EmmaL

We have been home for over twelve months now (I still can’t believe it has been that long), and I have one final blog from our trip to get out. It has been written in my mind all this time and finally I can transfer it here to stop it from changing as time moves. I am sure it has already altered in some ways, but I am not overly concerned as I think the essence of the place stays with you long after you leave. When I began my travel journey in 2009, my first stop was Johannesburg - South Africa, then Entebbe - Uganda. I was as green as any traveller could be and was excited about the journey before me. The experience that I had in East Africa, particularly Uganda, fundamentally changed who ... read more

Drugs, dildos and Dutch cheese. Upon our arrival in Amsterdam we were informed by some friends, who arrived a few days prior, that if we were in need of any of those three things then we had indeed come to the right place! Amsterdam is notorious for its sleazy red light district with its scantily dressed ladies standing in glass toy boxes surrounded by their fluorescent red calling cards with their eyes fixed squarely on the prize as well as cafes where purchasing a joint goes hand in hand with ordering a cappuccino. It is a city that has been on my travel radar for a number of years and a destination that had eluded me thus far… but perhaps for different reasons to what you might be thinking. Amsterdam houses the world’s largest collection of ... read more

Bolivia is an incredible place. When we travelled from Sucre to Uyuni, it was the landscapes that captured my attention. I was surprised at how quickly the scenery changed and how different they felt from each other. It was like we were travelling from planet to planet in a bus like spacecraft - one minute driving through a dry mountain range then, in what seemed like an instant, we were looking at a desert with yellow and green tufts of grass growing out of the black sand and further along the road it changed again, this time to a barren rocky landscape that made me wonder if anything could survive in it. Our time in Bolivia was coming to an end and although we had spent a month in such a small country, I felt an ... read more

Mark and I decided to head into the jungle straight after our Salkantay trek, so on what seemed like endless early morning starts here in South America, we found ourselves once again, sitting on a minibus in the dark. There was an eerie sensation as we drove into the jungle as a thick mist was blanketing the forest and large trees with moss covered branches hung above us, threatening to take anyone that did not belong. The jungle was alive and it knew we were there. After about two hours driving into the mist we pulled over to the side of the road to our carefully selected lunch spot – which was just the side of the road! There we stood eating the most delicious rice and chicken in the drizzle! As we made our way ... read more

This morning I awoke to gunshots. Or at least that is what it sounded like. Mark seems to think it might be fireworks but I am not convinced. Who the fuck lets fireworks off at six in the morning! He is probably right though, it was independence day in Peru on the 28 July so the streets had been progressively filling with people dressed in police and military attire, in preparation for the big march last Sunday. The celebrations appear to continue for days. My understanding of the march is that it was a military type parade, rather than a cultural one, similar to what we would do for Anzac day, so Mark and I booked ourselves on the earliest bus out of here. It’s funny the people you meet while you are on holidays. A ... read more