While there are tons of routes to Machu Picchu, the Inca Trail is the classic one. But why is this one trek in Peru so special that more…
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Peru
- Reading Guevara’s Motorcycle Diaries is kind of a right of passage for backpackers traveling through South America. Guevara set out on a nine-month motorcycle journey that allowed him…
- Cusco is a city defined by three things: Incan civilization, Spanish conquest, and mass tourism. But those Incan ruins that shall not be named have done some serious damage. The remote…
- 2017 started in South America. Dodging fireworks beneath the giant church in Cusco’s Plaza de Armas, to be more specific. If you asked me what the year ahead…
- South America is kind of like the world’s playground. Everyone has heard of the Inca Trail, but when it comes to treks in South America, that doesn’t even…
- Life is too short to sleep in boring hotels. Don’t get me wrong. I love staying in hostels as much as the next aging backpacker, but I’ve never…
![🌵 The Grandest Canyon 🌵 USA (2019) I was fully prepared to dislike The Grand Canyon. Of course, I’m not talking about the canyon itself. I more expected to be disappointed with what humans had built around something natural. Wild. Immense. After seeing the crowds at Machu Picchu or oversold hoards at Angkor Wat, I was skeptical that we’d be able to avoid the crowds. How would the US choose to cash in on it’s second most visited National Park?But I’ll come right out with it: my skepticism about the Grand Canyon was overplayed. It’s not the deepest, nor the longest, nor the widest canyon in the world. Yet I still came away believing that it IS the grandest. It’s the greatest masterpiece of the Colorado River, some 5 million years in the making. Walls of worn sandstone, shale, and limestone create a gradient of colors that drop down from the canyon’s rim. 446 km (29 km across at it’s widest point) is a big area to get lost in. All it takes is a walk below the rim or a detour off the shuttle route to have the world’s grandest canyon [mostly] to yourself.](http://scontent-ort2-1.cdninstagram.com/vp/c08e7e39dfb215fb66170abba016d952/5DE2E746/t51.2885-15/e35/s320x320/64586682_2340296216243565_2620258413058736904_n.jpg?_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-1.cdninstagram.com "🌵 The Grandest Canyon 🌵 USA (2019) I was fully prepared to dislike The Grand Canyon. Of course, I’m not talking about the canyon itself. I more expected to be disappointed with what humans had built around something natural. Wild. Immense. After seeing the crowds at Machu Picchu or oversold hoards at Angkor Wat, I was skeptical that we’d be able to avoid the crowds. How would the US choose to cash in on it’s second most visited National Park?But I’ll come right out with it: my skepticism about the Grand Canyon was overplayed. It’s not the deepest, nor the longest, nor the widest canyon in the world. Yet I still came away believing that it IS the grandest. It’s the greatest masterpiece of the Colorado River, some 5 million years in the making. Walls of worn sandstone, shale, and limestone create a gradient of colors that drop down from the canyon’s rim. 446 km (29 km across at it’s widest point) is a big area to get lost in. All it takes is a walk below the rim or a detour off the shuttle route to have the world’s grandest canyon [mostly] to yourself.")
