Postcards from Cusco

Tears streamed as the plane left Trujillo. We made it to Lima way too quickly. Looking out my seat window with a clouded vision, I saw Huanchaco's famous waves, snowcapped mountains jutting out of thick clouds, miles upon miles of desert sand dunes, and Lima's colorful shipping containers. Peru is truly a beautiful country. 

Cusco's air was notably thinner and for the first time in a while, I didn't feel like a flamingo in a flock of pigeons as I stepped into crowds of foreign tourists. With a month full of dances and cultural performances, the energy was electric. Alpaca, chocolate, colorful pom poms, and pisco everywhere I looked - a small distraction from the bittersweetness of leaving the place I called home for 3 months. 

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Postcards from Trujillo

What is it like to call a place so other-worldly "home" for 3 months? 

Paris with Jenny

Last September, I finally met Jenny, my French penpal of 7 years. We initially connected through a penpal website and lucked out that we were both the same age and safe people. On paper, we seemed to have so much in common; as we got to know each other better over the years, it seemed like we found kindred spirits in one another. But we had only written emails, letters, and postcards prior to sharing our hotel room at Hôtel Littéraire Arthur Rimbaud. 

I booked my trip to Paris on a whim because I found the costs of traveling solo in Norway too high. Over a year earlier, snagging dirt cheap flights to Oslo realized my dream to visit Norway for my birthday, but a month after my booking, my family reserved a trip to Norway by sea in August. Diverting some of my birthday travels to another country made sense, and inexpensive flights to Paris were available. Jenny found out she'd be available one month before the trip and our adventures took off from there.

Solo Adventures in Oslo

I didn't realize how much I missed Norway until I landed and saw the blanket of deciduous trees shrouded by mist, modern and sparse roads, red houses. Oslo Gardermoen was beautiful - warm lighting, wood floors, glass and light wood paneled walls that screamed the beauty of Scandinavian simplicity. My TSA officer greeted me with a smile and friendly conversation as she did with all the other passengers passing through immigration. What a welcome back.

Sailing the Norwegian Sea

Everywhere I looked was a photo I wanted to take. Even now, as I sit on the balcony in 50-some degree weather, slightly shielded from the strong breeze by our balcony partitions, the majestic fjord is begging for more photographs. The air smells clean, the water is a deep aqua with ripples of navy. The fjord is craggy and weather with trickles of melting snow running down and carving its side I hear the low hum of the boat "motor" and the crash of waves against its sides - hushed, natural, and mechanical, all at once.

Ellis Island (Hard Hat Tour)

A mix of photos from my phone and Fuji camera.

Winter 2023

A season of celebrations, lament, transitions, and a sabbatical that gave me a taste of what a balance between productivity and play could feel like.