At 22 years of age, I graduated college from Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo. That time of my life has been on my mind because I recently visited friends in San Luis Obispo (commonly called “SLO”). I haven’t spent any significant time there since graduating and therefore, being in SLO brought back many a memory, and some reflection. …
I’ll never forget the tears that just kept coming, back on March 10, 2018, as my plane took off from San Francisco: final destination Bogotá. I was excited and happy that I’d made the decision and finished all the preparations to move to Colombia for a year, but the overwhelming feelings of unknown and having chosen to go far from my …
I was privileged to get to visit one of the Wonders of the World during my travels in Peru, but I wish I would have done it a little differently. There are many options when you visit Cusco, The Sacred Valley, and Machu Picchu. I had done a little research but honestly, not enough. I was planning my travels while still working in Bogotá and knowing …
After the Salar de Uyni and other mountain landscapes tour, Carrie & I flew back to La Paz, hopped on a bus for 4 hours and rode to Lake Titicaca. You can visit this enormous high altitude lake (over 14,000 feet) from the Bolivia side or the Peru side, but I had heard it was more picturesque from where we …
Querida Carrie- she is a dear friend who loves and has grown from her own travel experiences, and whose opinions I value. One factor in me moving to Colombia was her and her husband’s joint suggestion about it as a possibility for me to live and work. We decided on Bolivia because she hadn’t visited it during other SA travels …
Hola desde Panamá! Hello from Panama! I came to this Central American country for a short trip even though I will be leaving Bogota in only about a week. Why the need for a quick vacation? Well, as responsible and organized as I generally feel I am (brushing off my shoulders nonchalantly), I made a grievous mistake when I purchased …
It’s hard to believe that I’ve been living in Colombia for almost a year! I arrived on March 11, 2018. I’ve had a work contract and visa for the year so I’ll be departing Colombia at the end of March. As my time here draws nearer to a close, I think it’s time for another entry to make you laugh …
What is a Coffeemaker Axis? The English language doesn’t really use the word “axis” in this way, but it’s the translation of Eje. And Cafetero = coffee-maker/making. I spent all of December and the first part of January in Colombia’s Eje Cafetero, a well-known area and one that has created a lot of pride in most people here for its history, culture, …
I feel like I’ve developed a relationship with you, dear readers, and to maintain the transparency in this relationship, I have to be honest with you. I struggled during December, and it’s not because I was lonely at Christmas (which I wasn’t). My move to a much smaller city in the coffee region of Colombia was a bit tough. Yes …
I arrived in Chinchiná, Caldas within the Eje Cafetero (coffee-growing) region of Colombia on Saturday. I chose this move in order to have a different experience particularly for the holiday season. The organization Minga House coordinates volunteers to help with a wide variety of community needs. Many of their volunteers are foreigners who come for a meaningful travel experience and …