I write this from a place that feels like home, but not my home—sitting on the lanai of our condo in Kaʻanapali, Maui, overlooking the ocean. The Hawaiian air is warm and heavy with humidity.

I didn’t expect Cusco to feel the way it did. By the time we arrived, our little tour group was coming down from the intensity of Machu Picchu—the logistics, the timing, the crowds…

I didn’t expect to start writing this on Thanksgiving Day. Holidays have a way of bringing up feelings about home, family, and what remains when the people who shaped us are no longer here.

After three weeks of traveling alone, joining a tour felt like an exhale I didn’t know I needed. I’d been solo before—Spain, Portugal, Scotland, Chile—but something about this stretch in Peru wore on me…

Puno, Peru makes Arequipa feel like a major urban city. The drive from Juliaca Airport—about an hour through the dry, cluttered landscape—reminded me of Atacama, Chile at first…

Life in Arequipa, Peru feels simple. In the city’s historic center—a UNESCO World Heritage Site—white colonial buildings glow against the Andean light, their iron balconies twisting…