Silence: a tale of heartbreak

Silence. Shuffling through a tight corridor, via the kitchen and out onto a roof terrace. Someone fizzes…

Desecrated Tombs and Ancient Gardens

After several hours of trekking, we arrive at a campsite — one of Raul’s forest pit-stops. Here, he leaves pots, pans, and blankets. Resources for deeper forays into the mountains. A pair of donkeys have helped us thus far with the luggage, but they’ll stay the…

A Rural Rodeo

A modelo beer fizzes as I crack it open and ask Julio for a cigarette. We’re standing…

Luwak Coffee

As I walk into the dimly lit room, I’m met by the stench of caged animals and the rattle of metal wire. Another group of curious young tourists stand in the tight corridor between sets of restless civets: cat-like creatures native to Indonesia’s forests.

An Early Mexican Morning

Standing in the doorway of a friend’s tortilleria, I watch the morning batch made. The machinery, filling half the shop, makes a constant jingle and screech of wire on metal. Balls of cornflower are pressed and cut into flat round disks, then baked, before sliding down as hot…

The Man in the Purple Shirt

The man shines in a bright purple shirt. He wears smart jeans, boots, and a cowboy hat to protect his face from the afternoon sun. After taking a swig out of a modelo can, he pours beer over the hinds of a great horse. He rubs the liquid into thick, hairy skin, washing out the…

A Pigeon, an Eagle and a Vulture

I woke up under the vast canopy of the forest, with shafts of sunlight streaming in through the…