Cusco’s Top 10 List: What to Do and What to Avoid

At the two-month anniversary of my arrival in Peru, I feel ready to offer a little unsolicited advice about what I recommend as do’s and don’ts before and during your trip to Cusco, Peru, and the surrounding area. Listed in no particular order, I’ll begin with my list of do’s. TOP TEN THINGS TO DO […]

Lessons from seven months in Peru, and the value of travel

I’ve been back in Montana for a month now, trying to figure out a new routine in a place I’m grateful to call home for its beauty, the chance to ride or hike for hours from my back door, and a great community of people that extends across an entire state. More importantly, I’m trying […]

Lush green and endless flowers: bonuses of rainy season

I’ll be honest, it actually is quite rainy in February – the supposed peak of the rainy season in the Peruvian Andes. In December we had a string of rainy days, and January was really pretty docile weather-wise, but February’s been full on soggy, aside from a few brilliantly sunny days thrown in for good […]

Sustainable Travel Tree Planting Meets Mega Adventure in the Mountains of Peru

In the past 5 days I’ve soaked in the Lares Hot Springs cradled in a deep river canyon in the Lares Valley, planted trees with local rural communities between 13,000 and 15,000ft under towering glaciated Andean peaks, and ridden the Megavalanche downhill course: the steepest, fastest, most technical single track I’ve ever attempted.  So, overall, […]

Amazement and Awe – Touring the Sacred Valley

Last Saturday I took the one day tour of the Sacred Valley, and it was truly, truly amazing. I was a little cynical at first; it’s a bus tour that’s popular with tourists and those are the kind of trips I generally avoid when trying to absorb the nature and culture in a place like […]