Rio de Janerio is a city living life at full throttle. It’s energetic, vibrant and dedicated to pleasure. Famous for its hedonistic carnival, fanatical beach culture, pulsating music and passion for sport, nothing is ever done half-heartedly. Rio’s intense urban beauty is also nothing short of mind-blowing. Undulating mountains covered in lush forests overlook curving bays of golden sand and sparkling blue sea. Old districts with colonial mansions and leafy parks blend seamlessly with soaring skyscrapers and modern stadiums. Even the ramshackle favelas stacked high into the hillside add colour and life to this diverse and open-minded city. Locals love to boast, with a cheeky smile, that “On the eighth day, God created Rio” and it’s easy to believe this city has truly been blessed.
THIS is Salvador
9 Jul
A cacophony of drums pound out rhythmical African beats. This is Salvador. Muscular bodies soaked in sweat kick, flip and twist inside a Capoeira circle. This is Salvador. Parades of people holding religious statues aloft, march on ancient churches where singing and clapping congregations watch miracles performed. This is Salvador. Young boys with jet black skin and tight curly hair, tirelessly perform back flips on golden sandy beaches. This is Salvador. Baiana women wearing traditional Bahian dress weave along the old town’s cobbled alleyways and past colourful colonial buildings evoking imagery of African slaves. This is Salvador.
Explore Beautiful Olinda
7 Jun
Olinda is a highlight of any trip to Brazil’s north-eastern Atlantic coast. It has bags of personality and looks to die for. The historic centre offers one of the largest and best preserved examples of colonial architecture in all of Brazil and earned Olinda UNESCO World Heritage status in 1982. The city is built into rolling green hills and is studded with beautiful painted houses, baroque churches and tree-lined plazas. The views out to the turquoise sea and back towards Recife from one of Olinda’s many look-out points are simply magnificent. Over past decades artists and creative types have settled in Olinda, making it a hotspot for art and creativity. The city is also home to one of Brazil’s most famous carnivals, rich in folklaw traditions.
Postcard from Henri Pittier National Park
14 Sep
Henri Pittier National Park has always been appreciated for its natural beauty and diverse ecosystems and in 1937 it became the first national park in Venezuela. It was created to protect the cloud forest and marine coastal environments from land clearance for agricultural purposes, and was quickly recognised for its great variety of plants and wildlife. The park covers 1078 square kilometres of rolling coastal mountain ranges, beautiful bays of golden sand and turquoise waters. It’s justifiably earned a top spot on any backpacker’s Venezuelan adventure. The park ticks all the right boxes with stunning coastlines, well preserved colonial villages with funky budget accommodation and tasty food options, trekking trails through lush mountains and the chance to spot rare animals and birds in the wild.
Blown away by Adicora & Coro
9 Jul
There is always an element of uncertainty and nervousness when we set foot in a new country but to tell you the truth, we were scared out of our tiny little minds entering Venezuela! We’d heard so many bad stories about the crime, the gangs, the kidnappings and the murders that we didn’t have a chance to consider all the good things lying in wait for us. So imagine our surprise when we arrived at our first Venezuelan destination, Adicora, a calm, safe and charming colonial village by the coast, where the vibe was akin to a Caribbean island getaway rather than a gangland hood.
Cartagena – A hot and steamy love affair
24 Apr
Cartagena de Indias is the jewel of Colombia’s Caribbean coast. The sophisticated lady of the north. A destination overflowing with romantic notions and rich history. Larger than life stories of colonisation, slavery, piracy and rebellion ooze down the streets and wash around the city walls. The colonial city is so beautiful and well preserved you begin to wonder if you’ve stepped onto the set of a movie. Freshly painted mansions with wooden balconies drip with Bougainvillea. Mosaics of neatly laid cobble-stones lead to plazas filled with shady palm trees where church bells ring out in chorus. Rosy cheeked lovers wander in flip-flops to dine alfresco in the evening breeze and clip-clop past in horse drawn carriages. To add to a permanent feeling of well being around the city, year round blue skies and rich Caribbean waters make it feel like someone has flicked a switch and turned everything into high-definition. The word is out that this is fast developing into Latin America’s most seductive destination.
Colonial Cuenca & Cajas National Park
10 Jan
Whilst travelling we’ve come to appreciate the saying ‘Variety is the spice of life’. We want to experience as many different things as possible whilst being away but we’ve found it’s also necessary to mix up the order we do things so there is a greater contrast between places or activities and a positive feeling when you arrive somewhere new. If you simply spend two months at the beach, the sea, sun and sand can start to lose its appeal but by spending a week at the beach, followed by some time in the mountains and a few days in the city, you then start craving the beach again, making it all the more special when you return there. So, after an incredible ten days in the Galapagos surrounded by beautiful nature and exotic wildlife, we were looking forward to city life and charming colonial Cuenca was to be the spot.
Welcome
Featured posts
-
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 […]
latin chattin' 