Take a good helping of cobblestones and mix well with white washed buildings topped by terracotta tiles. Add a pinch of colourful creeping plants and lightly stir in some locals steering horse-drawn carts. Make a space in the middle of your mixture for one of South America’s largest plazas and pour in a good amount of art and crafts. Whilst it’s warming in the temperate climate, sit back, relax, and breath in the aromas from French bakeries and cute coffee houses serving Colombia’s finest beans.
Tag Archives: Backpacking
Wake up and smell the coffee – Colombia’s Zona Cafetera
3 Mar
Growing truly exceptional coffee is one of the things Colombians do best. In fact their coffee is considered to be amongst the greatest in the world so we fully expected to be left wide-eyed and shaky with the amount we intended to drink in the country’s renowned bean growing region, aptly named Zona Cafetera.
The right stuff – essential travel equipment
24 Feb
During our time travelling we’ve used a vast array of equipment and gadgets – some obvious, some less so. We’ve thought a few times that perhaps the most important piece of equipment is the humble roll of toilet paper in a Continent where you’ll often find it absent in public toilets, restaurants and sometimes even your hostel! OK, arguably not equipment in the true sense of the word but it does have the same qualities that we’re looking for in all of our travelling gear – it’s lightweight and portable, it’s reliable and hard-wearing, it’s there for you when you need it, it makes your life easier, and it doesn’t let you down!
Finding refuge on Volcano Cotopaxi
11 Feb
National Park Cotopaxi is a paradise for people who love nature and have a spirit for adventure. The 33,393 hectare park is Ecuador´s largest protected area and offers a mixture of woods, lake-land and high Andean Altiplano which is home to an abundance of animals and plant life. The highlight of the park is the perfectly conical and snow-covered volcano Cotopaxi which is Ecuador’s second highest peak at 5,897 metres. Cotopaxi is the world´s fifth highest active volcano and whilst its last major eruption took place in 1904, scientists and seismologists now monitor activity very closely, just waiting for the next big one. The scenery rendered us speechless…for once! Cotopaxi had turned her headlights on and we were caught staring into the full beam feeling like we had the whole park to ourselves. Continue reading
The Incredible Galapagos Islands
4 Jan
Imagine waking up in a parallel universe where animals rule the planet fearlessly and humans are consigned to the sidelines – gawping speechlessly with open mouths, only capable of pointing and clicking a camera over and over again. Where animals work in harmony allocating selected beaches for frolicking lava lizards, watery depths for giant manta rays and green highlands for wise, ancient tortoises, whilst humans push and shove over the same small patch of scrub land. Where hungry sparrows dine out on the same plates of food bought by humans, and sealions sprawl on promenade benches enjoying the sunshine. Imagine no further – this is the Galapagos – and these islands are like few other places to be found on Earth.
Riding a sand tsunami in Huacachina
10 Nov
We collapsed into a heap after climbing to the top of a 60 metre sand dune and paused to catch our breath. We stared in awe at the scene before us – immense, golden dunes and nestled in the middle a picturesque lagoon-filled oasis surrounded by palm trees. Huacachina was once a prestigious holiday destination for Peru’s rich elite, however, nowadays it’s a regular stop on the Gringo trail and an adventure theme park for international backpackers.
The mysterious Nazca Lines
1 Nov
The mysterious Nazca Lines are spread over 500 square kilometres in a dusty, desert landscape in the South of Peru. The lines were first discovered in 1927 when a Peruvian archeologist, Toribio Mejia Xesspe, spotted them whilst walking in the nearby foothills, however, they were largely ignored by the outside world. In 1939, a historian from Long Island University in the United States took a flight over the area and upon seeing these giant lines and figures etched into the ground, he made it his duty to inform the world about them. Every year since, more formations have been discovered and there is presently a striking network of over 80 lines, 300 geometric figures and around 70 animals. In 1994 the site was honoured with UNESCO World Heritage status.
Pilgrimage to Machu Picchu – The Salkantay trek
21 Oct
Machu Picchu is considered to be one of the new 10 Wonders of the World and the legendary Inca Trail, a 4 day and 3 night trek following the old Inca road, is the most popular way to reach the site, taking in several smaller archeological sites along the way and reaching Machu Picchu for sunrise on day 4. Over the last 10 years or so the Inca Trail seems to have become a victim of its own success. Several years ago it became necessary to limit the number of trekkers using the trail as the sheer volume of traffic meant that the ruins were being damaged, litter was becoming a problem and sanitary conditions were appalling. The quota is now 500 people per day, which, along with trekkers, includes guides, porters and cooks. The measures taken were required to preserve Machu Picchu, but the outcome has been devastating for the humble backpacker with prices for the trek going through the roof and the waiting list to join the trek extending to 5 or 6 months in some cases. With all of this considered, we decided to try one of the many alternative treks, which offer equally as stunning scenery and the chance to visit small villages before ending up at Machu Picchu on the ultimate day. The alternative trek we chose was the Salkantay trek which traverses snow-capped mountain ranges, passes turquoise lagoons and hot springs, and descends into lush jungle before spending one night at a small town called Aguas Calientes and rising early the following morning for sunrise at Machu Picchu.
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Torres del Paine – the ‘W’ trek
Visitors from all walks of life converge on the small hamlet of Puerto Natales to visit Chile’s and perhaps the Continent’s number one national park – Torres del Paine. Located in the Southern Patagonian ice fields at the end of the Andes, the park offers diverse wildlife and incredible mountain scenery, glaciers, lakes, rivers and […]
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