WillandTory

Panama – a nice unexpected stopover After not finding our perfect island setting on the Caribbean coast of Colombia we planned 10 days on an island off the Pacific coast of Panama. Before heading towards the island we spent two nights outside of Panama City at Monkey Lodge – yes, there were real monkeys there! We had a days adventure on the Gatun river passing the container ships on the Panama Canal in our tiny little boat. We also fed the monkeys on Monkey Island, walked to an old WWII American radio station, had lunch on our own private island and had an awkward moment hanging around an Embera Indian tribe. Contadora Island Contadora is part of the Pearl Islands, it has 6 beaches and 4 restaurants and not a lot else... perfect! To Will’s delight ... read more

Santa Marta, Tayrona and Minca From Bogota we took a plane ride up to the Caribbean coast of Colombia, to the city of Santa Marta. As soon as we stepped off the plane we knew something had changed, the weather was hot and sticky, and the atmosphere was laid back (not surprisingly given the heat!). We spent about a week and a half in Santa Marta interspersed with a few nights in both Tayrona National Park (a spot of largely unspoiled jungle next to the sea) and Minca (a small village in the foothills), the highlights of our time in these places is outlined below. Santa Marta: a very relaxing stay in Aluna with our Irish host Patrick; set Mexican lunch at Agave Azul and fresh smoothies at Lulu’s; beach day at Rododero in a ... read more

Ashram (Eco Yoga Park) This eco ashram was located about an hour away from Buenos Aires and was run by Hare Krishnas. It served only vegetarian/vegan food (mostly from its own organic garden) and did not allow meat, alcohol or caffeine. We arrived in the middle of the ashram’s 10 year anniversary and the place was packed with Hare Krishna’s, and quite frankly we wondered just what the hell we had got ourselves into! We got our own mud hut (for the most part) which was very cold at night and much to Tory’s delight had a drop toilet rather one that flushed – the smell came through the floorboards into our room! Our daily itinerary was: 8am breakfast (preceded by a dawn meditation and chanting session if we so wished!), 12.30pm meditation and music therapy ... read more

Puerto Madryn After 20 hours and two buses we made it up to the coastal town of Puerto Madryn. The first 4 hours of the journey saw snow covered landscapes, the next 16 hours the landscape did not change from deserted flat plains. We saw our first Southern Right Whale the same day we arrived and they just kept coming! You could see them from the beach and walk along the pier where a mother and her calf swam beneath us at one point. We spent many hours on whale patrol on the pier! We also woke up for high tide and headed to a beach 20km away where the whales venture as close as 15m to the sand. It is an amazing feeling running along side a whale - a little bit hard due to ... read more

Iguazu After an epic 26 hour bus trip from Salta we arrived in a very wet Puerto Iguazu. We stayed in a French lady’s hotel (Los Trangueros) which was excellent, as was the home cooked food she made for us and to top it all off they had a lovely dog called Tango. Iguazu falls were truly spectacular. They are surrounded by rainforest so a trip there also has the benefit of some animal encounters for good measure. The pictures of Iguazu should speak for themselves so without further ado here they are…… ... read more