brons

Over the past nine days, we have experienced a wonderful run of luck in our travels. Having decided to extend our stay in Medellín so that I could play songs and enjoy a few local brews at the open mic night that was being held by our hostel, we arrived in picturesque Guatapé on a Sunday. To our great surprise, Sunday is a day when food stalls line the lake shore. For someone sporting a mild hangover, the plethora of unhealthy items on offer was enough to make me salivate more than even Pavlov could have hoped to witness from his dogs. Having never heard a bad word about the village of Guatapé, we thought it was worth seeing for ourselves what had generated such positive reports. Considering the effects resultant from imbibing a little too ... read more

With Fidel Castro’s health in steady decline and restrictions being eased between the U.S. and Cuba over the past year, I thought this may be my last opportunity to see Cuba as I wanted to see it, ie. 1950’s Chevrolets, Plymouths and Chryslers, some rusted through, others meticulously maintained and shining proudly under the Cuban sun, rolling through the streets with palm trees and the faded paint of colonial buildings creating the backdrop. I also wanted to hear the Cuban music in the streets, see the propaganda billboards, such as ‘Patria o Muerte’ (Patriotism or Death) replete with Fidel’s visage, the stores for the distribution of rations and to feelthe life of Cuba. I also hoped to spend some time on a Cuban beach, drink Mojitos in Ernest Hemingway’s favourite haunts, smoke a Cuban ... read more

After extricating myself from the clutches of La Paz, I made my way to Colca Canyon in an effort to purify myself by trekking in the wild environs of southern Peru. This canyon is actually deeper than the Grand Canyon and only plays second fiddle to one other canyon which also slithers its way through a nearby region in Peru, albeit a little more remotely located. Joining me on this trekking endeavour were some great people that I ran into whilst walking around the streets of Arequipa, recognising them as members of the bar staff from my hostel in La Paz. After a brief discussion, we all realised that we had the same aim of escaping party central in La Paz and restoring a healthy balance to our lives by going trekking. After having a conversation ... read more

After once again enduring the tediousness of Chilean customs, we were on our way to Bolivia! I was excited to be entering a country for the first time and before another hour had passed, we were already at over 5,000m above sea level. Bolivian customs was a sight to behold, for we were nowhere near any form of civilisation, yet there before us stood a squat rectangular structure with faded blue paint in the middle of this vast expanse. Nearby was the rusting shell of a bus that was the toilet. Once the formalities were out of the way, we clambered into our Toyota Landcruiser, along with our driver, Wilson, and we were on our way to what would be three days of some of the most scenically breathtaking landscapes of my journeys thus far (accompanied ... read more

What follows are some of my recent experiences in Argentina that made my time in the country such a memorable and enjoyable escapade. The first involves a tiny bar in Buenos Aires, where there is barely room between the street-facing wall and the bar for two people to stand side-by-side. The bar was opened at some point in the mid-1800’s and many of the bottles adorning its shelves are still carrying dust from those days. I was taken to this bar by a local and I was surely the only ‘gringo’ there, in this dark drinking hole huddled away on a residential street somewhere near the Palermo district. What I witnessed there made me feel like I had stepped back in time, to at least the days before amplification of musical instruments was made possible. Jutting ... read more