February in some choice places in South America is a special time of year for one reason - Carnaval. Most famous in Rio, Carnaval is a five-day long decadent street party that builds up to Ash Wednesday, with parades, floats, silly costumes and enough quantities of booze to submerge East Anglia. Fortunately, the second biggest one (and much less touristy and commercial, and therefore, more fun) is in Barranquilla on the northern coast of Colombia. It is absolutely mandatory to have fun, and I was already all too aware how much Colombians like a party. Myself and new travel buddy Sheriff [View Full Entry]

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After a few weeks partying (God I swore I would never use that word as a verb, but hanging around with language-mangling Australians has seen my standards slip) on the Caribbean coast I headed back down to Medellin for a taste of "real life" and a four-week volunteer placement in a children's day centre. My 16-hour bus journey from Santa Marta to Medellin even gave me a warm-up - I shared a cab with a Cogi Indian bloke and his eight-year-old son, and the latter was getting on the same bus as me so he could go and spend a couple [View Full Entry]

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The New Year began with a trip to the 'historic' city of Cartagena, a few hours along the coast from Taganga. The main draw to Cartagena is its famous fortress, built in the 17th century to repel pirates and the invading English, which houses an old colonial city, now referred to as the old city. All the hostels are in a seedy, poor neighbourhood to the south, Getsemani, which seems to be populated solely by crackheads, prostitutes and crooked-looking cops. This, combined with the oppressive heat, sent me back to Taganga, the fishing village where I had spend Christmas and New [View Full Entry]

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To wake up on Christmas morning with three fans whirring in your room and sunshine bursting through the balcony window was something of a rarity and a treat. Stepping out onto the balcony, avoiding nudging the sleeping person in the hammock, I looked across the tiny fishing town of Taganga and realised Christmas was going to be different this year. As well as the already searing heat, the beach was full of tourists, mostly Colombians from the big cities, but a fair number of gringoes too, the Caribbean sea looked as flat as a snooker table and the salsa music was [View Full Entry]

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With Christmas fast approaching, I believe it is high time to leave Medellin - amazing city though it is - and hit the Caribbean beaches on the north coast. Tonight I have something of a shlep (18 hours of it) to Taganga, a tiny beach resort near the Venezuelan border. Instead of watching Noel Edmonds Christmas Show and recovering from a Charles Bradlaugh hangover, I plan to be lying on sizzling hot sand and, if I have my way, eating a lobster the size of a sperm whale. For dessert I would like a coconut with a straw in it. To [View Full Entry]

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Like a favourite album, Colombia grows on you. After the disappointment that was Cali, we haved moved onto the capital, Bogota, via a coffee plantation and an amazing trip to Villa de Lleva, a delightful colonial town about four hours northwest of Bogota. Cali was a bit like a tropical Milton Keynes. A Bracknell surrounded by banana plantations. Myself, Joe, Tristan and Rob went out on a Saturday night and all we could find was salsa bars. Salsa is a deadly serious pastime here, and if you are to spend any amount of time in Cali, then it is advisable you [View Full Entry]

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Well my 10-day whirlwind Ecuadorian adventure came to an end on Thursday as we crossed the border into Colombia. Myself and travel friends Joe, Tristan and Rob stayed in the Colombian border town of Ipiales as we were too late to get a nightbus to Cali, Colombia, where we reached the following day without incident. But more on Ecuador. Last Saturday myself and Joe left Banos in the early morning to go on a tour of the sights between Banos and Quito, the capital, further north. It was just as well we were up and out by dawn, as what we [View Full Entry]

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After saying farewell to Raj - who had a harrowing 30 hour journey home from Lima via Miami - I decided it was high time to get out of Lima. I decided to head to Peru´s far north Pacific coast, to a surf town called Mancora. On the 18 hour bus journey up the Panamerican highway, which pretty much runs up the west coast of the double continent, from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego in the far south of Chile, I bumped into an Irish guy called Joe I met in Buenos Aires. We headed to the Point hostel (also stayed [View Full Entry]

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After a final weekend in Cuzco Raj and I decided to skip town, as we discovered that the much-maligned roadblocks had been lifted for a day. So we got tickets for an overnighter to Arequipa, the lovely colonial city to the south where I had already been. I had vowed to avoid overnighters after the nightmare 12 hour stint to La Paz last month, but it seemed like our sole window to escape Cuzco. However, we we merely an hour out of town when we realised the roadblocks were still very much happening. A ten hour journey took 15, the majority [View Full Entry]

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My Cusco odyssey has now lasted three weeks, and looks set to last a little longer, as the tiresome roadblocks and strikes have resumed with renewed vigour. Myself and new travel sidekick Raj were due to head off to Puno (on Lake Titicaca) tomorrow but it appears in Cuzco we will remain. I started off saying I didn´t want to leave this town, now it seems I actually can´t. Someone I know attempted the six hour journey to Puno, which due to disruptions ended up taking a marathon 36 hours. No. Thanks. The main event over the last week or so [View Full Entry]

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