Salento is coffee heaven. It’s a lovely, quiet town surrounded by plantations so you have a big choice of farms to visit. I had read some reviews so based on those and the posters around the town it seemed that Don Elias was the town’s coffee godfather, and a bit of a character so we headed over there to join the tour… This was early on our trip when our Spanish wasn’t that great, so Read more…
Playa Blanca is under an hour from Cartagena by bus. We took the shuttle bus from Mamallena hostel in Gestemani. This was a straight-forward way to get there and includes an open return, meaning you can come back whenever you like. As you arrive at Playa Blanca you immediately get a sign of what is to come; the local sellers, bar owners etc come up to meet the bus and hang on to a specific Read more…
Have you read Marching Powder by Rusty Young? I’d read a lot about this book on travel blogs, and then managed to find a copy in a hostel. It’s a compelling story of an English guy locked up in a Bolivian prison,. It tells how corrupt the police and government are within Bolivia and very interestingly talks about the lawless, even guard-less prison that stands in the middle of La Paz; San Pedro. Because of Read more…
I’m almost past partying age so we nearly skipped Vang Vieng. In the end we came to kill some time on the way to Kasi. I’m glad we came as I did enjoy the town, but it’s a funny place; it has the feel of an old wild western town, where the action has left it. The craziest party days are over in Vang Vieng after a number of deaths caused by recklessness down by Read more…
From Siem Reap we took a bus to Battambang. Cambodians here remained true to form and were really helpful and chatty. We had a great time in this little town, which is strange because there isn’t a whole lot to do! We spent our first night at Phare Ponleu Selpak circus, which is an arts group set up to help disadvantaged children. They perform at the circus in Battambang whilst training and then move on Read more…
From experience, attractions of these size don’t often live up to expectations. High price tags, lots of tourists and supposed ‘must dos’ are often a let down but I must say this one deserves the hype. The prices are… ridiculous. Mainly the increase from 2016 ($20 for a 1 day pass) to 2017 ($37 for a 1 day pass). We had planned to go for a 3 day but being budget travellers we couldn’t afford Read more…
We arrived in Siem Reap very late at night after another delayed Cambodian bus. Tuktuk-ing to our hostel, my first thoughts were that I would hate this place. There are bright signs and lights everywhere. We passed Burger King and KFC… We had moved from lovely Kampot to neon and tacky Siem Reap and now had to spend Christmas here! The next day, exploring the town I thought my first impressions were right; absolutely full Read more…
Quito is surrounded by some of the Andes’ highest peaks, so while we were there we wanted to get a decent climb under our belts. We had met a professional guide by the name of Jose on an organised Cotopaxi tour a few days earlier. We told him of our plans and he recommended Iliniza Norte; a decent peak at 5126m, but one that could be done without too much specialised equipment. We took Jose’s Read more…
We had read a lot about Bogota before visiting. It was boring. It was just a dirty city. There was nothing to do. Our first thoughts when we got off of the bus were… wow, Bogota is cold! That’s the first thing we notice. Usually, we’ve seen locals wearing jumpers and coats whilst we are still in flip flops and shorts, but this time we are joining them! We weren’t really sure what to expect Read more…
The Inca Trail was the only thing we had booked before leaving England. The four day trail starts in Ollyantaytambo and ends inside Machu Picchu. It is supposedly the ‘best’ trail leading to Machu Picchu since it has such spectacular views and goes through many other ruin sites. It has to be booked months in advance and when we tell others here that we are booked on to it they are very jealous. When we Read more…
