travel

Ballerinas, machine guns and Corcovado––a dance with doubt in Brazil

On the heels of my dad’s death last July, a fellow pilgrim on El Camino de Santiago invited me to stay with her in the mountains outside of São Paulo. Yes, please. I had no expectations other than I’d spend my days writing in a charming mountain hamlet where I’d talk long into the night …

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A pilgrim in Paris (una peregrina en Paris)

I soared above Santiago. Over The Bay of Biscay I spotted the Camino del Norte. My heart began to understand what it meant to have walked across the entire fiesta-filled, rioja-swilling, bagpipe-playing, country of my literary idols where ancient wars had been won and lost, and a biblical amount of Syrian and African refugees sought …

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Bali’s Nyepi & the power of silence : 90 spontaneous, inspirational days around the world

I first learned about Nyepi while touring around Ubud last year. As I motored though village after village, I spotted boys and teenagers constructing huge demons that rivaled any Hollywood creation. I began to film what captivated me. Each village funded the construction of demons, called Oguh-oguh monsters. I mean, is there anything better to …

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Love, Light & Liberation : 90 spontaneous, inspirational days around the world

One year ago today my friends took me to the Tirta Emmpul Temple for a Hindu purification ceremony. I had all kinds of hesitation at participating. It scared me a bit to be a part of a ceremony of a religion (some would say a philosophy) I’d only tapped the surface of. Would I anger …

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90 Spontaneous Days Around The World : The Zen of the dark

Everyone needs their own torch… Late on my last night in Joga I realized I’d forgotten to pack a flashlight. When my friend Rinto found out, he insisted he take me to a store close by so I’d have one for the next morning’s pre-dawn climb to the summit of Bromo, I’d need one for …

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90 Spontaneous Days Around The World : When we believe the best about ourselves

March 6, 2014 I’ve heard about Bali my whole life and it seemed like an exotic place only other people would visit. But today, I’m going to set foot there. There were a million reasons to not go. To stay stuck in fear. To pull back, especially in the face of so much pain and …

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90 Spontaneous Days Around The World : Killing my own spiders

March 2, 2014 Seloliman Nature Reserve, Java The jungle hikes at Seloliman will stay in my imagination forever. So much to inspire. The great variety of life…the beauty of the wild. I thank God for waist-deep hikes in this jungle. Swallowed in nature, I’m blessed to experience the aliveness of an exotic world. A world …

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