Lies Ouwerkerk's Bio

Lies Ouwerkerk is a freelance travel journalist and photographer, originally from Amsterdam and now calling Montreal her second home.

With Master degrees both in Spanish & Latin American Literature and Counselling Psychology, Lies has a keen interest in foreign languages and people’s way of life, all around the globe. As long as she can remember, she has been traveling the world in search of unconventional and authentic opportunities to immerse herself in foreign cultures.

Some of Lies’ most memorable experiences have been living in a favela in Rio de Janeiro, volunteering in Tanzania, teaching English to underprivileged Yemeni girls in Sana’a, harvesting grapes in France’s Bourgogne, and cooking with chefs in Italy and Bali.

Other travel highlights include festivals in Mali, Ethiopia, and China; tea sessions with desert nomads in Morocco and Mauritania; chief meetings of tribes in Vietnam and Burkina Faso; crossing Iran in hijab and manteau; and sharing meals with farmers cultivating grapes and coffee on a crater floor in Cape Verde’s Fogo.

Next to pursuing her lifelong passion for travel and photography, and her couple & family therapy practice in Montreal, Lies has for many years been coordinator for Experience in International Living’s exchange program between Mexico and Canada, as well as columnist for The Sherbrooke Record’s weekly section Generation Today.