a whole hearted living blog
I’ve never been a beach person. Between the heat, blazing sun, lack of shade and molten lava-like sand melting the soles of my feet it’s hard for me to find much to enjoy. Applying sunscreen is sticky and stressful – missing an inch of skin…
The best part of being in the Dominican Republic so far is seeing everyone’s reaction to Cora, and I don’t expect that will change. I know Dominicans are accustomed to travelers, but it seems they’re not so used to seeing two Americans with a smiling,…
Peru’s Shutdown On the evening of Sunday, March 15th, just hours after reaching Máncora on the far Northern coast of Peru, the Peruvian President declared a national state of emergency in response to the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19. Peru enacted 15 days of military-enforced, nationwide…
Four days ago, Charlie and I woke up in the Amazon jungle and listened for the sound of rain falling on our thatch roof hut. Rain meant we could go back to sleep instead of dragging ourselves out from under our mosquito net to meet…
Just when life in Peru was starting to feel a bit cozy, we packed our bags and flew five hours north to the Caribbean coast of Colombia. Goodbye ancient ruins, fuzzy alpacas, ceviche and churros – hello beach shacks, iguanas, fried fish and coconut rice.…
The other morning, I was researching things to do near our Colombian beach town when I came across a travel blog with an interesting topic. It was a survival guide for backpacking as a couple, and it stopped me dead in my tracks. Engrossed, I…
If someone had told me Charlie and I would be spending the last weekend of 2019 with an indigenous family on a remote island in Lake Titicaca, there’s no way I would have believed it. But that’s exactly what we did. Two days after Christmas,…
Since stepping off the plane nearly two months ago, Peru has been an experience in nonstop sensory overload. From brighter colors to spicier flavors to manic drivers, the whole country seems to have the volume turned up. The air is saturated with the sounds of…
We knew our trip through Peru would never be complete without exploring its most famous ruins, but as it turns out, the real satisfaction came from reaching it on our own two feet. We hiked 46 miles in 4 days over glaciated mountain passes and…
And just like that, the first leg of our South American journey is coming to a close. I’m trying not to be too sentimental about it – I know there’s a lot of trip left – but I don’t like the idea of any of…
I need to fess up. While the past three weeks in Lima have been a hectic roller coaster – immersing ourselves in a new language, finding our footing in a city of 10.5 million, etc. – I’ve been holding out on sharing a major piece…
I’m happy to report, things are looking up at Spanish school. I only say that because a new batch of students arrived on Monday, which means I’m not the worst Spanish speaker anymore. I know, the ego is a terrible thing. It’s easy to spot…