I have a distinct memory as a child sitting at our kitchen table in Moymet watching Tarzan on tv, on what I think were Saturday afternoons. It was always in black and white. In the show there was a big set of waterfalls in the jungle and the huge falls always seemed to trigger my imagination. I was a seven year old kid once more as the Iguacu mist dampened my face. There are two sides of the falls to visit - the Brazilian side and the Argentinian side. We had based ourselves in the town of Foz do Iguacu on [View Full Entry]

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Rio is magical. There is something very special about the place - the picture perfect setting, the refreshing caipirinhas, the feel of sand between my toes...but best of all my parents and sisters were with us for a holiday. We started and ended our three weeks together in Copacabana. And yes, Barry Manilow played in my head throughout. I am not really a beach bum. It can be more hassle than it is worth. All girls know that sand gets everywhere. Regular readers of the blog will notice that we have tended more towards cities and mountains than sand and sea. [View Full Entry]

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Thirty minutes gone in the first half. Brazil are two nil down against USA in the Confederations Cup final. The mood in the bar is edgy. Brazilians are not used to losing finals! It could be a long second half. We were sitting in a bar just off Paulista Avenue, the financial centre of Brazil. Paulista is a lot like Fifth Avenue in New York, but in my opinion Paulista is more impressive. It is our first night in Sao Paulo. We had stepped on board a bus three days previous in La Paz, Bolivia and fell out in Santa Cruz. [View Full Entry]

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Like a crack on a worn pavement, the Colca Canyon is a crack on the earth´s surface. It is the second deepest in the world at 3,191 meters (the deepest is just next door). The road from Arequipa to Chivay crosses a high Andean plateau. It is a bleak place up there, like driving across the moon. After Chivay we took the road to Cabanaconde, a bone-shaking three hours. Between Chivay and Cabanaconde the landscape was different, the terrace farming is really impressive. Cabanaconde sits on the banks of the Colca Canyon. A cold village with narrow streets of earthly browns. [View Full Entry]

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Since arriving in Arequipa, every day more and more posters with hand written slogans were added to the gates of the huge catedral on the main square. The front pages on display at newspaper stands displayed increasingly graphic photos and passionate headlines. Articles about Peru's Amazon started to appear on the BBC website. CNN En Espanol ran grainy footage of violent clashes during demonstrations. Tensions were rising. 9am, Thursday 11th June. The feast of Corpus Christi. The sound of drums and shouting roused me from a cracking dream about Stoke winning the Champions League. As m [View Full Entry]

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The Nazca lines are one of the many mysteries in this world. Are they real proof of alien life marked out on the Peruvian desert? If ever there was a case Mulder and Scully needed to investigate! Heading inland from the Pacific coast on the Panamericana highway, we drove through the heart of the Nazca lines but we had no idea. They are so large the construction workers building the road didn´t see them either. The Nazca lines lie in a hot desert setting beneath the Andes. Covering an area of 500km², there are over 800 lines and 300 figures, so [View Full Entry]

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There were two main reasons we decided not to go to the Galapagos islands. 1. Money. We could not justify blowing one month´s budget on a five day tour. 2. Eco-respect. Back in October we saw a documentary about how the island and the unique animals living on it are being destroyed by the boat loads of tourists who visit every day. Some places are so special they should be left alone. So with a clear conscience and the budget in tact, we decided to get our wildlife kicks elsewhere. Appropriately nicknamed "The Poor Man´s Galapagos", the Islas de Ballestas are [View Full Entry]

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Generally, James and I don´t make return trips - there are too many other places in the world to discover! But passing down the Pacific coast of Peru, overnighting in Lima was unavoidable, a city we had already visited five years previous. My overriding memory of Lima was that it was a kip and I could see why Paddington Bear left. Compared to the sunny heights of Cusco and Lake Titicaca it was indeed "darkest Peru". The city is afflicted for half the year with grey skies and a constant drizzle. Not a wet drizzle that can be deflected with an [View Full Entry]

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Life starts early here in Otavalo. Especially if you´re a plump guinea pig and it is Saturday. Otavalo´s animal market starts around 4am, is in full swing at 6am and winds down by 8am. Careful inspections, passionate haggling and a lot of poo goes down just off the PanAmericana highway and it usually all happens while I´m still dribbling on my pillow. Not today though. By the time my brain woke up today, I was standing in a field surrounded by livestock. It would possibly be easier to list what animals weren´t there. We didn´t see elephants, girafes or kangaroos. No [View Full Entry]

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Cocaine. Kidnapping. Guerillas. Guns. Murder. This is what usually spings to mind when people think of Colombia. When planning our trip, many friends and family were worried we would travel to Colombia. The capital Bogota is seen as a forbidden city, no one in their right mind goes there. Some though us nuts! Yet we heard nothing but good reports about the country from travellers who had just visited Colombia. Our minds were at ease. Colombia is somewhere I have wanted to see ever since I watched the film ´Romancing The Stone´. The reason I am writing this is because most [View Full Entry]

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