photos: aqua expeditions m/v aria - amazon, peru



Me with a turtle rescue from poachers



One of the dozens of species of wildlife we encountered on the Amazon River

Aqua Expeditions latest luxury cruise vessel, M/V Aria

View from my spacious suite (#206) aboard M/V Aria

Aqua Expeditions gives back to local rainforest villages/communities in many ways. One way is by offering $5 Toiletry, School Supply or Fishing (above) Kits for passengers to distribute during village excursions.

One of the four naturalists aboard M/V Aria.

Gourmet Peruvian cuisine aboard M/V Aria. Breakfasts and lunches were served buffet-style, while multi-course Tasting Menus designed by Peruvian Celebrity Chef Pedro Miguel Schiaffino spoiled guests each evening.

View from the dining room.

One of many stunning sunsets.

Children in dug out canoes near the city of Iquitos, Peru

Me and some children during a village excursion.

More super dreamy sunset magic

My suite aboard M/V Aria. Very luxurious with luxe linens, king sized bed, iPod docking stations, gorgeous black and white photography, modern decor, hardwood floors, rain showerheads, Peruvian bathroom products, in-room safe, robe and slippers and floor to ceiling windows.

Children of the rainforest

A local Pacaya Samiria National Reserve ranger and fisherman

Look closely! There's a three toed sloth in the branches.

Ranger Station #2 in Pacaya Samiria National Reserve

Beautiful reflection on a black water river.

Check out the rest of my photos from my trip with Aqua Expeditions on the M/V Aria here.

adventurous kate recaps this week's travelers' night in | spicy travel

On this week’s round of Travelers’ Night In, the interactive Twitter discussion for avid travelers and travel lovers, the theme was Spicy Travel! Turns out that means anything Latin American, hot and/or exotic! As always, ten questions were asked, people responded while tagging their tweets #TNI, and learned quite a bit about some new destinations. Read the rest of Adventurous Kate's recap here. Or follow her on Twitter.

As always, big besos to Kate for taking the time to pull together the best of the TNI responses and write a lovely recap. After this week's topic, I'm sure she needed a shower when it was all said and done. I'm not naming names, but more than a few participants took some (ahem) liberties with the definition of spicy.

project | building a future and hogares crea in honduras

I'm back in action after three weeks in Honduras for the first project of The Global Citizen Project. My apologies for delayed posts – technical logistics in Tegucigalpa were unpredictable and it’s taken me a full week to step away from the volunteer project and process the experience. On many levels, it was a very difficult trip for me. My time was divided between working with first and second graders in Colonia Ramón Amaya Amador, an underserved barrio on the outskirts of the capitol city, through Building a Future, and with abandoned and street children, many victims of violence, addiction and abuse via various Hogares Crea homes.

I had seen painful glimpses of the face of poverty, homelessness and hunger in Latin America on previous trips, but never experienced its myriad of effects so intimately. Despite this often seen reality, I also traveled throughout Honduras in late 2007 and had been floored by the beauty of the country. On this trip though, beauty was limited to a few quick countryside road trips and the gracious hospitality of the Honduran people; if it existed in Tegucigalpa, it was lost on me. The city (and country) face a plethora of problems ranging from its 40% unemployment rate, $1.30-1.50 average hourly wage and pervasive lack of education (the average Honduran completes 6.5 years of school) to widely divided social classes and a population where more than 50% of its people are ages 18-years-old and younger. Factor in Honduras’ recent Presidential coup and its current political polarization, and well, you don’t exactly have a recipe for (easy) success.

I’m eager to share specific experiences and stories with everyone and plan to do so over the coming weeks before I take off for project two of The Global Citizen Project with Karikuy in Lima, Peru in mid-July. In the meantime, here are my photos on Flickr of the people and places in Honduras that have given me pause and huge gratitude for the opportunity, education and friends and family in my life.

preview: july project | karikuy | lima, peru

Where is Lima, Peru? Lima is the capital and largest city of Peru (the 5th largest city in Latin America). It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, on a coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Lima has only 1284 hours of sunshine a year; 28.6 hours in July.

