Can you be homesick for a place that was never your home?
The other day at the grocery store I bought a mango. I didn’t really think much of it, other than mangoes are my favorite food and I rarely, if ever, […]
Human Connection
I love people. What I actually mean is, I love all people. I talk to strangers at the grocery store and it seems to be my subconscious life goal to […]
Fried jacks and watermelon juice
Spring 2013 I originally went to Belize to visit Michael, my Californian friend who I had met three years previously on a pub crawl in Buenos Aires. We spent a […]
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
Dear God, I started seeing the signs from you a few days before my trip to Los Angeles, and even though I’m sorry I didn’t listen sooner, I’m still mad […]
Stranded at the drive-in [military checkpoint]
April 2013 It is hot. Beyond hot. I am sweating through my sheer tank top and just ripped my jean shorts on the floor of the bus. Yes, the floor […]
The magic of popcorn
“Here. Let me show you how to collect popcorn buckets.” She was so sweet and so earnest that I couldn’t bear to tell her that it was okay, she didn’t […]
The best souvenir is the one you can’t share
There is a group of buskers playing an upbeat melody while tourists stand by to listen. The trumpet player’s elastic cheeks puff out like balloons. A teenage girl wearing a […]
Never alone
Paca was absolutely right. The hardest thing about the Camino is letting it go. When I got to Valencia, I felt numb. It was disturbing to me how badly I […]
It’s the end of the world as we know it
I watch Galicia blow past me outside the window at 300 kilometers per hour. I feel sick; I’ve been walking at a mere 5kph for more than five weeks. The […]