Art / Culture / Off-the-beaten-path / South America / Tropics / Wandering

Trujillo College of Medicine

While out wandering around Trujillo, Perú I stumbled across the campus of the Trujillo College of Medicine. Like many places here, the college is surrounded by walls. However these walls are covered in amazing mosaic artwork. Spanning several blocks, these giant and elaborate masterpieces stand as public showpieces.

Off-the-beaten-path / South America / Tropics

Trujillo: Perhaps the prettiest city in all of Perú

Trujillo, about 9 hours’ drive north from Lima, is a beautiful colonial city right on the Pacific Ocean. Less than ¼ the distance to the equator as Miami, Trujillo is decidedly tropical. With mostly narrow streets, lovely town squares, and colonial architecture everywhere you look, Trujillo is an overlooked gem with...

Modes of Transport / South America

Bus Station Security

Bus hijackings in remote areas of Perú is apparently a thing. As near as I can tell, it happens once every couple of years. A pretty standard M.O. is for a passenger, who is in league with the hijackers, to phone ahead to his partners when the bus nears a...

Nature / South America / Wandering

Beachfront Property, Super Cheap

No facilities, no services, no neighbors, no trees, no shade. But you can build right on the Pacific Ocean and your back yard is several thousand square miles of beach. The coastal areas of southern Perú are one of the naturally driest deserts in the world. That’s because they lie...

Miscellaneous / South America

The Three Little Pigs go into the Peruvian construction business

It’s extraordinarily common all throughout Perú to see houses and other buildings that look as if they are still under construction. And yet they are open for business or people are living in them or they are otherwise in use. I’m told this is because of Peruvian tax laws. Once...

Off-the-cuff

I would never have thought of THAT!

For the past three days I had been looking at this glass filled with limes submerged in water. I wondered often about them. This morning I finally asked. I had supposed that perhaps it was purely decorative. Or a clever way of preserving the limes. Or maybe even a way...

Dining / South America / Vegetarian/Vegan

Introducing… Golden Berries

I first discovered these tasty little treats in Perú in January 2014. At the time, I had been told they were called Peruvian Ground Cherries. I have no idea why, since I’m pretty sure they are not botanically related to cherries. In Spanish, they are called aguaymanto. Either way, they...

Dining / South America / Vegetarian/Vegan

For vegetarian zombies: FRUITY BRAINS!!

The granadilla is a fruit I first encountered in Perú in 2014. I found it again in Colombia in 2015. And now once more in Perú in 2018, but it’s very difficult to find in North America. Let me show you what it’s like…

Dining / Off-the-beaten-path / Off-the-cuff / South America / Vegetarian/Vegan / Wandering

Unexpected discovery: two vegetarian Peruvian restaurants

I went out wandering around Trujillo today and stumbled upon a vegan restaurant just 3-4 blocks from where I’m staying. Then I found a vegetarian restaurant just 3-4 more blocks beyond that. After several hours of exploring and taking photos, I started to feel hungry so I made my way...

Culture / Guided Tours / South America

All-natural shampoo

While touring the ancient Nasca aqueducts and spiral wells, my guide Arturo also shared a great deal about the history, geology and botany of the region. During our own exploration, we happened upon a tree whose fresh leaves were “ground up” and the sap rubbed on the skin as a...