Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil
Power Outage

This is a series detailing some of what appear at first to be more mundane details of a place, but will hopefully be illuminating as insights into the grind behind the “glamour.”  Power and Internet Power and internet have been shaky again this month after a few consecutive moves without problems. We’ve lost power a … Read more

Historic Center of Cusco

November 28th, 2013 | Posted by Brianna in Peru | The Places We've Been - (0 Comments)
Road Arch

Cusco’s centro is usually all most tourists see of the city before heading out to the Sacred Valley or Machu Picchu, which isn’t surprising given how bright and active, cultural and historical, and full of shops, restaurants, textiles, and music it is. It is charming and cobblestoned and full of character. From our apartment, it’s … Read more

Mate de Coca

November 27th, 2013 | Posted by Brianna in Ecuador | Food | Peru | The Places We've Been - (3 Comments)
Coca Tea in Cusco Centro

Mate de Coca (pronounced: mah-tay day coh-cah, translated: Coca Tea) is a very regular part of life in the Andes. For thousands of years the indigenous peoples of the region have chewed the leaves, which continue to play physical, economic, social, and spiritual roles in the local communities as they have since ancient times. Today … Read more

Ancient Inca stonework survives in many places

The final day of our odyssey from Cuenca to Cusco was a bit more relaxed than the previous three. We woke up just before six so we could go downstairs and tragically fail at buying World Cup tickets – apparently in round one of ticket sales six million people applied for the roughly one million … Read more

Nazca Desert

Our four day drive from Cuenca, Ecuador to Cusco, Peru was both long and eventful, so we’re going to break it up into pieces and give the rundown one segment at a time. Read Part 1 – A Ridiculous Border, Part 2 – The Vigilante, Part 3 – Stranded in the Desert, and Part 4 – Lima first if … Read more

Hotel View

Our four day drive from Cuenca, Ecuador to Cusco, Peru was both long and eventful, so we’re going to break it up into pieces and give the rundown one segment at a time. Read Part 1 – A Ridiculous Border, Part 2 – The Vigilante, and Part 3 – Stranded in the Desert first if … Read more

CR-Van in Desert

Our four day drive from Cuenca, Ecuador to Cusco, Peru was both long and eventful, so we’re going to break it up into pieces and give the rundown one segment at a time. Read Part 1 – A Ridiculous Border and Part 2 – The Vigilante first if you want. This post covers the first … Read more

Maya and Ian

Our four day drive from Cuenca, Ecuador to Cusco, Peru was both long and eventful, so we’re going to break it up into pieces and give the rundown one segment at a time. Read Part 1 – A Ridiculous Border first if you want. This post covers the second half of our first day of … Read more

Border Crossing: Ecuador / Peru

November 18th, 2013 | Posted by Brianna in Border Crossings | Dogs | Ecuador | Peru - (5 Comments)
Ecuadorian Side

We cross borders by land in a CR-V with US passports and our two dogs. We do not carry drugs or weapons or disallowed fruit (usually). These articles are not a definitive guide to crossing borders nor should they be used as a sole source of information. They are our experiences. When, Where, and Which … Read more

Dirt Road

Our four day drive from Cuenca, Ecuador to Cusco, Peru was both long and eventful, so we’re going to break it up into pieces and give the rundown one segment at a time. This post covers the first half of our first day of driving, from Cuenca, Ecuador to the mountain border crossing at Macará. … Read more