I like to explore and tell descriptive stories about places. I also make jewelry, music and mixed-media art.
Cold Moon, December 2024 As the final full moon rises before winter solstice on a cloudy night in the North american eastern woodlands, I look back through the past solar year and then to the path that lies ahead. Earlier this year, I decided to update the name of this blog to “Arianna’s Creative Travels” […]
Read More Creative Travels: observations of a cycleDates of travel – 25 July – 6 August, 2015 Date of writing – Autumn, 2017 This week i look back to those difficult 10 days i spent volunteering at a well-known reserve deep in the Peruvian rainforest, but did not want to go public about what happened there until now. While staying at the […]
Read More Beauty, Abuse, and Isolation in the Deep Forest – Tapiche ReserveIQUITOS to YURIMAGUAS, ida-vueltaAUGUST 2015 I am aboard the Eduardo VIII, one of the legendary slow boats known as lanchas that go along the wide rivers of the Amazon region in lowland South America. The word lancha means ‘barge’ and they transport cargo, including foods, propane tanks, and even mototaxis; they also carry passengers at […]
Read More LANCHAS, SLOW BOATS of the AMAZONAugust 17, 2015Arriving in the port of Yurimaguas after three days on a dreamy lancha boat filled with bored men, I am ready to bathe in a cool pool in the deep forest. First, however, it’s two or three hours in a crowded combi across the Cordillera Escalara, the last mountain range before the rivers […]
Read More Tarapoto, Lamas, Moyobamba: the Yungas of San Martin, PeruHere I am at an internet enfoq in a neighborhood in Iquitos, Loreto, Peru, the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, a good place as any to begin these travel stories. This blog will focus on Peru and Bolivia for a while since that is my current journey, but will eventually include places in North America […]
Read More birth in Iquitos…..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 Paz
arianna's creative travels 