Ha, ha...oh, sorry, not Christmas yet is it? Must be the lack of oxygen up here or something. Well I had a nice birthday meal, quite Euro really, sliced beef in red wine gravy, potato rosti, broccoli and cauli! Then a few birthday drinks and a little pressie and card from my very kind friend Tanya. Sunday was a quiet night out but we managed to pack a tiny bar and there was a group of Israelis, one of whom also had the same birthday as me..so we made a lot of noise and danced about! Slept most of the next [View Full Entry]

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Stop working for a bit and make yourself a brew... It's time to join me for a story or two... Chachapoyas Not a great place in my opinion, the town had lots of potential, being mainly white washed red-roofed buildings but sadly lacking upkeep and vibrancy. Very good Chinese restaurant here though! Booked up for the trip to Kuelap...supposedly a site to rival Machu Picchu... Kuelap tour Day one was spent mostly in a taxi driving Chachpoyas. We stopped briefly for a walk to see some 2600 year old sarcophaguses high on a mountain ledge. Amazing that these bamboo and mud [View Full Entry]

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Dear all... May we continue the story...when we last spoke I was clinging to the roof of a train... Surviving the Devils Nose... Fear not! I survived to tell the tale! In fact it was not the James Bond style escapade I was imagining. We queued as instructed at 6am; it was a cold and drizzly Andean morning and only the brave boarded the roof. They rented seat pads for 1$ a piece; much needed but not enough! Neither were the 4 layers of clothing, gloves, woolly hat and scarf I was wearing. We scoffed at the rich folk in their [View Full Entry]

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Ladies and Gentlemen... Hope you have a cup of tea at the ready for the next episode of "HRH in South America". Some accompanying pictures and editorial will be appearing in "Hello" soon. Montañita or not.. Rocked up in Montañita 7.30 on a Friday night after a 12 hour, x 4 bus trip from Baños. Within 10 minutes I'd seen 2 of my friends and dumped my stuff in an overpriced hostel and hit the town! Or actually little village full of bars and shops catering to the gringo taste for board shorts, veggie food and cold beer. Personally I thought [View Full Entry]

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Hola amigos!! Well it's a logistical nightmare here in Ecuador at the moment!! The government are about to go into talks to sign a free trade agreement (TLC) with the US and the indigenous people are up in arms. They believe that they will lose their cultural heritage and will suffer even more financially as they'll be unable to compete. Hence they burn tyres or form human blocades to close the roads...as in MOST of the roads so you can't get anywhere! There has also been a recent protest about the rise in the price of cooking gas and the status [View Full Entry]

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Hola folks...Time for another essay... hope you´re being inspired for some future travels in this part of the world...can´t tell you enough how great it is!! Cartagena Absolutely stunning city, like a film set almost, horse drawn carriages, thick-set city walls, multi coloured buildings. Restoring a city like this makes it a tourist destination and here was the Hilton, the cruise ships and the American hordes. The city was the main Spanish port for exporting gold and was once held siege to by Francis Drake. The pock-marks of cannon balls still mark the walls today. There’s no escap [View Full Entry]

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Dear All Covered a lot of miles since we last spoke, unfortunately picking the busiest time of year as all of Venezuela have been on holiday too! Didn’t really notice it in Mérida as you expect a city to be busy and it can absorb more people. Pico Espejo Tried to buy a ticket for the teleferico on the 2nd but was told it was fully booked until the 6th, which is mad as it´s pretty pricey at 42 bols a time, about 11 quid! But it is the highest and longest in the world and I like these sort of [View Full Entry]

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I trust everyone's been getting merry and fat!!! Xmas Eve Cerrado (closed)- the favourite word of la continent! Even though there’s plenty of people walking round the streets at night the only places open are the burger vans and street food joints! Had a weird sweet pancake with cheese and ham for tea and an early night! Xmas Day I've been spending most of my time here in Merida with Will and Michael from UK and US, failing to find anything at all open we got a taxi to the hot springs up in the mountains, thinking it would be a [View Full Entry]

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Merry greetings to one and all! Sorry for the gap in communication, would you believe me if I said there hasn´t been time? I think I last left you on the way to Santa Elena to climb Roraima, a tepuis on the Gran Sbana Plain..as seen on TV´s Ray Mears Extreme Survival - I am sure I have told you about it before! One step at a time.. Well Roraima was my big ambition of Venezuela and it also turned out to be the biggest struggle. Number 1, should have known better than to go ´blind´, the group turned out to [View Full Entry]

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1. Polars and pelicans Hola amigo´s!! No, don’t worry. It’s not freezing over here...(not like old Blighty) ‘Polar’ is the name of the only beer Venezuelans seem to drink! They serve it in tiny bottles for 27p each but I reckon you’d need about 40 to actually be anywhere near drunk. And sorry guys, it is bloody hot I’m afraid, had a bit of rain and it’s so humid that my wool socks I wore on the way here took two days to dry! It was raining when I landed but the sun has soon blazed out again, as I was [View Full Entry]

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