“When women of the Amazon insult their husbands, they say their man has a penis like a suri.” Oscar Ramirez, my guide with Peru Amazon Bike, hands me a skewer of suri (palm weevil larvae) at an Iquitos market. His description isn’t helping me take my first bite…(article first published in New York – full article to be posted here soon)

The winner of the Nikon was announced today at 4:00. Tomorrow the camera will be on its journey from Canada to Texas, to Shelley Renee of How to Travel for Free (or pretty damn near it!). I thought for sure the camera would be heading to India because there were so many entrants from India.

Writers’ Expeditions raffle has concluded: win a 10 megapixel waterproof and shock resistant Nikon Coolpix (S31) camera and a 16 GB memory card. The Nikon can also shoot 720p HD video, even underwater, and has a bright 2.7-inch LCD screen and 3x zoom NIKKOR glass lens. It comes with rechargeable lithium battery, battery charger, USB cable, strap, and a brush.

Entries accepted until 2:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time on Nov. 21.

To Enter the raffle on Facebook:

• To have your name entered once, “Like” the raffle post on the Writers’ Expedition page and “Like” the Writers’ Expedition page itself, as well.
• To have your name entered five times, “Like” and then “Share” the post from the Writers’ Expeditions page onto your own Facebook timeline.

To Enter by E-mail:

• just fill in the contact on the website and in the subject line of your message state: I want to win the camera. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose than to let you know if you won. If you’d like to receive information occasionally about upcoming expeditions (such as the below Jordan photography & eating expedition) and other raffles or giveaways, state so in the body of the message. (read more…)

There are books that contain an ultimate moment that for years I read aloud and share with anyone I can find who has yet to experience Bill Bryson watching his expensive meatball roll down the aisle of a train, or J. Maarten Troost’s poo sticks, or Tahir Shah’s panty sniffing launderer of Cusco, but Paula Lee’s Deer Hunting in Paris: A Memoir of God, Guns and Game Meat is an entire book of ultimate moments. (read more…)

Photos and Story by Kirsten Koza
Yesterday while sandboarding at Huacachina in Peru I lost my nerve.  I’ve done this before and it always provides thrills, sometimes spills and guaranteed exfoliation but yesterday I couldn’t dump mental images of compound fractures coated in sand. (read more…)

In Deep Doo-Doo: but just how deep is that doo-doo? It can be 164 feet deep at the ecological paradise of Islas Ballestas off the coast of Peru. The Inca didn’t just mine gold; there was guano to mine and lots of it for fertilizing their thousands of varieties of potatoes and corn.

When the Inca were conquered by the Spaniards, it wasn’t just Inca gold that the Spanish valued, there was an abundance of explosive producing poo for profit (actually bat scat has more bang for your buck). The Spanish navy fought for control of the Chincha Islands off Peru in the mid 1860’s. And slave traders (“traders” is (read more…)