Marie Elena’s favorite photos from her Machu Picchu hike (Sense of Place). Expand this slideshow to full screen mode to read Marie Elena’s captions!
In the fall of 2005, Marie Elena Martinez decided to put windowless office space, toner requests, writing literary press releases, and ten-years-on-the-job toasters behind her. Leaving a successful PR gig at HarperCollins Publishers, she booked a ticket to Quito, Ecuador and followed her heart…out of the country. Over the last five years, she’s visited five continents, and more than thirty countries as diverse as Argentina, India, and New Zealand.
Currently, she is living in her hometown of New York City, while finishing One Girl, Many Maps, a memoir about her time searching for the meaning of life, love, and whatever else came her way in South America and Southeast Asia. She also writes freelance travel pieces for such publications as Newsday and The Miami Herald. When not nursing lattes on laptop in downtown Manhattan cafés, Marie Elena keeps busy running marathons, scouring the city for good live music, and researching her next big adventure.
This summer, in follow-up to our Summer 2010 Sense of Place piece on Machu Picchu, she will tackle Africa—her sixth continent—to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for charity. Marie Elena’s website and travel blog can be found at www.marieelenamartinez.com.
