Lindsaytheexplorer

They say you learn about yourself when you travel. One of the things I’ve learned (or resigned myself too) is the fact that I don’t sleep well, or at all, on buses and planes. Unless I’m lying down my body just won’t sleep. Tipping the seat back a degree or two isn’t enough to fool the old bones into thinking it’s time for a nap. If I do nod off momentarily I wake up excited that I’ve managed to drop off for a while, until I check my watch and realise only 10 minutes have passed. I count myself lucky to get 30 minutes of sleep during a night flight so saying that you can imagine how jiggered I was when I arrived in San Pedro Sula after a night flight from Sao Paulo via Miami. ... read more

Feeling a little braver I booked a favela tour for my second day in Rio. These tours take you for a guided walk and talk through the Rocinha favela, the largest favelas in Rio but probably the most developed too. Rocinha, like most of the other favelas, is set on a hillside. It overlooks the beach and apartments one bay down from Ipanema. The residents in the favelas don’t own the land they have built on even if they own the house. Nowadays the houses are built of brick and mortar even if some of the roofs are still corrugated iron. They hook up their own electricity from the cables in the street and most have running water. Not all do though. For those without, they can collect water from pipes that run the length of ... read more

Flying out of Foz de Iguassu gave me a wonderful view of what is left of the rainforest. In this State there is only 3% left of the rainforest which is a rather depressing statistic. The dark dense patches faded out as the plane continued to the coast. And what a coast it was too. Even from the air I could see enormous stretches of wide sandy beach reaching north. The plane turned left back inland and over the Sao Paulo metropolis, depending what statistics you read it can be ranked as the 4th biggest city in the world (by population). It didn’t look that appealing by the air, tower blocks galore. Brazil’s reputation precedes it, both positively and negatively. To me Brazil is the place to party (need I even mention the world famous Rio ... read more

I don’t mind saying that I’d hardly slept. I was too excited. Christmas excited even. Today I was going to the much awaited Machu Picchu. I’d arrived in Peru for the first time over a month ago and the day was finally here. I was transferred to the train station for the journey to Aguas Calientes, the little tourist village at the foot of Machu Picchu. My seat was beside three Americans and they chatted the whole way. The train made its way to the Sacred Valley then followed the Urubamba River on the valley floor. We passed villages of mud brick houses with stray dogs and children playing in the street. The train stopped briefly at Ollantaytambo where local woman plied the train with boiled corn on the cob with cheese and touristy trinkets. The ... read more

It felt like a long 5 hour journey by bus to Puno from Arequipa. I’d woken up feeling a little under the weather and sitting on a bus wasn’t making me feel any better. Puno unfortunately is pretty high up in the mountains and at 3860m (just over 12,500 ft), I just felt worse when I arrived in the afternoon. Walking up 2 flights of stairs to my room left me breathless. I knew it was the altitude and taking it easy until I got used to it was the only answer. I ventured out for a brief walk and something to eat. I wasn’t really fond of Puno as a town. It’s a purely functional town on the shores of Lake Titicaca, the highest navigatable lake in the world. Tourism and fishing are the main ... read more