Exile: Rejecting America and Finding the World

At 21, Belén left the U.S. and didn't look back. Alone, far off the beaten path in places like Syria and Tajikistan, she confronts violence, lechery, and places where it’s hard to find a good glass of wine, and reflects on what it means to be an American in a largely American-made mess of a world.

After growing up in Washington, D.C. and Texas, and then attending Columbia Universityin New York, Belén Fernández ended up in a state of self-imposed exile from the United States. From trekking—...