By Donna Lawrence
A view of another woman’s life.
The road to the Maasai village is gouged with deep holes and littered with rocks. It is barely a road at all. Our Land Cruiser slows to a crawl to tip and sway through a gully. The Maasai don’t need to keep their road in good condition. They [...]
By Darrin DuFord
The language of fashion may be difficult to decipher, but in Panama, a fashion accessory may be more difficult to keep on one’s head.
After decades of nonreligious life, my churchless streak had been broken. But not for any spontaneous rediscovery of God. Apart from attendance at the occasional wedding or funeral, a humble [...]
By Sarah Enelow
Kermit, my devoted partner and laptop, was sick. His screen was cracked, he wouldn’t charge, and he’d cannibalized most of his battery life. We were in Beijing for a month and actually I hadn’t been so healthy myself. My first week was marked by a nasty cold, a migraine, and constipation—who knows, maybe [...]
by Tom Bentley
Getting meal fixings on a tiny Micronesian island is a creative exercise.
I held the forlorn bell pepper in my hand, regarding its sad aspect. It looked like it had been hit as a hot ground ball to a ham-handed shortstop, and then microwaved for an hour. Despite Alice’s pleadings, I put it back [...]
by Megan Lyles
Child vendors and retail therapy.
I arrived in Goa, India in the awkward pause between the monsoon season and the tourist season. It was like arriving at a party while the host is in his bathrobe pouring out bowls of chips. Hotels were vacant and restaurants empty. Mornings on the wide, [...]
By Mary Jo McConahay
Floating in a Beat-Up Canoe
Yellow-headed swallows dipped in and out of thick mist resting on the river. That fog probably followed the water’s curve for miles, I thought, maybe the whole length of Belize. I won’t see a thing from the boat.
Atop a high bank overlooking the Macal, I [...]
by Kim Brown Seely
A Girls’ Trip to Italy
Men have their golf weekends, their guided fly-fishing, and that ultimate male-bonding ritual, the heli-ski week, which costs practically as much as a child’s education. But when it comes time for women to get away, we often sabotage ourselves with convenient excuses. As a [...]
by Elizabeth Creely
A hiking trip turns disastrous for two sisters in California’s Desolation Wilderness.
Last July I went to Desolation Wilderness with my sister Emily to celebrate her fortieth birthday. I woke up at 5 a.m., kissed my husband goodbye, and walked to the nearest BART station with my backpack strapped to me. [...]
by Rosalie Justus
Hiking sola in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca, the author worries about same-species predators and other problems.
I know right away, the Dutch aren’t going. Marlie’s teeth are all purple from the herbs she’s been chewing. They’re a sharp contrast against her pale skin. She’s one of those naturalists that think if it’s [...]
by Kim Brown Seely
How Rwanda Reached Out and Grabbed Me.
Charles weighed 400 pounds, stood nearly six feet when fully upright, and was one hundred percent alpha-male. His massive black head was luxuriantly hairy, and our eyes met daringly as he reclined in a bamboo thicket as big as a Barcalounger. Charles, I’d [...]
