Unless you fly (expensive), getting from Colombia to Panama is not as easy as you might think, as the land crossing is the only missing link in the Pan American Highway. The connecting land area between the two countries is known as the Darien Gap and consists of 100 miles of deep swampland and...
Our road tour of Northern Colombia
SANTA MARTA After visiting the delightful walled city of Cartagena de Indias, we rented a car and drove to Santa Marta, about 3 hours east along the coast, to begin our road tour of Northern Colombia. The city is a major seaside destination for Colombians, and has been quite heavily developed with many tall...
A taste of the Caribbean – Cartagena de Indias
When the time came to take on our 8th and last county in South America, we decided to miss the hustle and bustle of Colombia’s big cities of Bogota, Medellin and Cali and head for Cartagena de Indias for a taste of the Caribbean coast. SOME HISTORY Cartagena was officially founded in 1533 and...
What to do in Quito for 2 days
We visited Quito, the capital of Ecuador briefly after our glorious time in the Galápagos Islands. It’s a huge city perched on a plateau in the Andes and, at 2,850m above sea level, it’s the second highest city in the world after La Paz in Bolivia. It’s also surrounded by volcanoes, but as we...
Our Chilean culinary experience – Seafood and wine in Chile
Chile, South America’s long and thin country has over 4,300km of Pacific coastline; it is therefore no surprise that seafood features heavily on the menu. There are some cracking fish markets which we thoroughly enjoyed, but we noted that the mega-supermarket and industrially produced goods like plastic ham and cheese have a place in...
Paradise on Earth – Our Guide to the Galapagos Islands
When we began our adventures, we always knew that we wanted to visit the famous Galapagos Islands of Ecuador. We also knew that it would be one of the most expensive portions of our travels, in fact as soon as we arrived at the airport we felt like our pockets had holes in them....
Peruvian jungle food – What to eat in the Amazon
There’s a rumble in the jungle and it just happens to be our stomachs. We experienced the Amazon jungle whilst in and around Iquitos and the Loreto district, Peru, but also the lower jungle in Tarapoto and the Amazonas department. We found the Peruvian jungle food here markedly different to other parts of the...
Kuelap, lost city in the clouds
There is so much more to Peru than the Conquest and the Incas, and we are certainly still learning about the fascinating range of cultures that have sprouted and prospered in this area of the world. Kuelap, in the highland Amazonas region of Peru is a pre-Inca fortress of the Chachapoya culture. A relatively...
Welcome to the jungle! The Peruvian Amazon.
Most of our readers will already know that we love Peru, and that’s partly because the country has a wealth of differing territory to explore. We have enjoyed cosmopolitan cities and colonial gems, coastal deserts and the Andean highlands. In order to complete the picture, we had to be brave, channel our inner Indiana...
Ceviche! A guide to some of Lima’s best ceviche spots.
Lima can be a chaotic and daunting city for travellers, but we would encourage any food lover to make a visit. Peru frequently tops international lists for its culinary delights, and with good reason. At the start of our journey we wrote a post on Peruvian food, but during our second visit to Lima,...