“No love, no friendship can cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark on it forever.” 

François Mauriac.

Twenty-five-year-old Rachel is tired of feeling hungover, glass-half empty, and utterly lost. On the surface she has everything, wealthy parents, a glamorous job and an enviable life among the glitterati. But ten years after the sudden death of her beloved brother and a lifetime of empty privilege, she decides today is the day to leave it all behind.

Left alone at the airport when her only friend bails on her, Rachel embarks on a solo spontaneous adventure through the less-traveled paths Latin America. Relying on self and serendipity she encounters a myriad of strangers and strange places including a handsome fellow traveler, a knife wielding gang, and more than a few colorful locals who teach her that every chance encounter and destination along the way has the power to forever change her path. Just when Rachel believes she’s made it through her journey, she is confronted face to face with her past, and must learn that no matter how far she wanders she must come to terms with the life she left behind if she is ever to move beyond it.

Hi, I’m Alia. By day I am a marketing professional and mother to two highly spirited kids. I am also an aspiring author, with a penchant for writing about travel and the idea of elsewhere. Maybe it’s because I am the product of a love story between an Afghan Prince and an American Hippie. Maybe it’s because I spent my early twenties backpacking through Europe and traveling as much as I could. Regardless, if I’m not writing about faraway people and places, I am dreaming about them.