finally faced returning home from South America. I’m back in Canada. I’m so sad! Why am I not still in South America? Why did I buy a return ticket? The flights to Houston and Toronto were comfortable. In Houston, I changed my soles into American dollars to buy some lunch. I had lots of money when I […]
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