I like to explore and tell descriptive stories about places. I also make jewelry, music and mixed-media art.
August, 2015 In the morning, I leave with my host to Quistochocha, the zoological park, nature park, botanic garden, and lake, on the carretera just beyond the airport out of Iquitos. It’s very beautiful, with big old trees, green ponds, and a large beach. However, the animals are mostly in cages: some large, some […]
Read More QUISTOCOCHA: CAGED ANIMALS and a SWIMMING LAGOON for humansEL CARMEN, CHINCHA ALTA July 21 2015 Finding communities of Afroperuanos – descendents of enslaved Africans in Peru – can be difficult. They are scattered along the coast in non-touristic agricultural areas. The Chincha valley wine region in Ica province south of Lima is one of those. The African community is called El Carmen, and […]
Read More EL CARMEN – AFROPERUANO AFTERNOONCUSCO TO NAZCA, PERU July 20 2015 Clang, squeal. The bus breaks down before sunrise. Hours of delay….morning, where are we? On the carretera, up from Nazca, with barren brown mountains, sand, and cold air. I looked at this bus before getting on and had this thought of it breaking down. But the price was […]
Read More Nazca and the bus ride from CuscoPISAQ, CUSCO, PERU JULY 2015 While in Cusco I heard about a local, seasonal fiesta happening during the 15-20 of July. It’s held in honor of the Virgen del Carmen, who represents the mestizo of Peru, and is celebrated mainly in two or three towns outside of Cusco. For the town of Paucartambo, it is […]
Read More Virgen del Carmen – Pisaq – CuscoLA PAZ, BOLIVIA JUNE 29-30, 2015 The sun beams down in its noon warmth upon my return to La Paz, Bolivia’s major Andean city, so I take my friend’s ‘challenge’ and stay for a night. This is my second pass through La Paz…in the first, the cold late afternoon air made my lungs hurt from […]
Read More Making peace with La PazJUNE 2015 The southern cloud forest starts to the west of the Santa Cruz lowlands. Following the slow curvy rise of the Pirai river into the low mountains, the crowded combi climbs through the canyon and its soft dirt carretera. There are small waterfalls and towering red rock faces covered in green. The air smells […]
Read More Samaipata, BoliviaJUNE 2015 Santa Cruz de la Sierra is the major city in the eastern lowlands of Bolivia: modern, tropical, and growing fast. From the air it looks like a spider web, with the carreteras intersected by a series of anillos (rings) numbered 1-7 starting in the center. I’m in Santa Cruz to visit my friend […]
Read More Santa Cruz de los Anillos, BoliviaPuno, Peru June 20, 2015 Dawn on Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake on Earth, on the solstice, is a magical point in space and time. The bus terminal at Puno, Peru’s city on the lake, seems set for a perfect sunrise view with the port in front and the hills on each side. However, […]
Read More LAKE TITICACA, UROS, PUNO: THE PERUVIAN SIDEArequipa is a beautiful city, from the volcanoes sitting to the east above it, to the iconic sillar volcanic rock churches, monasteries, and other buildings in the centro. Most of the grey-white sillar material came from Chachani, the craggy, more northern volcano. Even the hostels are sillar with arches, giving a gothic, sonorous feel to […]
Read More Arequipa – the ´white´cityFirst, I suggest to anyone planning to travel to Arequipa or the south of Peru from Lima, to go by bus. It’s a 17 hour ride on the Panamerica Sur, which spans the length of South America, following the rocky Pacific coast along most of the way. Several companies have buses that leave in late […]
Read More Arequipa – Panamerica Sur from Lima
arianna's creative travels 