About Karikuy: Founded by Julio C. Tello on September 4th 2007, the Karikuy Organization was created with the vision of bringing people from all walks of life together to experience Peru like few have. From remote ceremonies to hidden metropolitan hot spots, Karikuy guides you in exploring Peru in ways that few agencies do. Karikuy drops you in the center of one of the most colorful cultures on earth, aiming to widen your view of the world through social and traditional tourism. An old Inca saying defines the organization and its goals, Karikuy; "to live life with an open heart". Karikuy applies this motto in the way business is conducted, always thoughtful of our customers who in turn become friends and collaborators. More then just a business Karikuy is phase one of a broader project of social development.

How I will help: I will help build the largest informational database on all things Peru on the Internet. The project began in late January 2009. The Perupedia project will begin with wikipedia style homepages for all the major Provinces of Peru and gradually expand outwards providing travel, weather, entertainment and news information respectively.

photos: tegucigalpa, honduras | building a future

Hola from Tegucigalpa, Honduras. I'm about half-way through my first project and all is going well with Building a Future. It's been a very eye-opening and humbling experience to work with one month old babies through 20-year old girls who are the product of the streets, drugs, gangs or abandonment. I cannot thank the Mahomar family and every individual I've crossed paths with enough for the kind hospitality they've extended throughout my stay. Thank you.

Technology access has been non-existent until now, so I've held off on blogging about my experiences. Rest assured, I've been journaling daily -- there's no way I'd otherwise be able to keep track of all the stories and rich moments that fill my days. In the meantime, I'll share some of the photos I've taken here. (P.S. A Facebook account is required to log in.)  I had trouble uploading photos, so there are a few duplicates and images are not captioned (yet). After five tries, this is the best I can do at the moment. Enjoy!

top five tuesday. vote for my honduras volunteer project tomorrow.

My apologies for being uncharacteristically quiet today. Monday’s are always tricky with deadlines and a late (but festive, fun and delicious) dinner soiree last evening didn’t help with the get-up-and-go efforts this morning.

It's been another great day for The Global Citizen Project (76 days to go!) and the positive feedback and generous pledges keep rolling in. Thank you so much to everyone who's pledged, passed the word along, or taken a few minutes to read my blog. I need all the collaborative love I can get to make this project happen and I appreciate every single contribution.

Here are some of the people who've helped today:

Gadling, one of my fave travel blogs, retweeted information about The Global Citizen Project today. I especially love getting online love from people, places and peers I resepct the heck out of. So, thanks!

I received a generous $100 pledge from Cathey, the writer gal and wanderluster behind the blog Mischief & Impermanent Bliss (thoughtful writing, music musings and beautiful travel pix). She has a Peruvian background, a penchant for Latin America, specifically Peru, and if she lived in the PacNW, I have a feeling we'd hang out and have all sorts of writerly fun. Just saying.

I was also contacted by Sasha Peakall, the founder of OnURWayTravel, a site geared towards encouraging young travelers to explore the world. She’s launching a new e-magazine in January 2010 and plans to feature an article on The Global Citizen Project. Thak you, Sasha! Looking forward to it. I am all about encouraging young minds to participate in the world wide classroom and embrace volunteer travel.

Lastly, do you know what tomorrow is? It's the day when my top five volunteer projects in Honduras are posted on the Visit Honduras Facebook Fan Page and you get to vote for which one I participate in. The winning project will be announced next week, so please take a second to learn about this worthwhile organizations and programs and tell me what you think. Once the projects are officially announced, I promise to Tweet information about each of the programs (so if you're not following me on Twitter, please do @global_gourmet). Thanks!

That wraps it up for this chilly Monday night. I'm going to make some tea, situate myself in front of the fireplace and write for the night. Here's hoping everybody's week is off to a good start!

big news tomorrow. here's a clue.

Drum roll, please and break out your pom poms if you got 'em. Tomorrow morning, I'll announce the details of a very cool collaborative effort I'm in cahoots with with one of my favorite Latin America countries (my first Latin Americam travel destination love, actually). The promotion will determine where I volunteer within this wonderful country and what project I'll particpate in.

I'm a fearless travel writer willing to take on pretty much any terrain, so if there's a specific cause that you feel needs some volunteer love, please let me know. I want The Global Citizen Project to be an interactive, community driven experience, and yes, I'm all ears for volunteer project and destination suggestions. I'm all about give and take, comments and feedback.

Hasta mañana, here's a visual clue about the country I'm talking about.