WHOA THERE WAIT A SECOND! Phew. I thought you were about to click out of the page there for a minute, because I know from my recent reader survey that these roundups are pretty polarizing — some of you love ’em, some of you hate ’em. I tried to use your feedback to improve this roundup…

After leaving Arequipa and the Colca Canyon I headed back to Cusco where I waited for a certain Dane, who had just arrived in South America, to finish the Salkantay Trek. This was the first time in my Peru trip that I spent a whole week in the same city and it was a desperately needed…

This week brought me back to my happy place — the beach. After two months of past-paced, constant travel and an intense workload of blogging and freelance projects I’ve been teetering towards burnout. I can’t stop meeting deadlines and — let’s face it — I’ve got workaholic American blood in my veins so I wouldn’t want…

Travel Porn is a feature in which I review books from my beloved travel literature genre. So far I’ve reviewed Bangkok Noir, a short story collection that brings the noir genre to the steamy streets of Thailand, Hotel Honolulu, a fictional account of a Waikiki hotel manager’s quirky life in a paradise lost, Tiger Balm, the memoir of a…

When we left off, Dave, Gus, Leah and I were just entering the Colca Canyon. It was 11:30 in the morning — a good four or five hours later than most tour groups start their descent — but we were confident we could make it to Sangalle by sundown. We could see it after all! I…

In my last Peru hostel roundup I covered places to bunk down in Iquitos, Lima, and Huacachina. This edition focuses one just one city, that epicenter of Peruvian tourism that is Cusco. Here, all the major hostel brands vie for attention alongside small, one-off competitors. The upside? There’s plenty to choose from. The downside? It’s hard…