It may have only been a week since we ( that is myself, Carly & Mark) signed off the Toucan Trip and ventured forth into the superlative countryside of Colombia but it has been packed with laughs and adventure – lots of horse-riding, a near miss with bandits, spine-juddering roads complete with landslides , coffee plantations and pre-Colombian statues galore. As the taxi took us to Bogota airport, all three of us breathed a collective sigh of relief that we were leaving the Group behind and on the cusp of exploring a country that we were not ready to leave. Quite why anyone would continue with Toucan at this stage is beyond me….a further 3 days in Bogota, a fairly charmless capital city to then pay at their own expense to fly to Quito and simply ... read more

Colombia…. A country whose name conjures up images of dense impenetrable jungle and gun toting moustachioed drug barons. A country where every other woman seems to have had enormous breast implants. A country rich in emeralds, cocaine and coffee with stunningly diverse physical geography – from the mountainous Andean chains, to sun soaked Caribbean beaches to savannah lowlands and rainforest covered Amazon. Colombia – my final South American country to explore (if I don’t include The Guianas!) and although it has been a tricky few weeks since we crossed the border from Venezuela, this is a country that has gripped me - more than Brazil, more than Argentina and more than Chile. Like Venezuela, its ‘western’ tourism is still burgeoning (Cartagena being an exception) and that gives it an edge. It gives me an exciting rush ... read more

Internet access in Venezuela has been sparse but here we go with my latest blog update and as ever, if you just want to look at the pics, here are the links: Part 1 - Angel Falls etc http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150225978870236.348656.691995235&l=3c05252651 Part 2 - Catatambo, Los Llanos http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150235473160236.361771.691995235&l=b536f99a11 Victoria, Iguazu, Niagara……the world’s greatest waterfalls and I’m lucky enough to have seen them all. Only one has eluded me…. Angel Falls - the waterfall with the longest sheer drop on the planet; at 979 metres, a ribbon of water cascading down a vertical rock escarpment, deep in the heart of Venezuelan jungle, accessible only by boat... It did not disappoint. Packed and ready for 2 nights in hammocks in the exotically lush national park we were dropped at Ciu... read more

I crossed another South American Border today and said ‘chau’ to Brazil and ‘buenos dias’ to Venezuela. I’m officially half way through the 70 day crossing of the continent and the past 2 weeks have been a delightful break from the ardours of travelling on Rosita, our Truck (someone call a chiropractor!). As you know, we sailed nearly 2000kms up the Amazon River and then from the state capital of Manaus headed deep into the Amazon Jungle for a few days. This was my second foray into the Amazon rainforest (hence the title of this blog update. Click here for my Ecuador experience back in 2009 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/blog-518952.html). Given the sheer magnitude of the Amazon, this was a totally different experience to El Oriente in Ecuador over 2000kms away. The Amazon is the largest and most diverse ... read more

I’m currently sitting on a boat in the tiny port of Santarem, a town in the state of Para on the banks of the Amazon River, halfway through a 6 day boat journey that is taking me nearly 2000kms from Belem on the coast of Brazil to Manaus in the midst of the jungle. It’s an epic voyage which has challenged every sense I possess … the noise of the constant forrá music blaring out of the distorted speakers for 15 hours a day, the smell of the blocked toilets and full septic tanks, the taste of the daily repetitive meal of chicken, rice, pasta and potatoes – all in one dish.(its carbs all the way to the toilet), the touch of other people as they bang into you lying in your hammock like an anthropoidal ... read more

Hello! 21st March was the official first day of Spring for all you peeps in the Northern Hemisphere…..so conversely I guess that I am now officially in Autumn here in North Eastern Brazil. It doesn’t feel like Autumn with radiant hot sunshine, and temperatures in the mid 30s. Currently I am in the tiny coastal hamlet of Canoa Quebrada…. (http://www.google.com.br/images?q=canoa+quebrada&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox&oe=&redir_esc=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=pt-br&tab=wi&biw=1139&bih=436) relaxing in a hammock and catching up on photo resizing and blog updating. Here is the link if you want to skip straight through to the photos….. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=341618&id=691995235&l=e7592466b3 We have 2 full days here in a gorgeous pousada (http://www.californiacanoa.com/en/index.php ) 30 metres from the wide sandy beach and azure coloured ocean.... read more

Greetings all… I have been so swept away by Carneval and all my adventures of late I have been somewhat lax and not given you an update for some time. Im sure you keen to know how the last 6 weeks have passed! From my shenanigans in The Pantanal (fishing for piranhas, swimming with caimens) to my sojourn in the colonial town of Paraty and all day caiprinha fest amidst the islands of the Costa Verde to encounters with Brazilian black magic and of course the 4 days of Carneval where the city of Rio erupts into a Bacchanalian frenzy of dance, music and drinking. I am still in Brazil but have now departed the eclectic, vibrant city leaving behind some very special friends and taking with me some wonderful memories which this blog will be ... read more

Another blog update...another country! This time I am in Brazil. 8.5 million sq kms of country covering almost half of the continent of South America. Its big. Its big and at the moment it is very very hot. Too hot…even for me. If you want to see my pics so far, here is the link.....http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=329775&id=691995235&l=51e203d5d9 Rio was scorched yesterday under sunshine that took the mercury to 46 degrees celcius. Even the cariocas (the inhabitants of Rio de Janeiro) are struggling in temperatures this high. Its not just the heat it’s the humidity as well which leaches your will to live. No sooner do you step out of a cold shower feeling refreshed then your body acclimatizes back to the inferno and you start to sweat again. Im averaging 3 to 4 showers a day simply to ... read more

Im sitting in a dingy, dark, windowless room with an overhead fan whirring and clunking above me in the town of Carmelo in Uruguay. I have left the security of Pepe in Buenos Aires and ventured across the muddy waters of the Rio Plata to yet another South American country. The place I am in, the Hotel Orientale is a dive…the cobwebs in the corner of the room are fluttering in the fan’s paltry breeze and I am unaware of any other guests. This hotel could be in The Shining! In fact, Hotel is an overly ambitious term for this establishment but the sheets are clean, there is nothing crawling (that I can make out) and having arrived in Carmelo from Tigre at dusk, I didn’t want to travel onwards into the night alone with no ... read more

From Vanilla Ice to Pink Floyd and now finishing up with Foreigner. If you have no clue what im talking about then i shall leave it for you to work out...! So my third and final part of my Antarctic voyage starts here. I feel a bit like Darwin may have felt when he started to write the end of Voyage of the Beagle. So many wondrous times....i hope you have enjoyed so far and this last instalment leaves you wanting to book yourself a trip immediately (and with Aurora http://www.auroraexpeditions.com.au/ !). Go on.....life is short and you never know when you’re going get hit by a bus. On that prosaic thought...if you cant face another update from me and simply want to look at photos, here are the final batch: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=317837&id=691995235&l=2021e30ce3 I last left you ... read more