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Cape Town, South Africa (2015)
At one point in my life I was friendly with the tiger cult from that popular documentary series, you know the one. Drinking Twisted Teas with them one night, the conversation turned to Africa. “It feels like home,” I was told by a member who goes every year to do conservation work with cheetahs. He alluded to the idea that there is something about the African landscape or even the resonance of the earth itself there that speaks to some deeply buried instinctual memory within the human psyche which recognizes the birthplace of the species. At the time I was unsure of the veracity of these claims, but some years later I would find out the truth for myself.
J. Otis HaasPublished 9 days ago in Wander- Content Warning
LSD, John Lennon, and Lime Popsicles
“Bottoms up,” I joke as we press small slivers of blotter paper against our tongues, swallowing them before hustling down the metro stairs to catch the L train. There’s just enough time to make it to Central Park before the acid kicks in. This is how Alex and I are ringing in summer solstice of 2021.
Elle MariePublished 9 days ago in Wander A Reunion with Greek, German, and Albanian Friends in Istanbul as a Turk
Growing up in a small place, speaking very late, having difficulty making friends in elementary school, I never thought that in my twenties, I would make my closest friends and get along so well with foreigners. Doing Erasmus in Lithuania led me to meet Konstantina, someone who became very valuable in my life. I met one of my closest friends there. Years later, I moved to Germany, and the thought of having a foreign boyfriend never crossed my mind. And there I met Tim.
A Journey Of Joy With The Children of Tanzania
My feet ache and my energy is severely depleted by the time we arrive at the mountain village of Mtae in Tanzania. We’ve just walked eight hours, ascending about 1,000 meters in one day. It’s five in the afternoon as I attempt to wash my sweaty body with cold water from a bucket. For the first time in my life, I have to use a hole in the ground as a toilet and clean myself up afterwards with water and my hands.
Yvette BrandPublished 9 days ago in WanderFeeling Normal Again
Smoking weed and banging drums with long-haired hippies in the forest. Jumping through waterfalls and plunging into deep blue water. Finding my spirituality after being adopted by a monkey family and running with them through the wilderness… are the kinds of stories you’d think you’d hear when someone says they had a life-changing trip but my most memorable trip simply allowed me to feel like a normal person.
Follow the Blues Brothers to Old Joliet Prison
Chicagoland is a term used to describe the towns surrounding the Windy City, many of which have personalities all of their own. One such gem is just an hour southwest of Chicago and it’s got quite a history. It includes a prison and a lot of celebrities that have passed through there.
Marcia FrostPublished 9 days ago in WanderTell Them I Came Home
More often than I’d want to confess, I speak to the wind. I picked up the habit as a child, in the Caribbean, where the trade winds constantly sweep across the islands, picking up scents from near and far—each smell, a nugget of information. On the backseat of my mother’s car, over the coastal road, heading to my grandmother’s, an inevitable gust would whisper to my nose and let me know whether or not a fresh batch of sargassum (brown algae) had landed on our shores. In early July, when we set foot on our family’s plot of land, gossips of ripe mangoes would buzz in my nostrils. I have no clear memory of when it started but, one day, I reciprocated and shared a secret with the wind. Today, I speak to my ancestors and send news to them on the flapping wings of birds made of air.
Lily SéjorPublished 9 days ago in WanderA TRIP TO SALISBURY
March of 2000. I had just turned 21 and was now sitting on a bus from London to Salisbury. It wasn’t my first time out of the United States, but this… this was something special.
Aaron MorrisonPublished 9 days ago in Wander