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BADASS FEMALE TRAVELERS

It’s simple – we’re females. We travel. And of course, we’re badass. 
Discover the numinous accounts of women’s journeys around the world.

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Founded by college students, our mission is to document and share the many short story accounts women have experienced throughout their travels. Join and contribute by sharing your experiences and tips abroad.

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The Local Voice – Alejandro “Aleks” Leiva

DeAnna English sits down with Alejandro “Aleks” Leiva, Peruvian native, tour guide, translator, and now entrepreneur. DeAnna and Aleks discuss Peru’s tourism industry, the fate of Machu Picchu, and Aleks’s startup.

HER LATEST STORIES

Traveling with Chronic Illness

I was diagnosed at 15 years old with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, after years of blood tests, hospital visits and repeatedly being told that I was lazy.…Traveling with Chronic Illness

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You shouldn’t judge India solely on its ugly sides, but purposefully choosing to only see the beauty is ignorant. It’s a balancing act to understand a country – to both love it and to see its flaws plainly – and I’m still learning every day.⠀ Lockdown in France was a little too much wine, sleepless nights, and a sci-fi-like world outside. But it was also easy laughter with a new family, hours spent on Facetime, and learning to appreciate the tiny joys of everyday life.⠀ “All the natives had a rosy tinge to their cheeks. It was perhaps the climate that gave them this colour, because on my second day there, I started to develop this tinge on my cheeks as well. I felt ignorant and guilty. I had accidentally become one of the worst kinds of tourists – the unknowing tourist who feeds into illegal businesses and dooming children with their Western naïveté. The exact kind I’d so carefully avoided and arrogantly thought myself above.⠀ “India’s beauty had dulled a bit.⠀ “Peruvian people are seen as very welcoming and very warm people. And we are like that – that’s certainly in our blood – seriously, we are very warm people, especially with people who don’t speak the language. Among ourselves, if I come here and I don’t know the area and I still speak Spanish, there are people who would be hospitable – like if I’m lost and I need assistance. But Peruvians are way more hospitable and welcoming when people don’t speak the language or when they don’t belong to the area. That’s just a part of us.” "Do not stop thinking of life as an adventure. You have no security unless you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively, unless you can choose a challenge instead of a competence." We all know that Copenhagen is a cool city to visit – Nyhavn, the freetown of Christiania, the little mermaid etc. etc. But if you want to discover the “real” Denmark – and possibly avoid hoards of tourists – the rest of the country has an abundance of places to explore and fall in love with. As a proud Dane, born and raised in the countryside of this tiny Scandinavian country, here’s my top 5 things to do in Denmark besides visiting Copenhagen.⠀ Over the course of 6 months traveling in Asia, I probably have swam in more than 20 different waterfalls. There is no shortage of waterfalls in Asia. Something so powerful yet serene comes from being with the force of water. Water provides energy of free-flowing and the power to carve the Earth. No wonder it is a universal sign of natural beauty.⠀ Now, I love my home dearly, but Danes can be a bit tricky when it comes to befriending them. Denmark has been ranked as one of the hardest nations for expats to make local friends in. Don’t get me wrong – Danes are great friends; they are both brutally honest and extremely loyal to their closest ones! But Danes prefer deep, long-term friendships and many might not be too interested in getting acquainted with travellers. Workaway (or couchsurfing for that matter!) is a great way to really immerse yourself in the Danish culture and travel cheaply in the usually expensive country. Help with a sustainability project, a permaculture farm, or maybe sign up to take care of a couple of children. No matter what you find most interesting, this is a sure way to truly get a glimpse into the Danish lifestyle and culture. Once you’ve earned the trust of a Dane, you’ll have won yourself a trustworthy ally.⠀ At 12 pm on the 17th of March, Macron shut down the country indefinitely. From then on out, it became illegal to leave the house without a document stating your address, personal information, time, and reason for leaving. There were five valid reasons deemed “necessary”. Thankfully, exercise was still allowed within the “1-rule” – one person could go one kilometre away from the house for one hour, once a day. From one day to another, freedom meant something completely different. But, strangely, life went on regardless – two months and one week in complete lockdown wasn’t the end of the world after all. I found a routine to separate the days from each other. Every morning, my French lessons would continue online. Every evening, we would clap and shout from the terrasse to thank the nurses and doctors. And with my new little French family, I learned to celebrate and cherish the tiny moments in life.⠀ There is a big rumor that Machu Picchu will close down, but honestly, I do not think that it will completely… but it will probably become very restricted in the number of tourists allowed to enter. Machu Picchu has a title – like any heritage site, there are certain rules that we need to follow in order to keep it that way. One of them is to limit the number of people visiting. The authorities of the National Institute of Culture, which is the institution of our archeological sites – didn’t look out for the number of entries at one point. And at one random check, they realized that there were around 6,000 – 7,000 people visiting in just one day. That’s nearly 3 times the amount of people allowed, which is 2,500 a day.⠀