Venezuela is a country that seems to have a bit of a problem with its reputation (much like its Mondongo soup (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sopa_de_mondongo), but given this is made from the stomach of cows and apparently smells like bile I think in this case it might be justified!!). In most of the places I had been travelling in South America, the locals had always responded with warnings of how dangerous Venezuela would be, and that I should be very careful going there. I wanted to find out for myself what Venezuela was really like (bearing in mind that of course most of the people giving the warnings have never actually been there!!) so I set off overland to Merida, the most touristic city in Venezuela, where I hoped to find my feet before deciding whether it would be ... read more

Before arriving in Colombia I had heard nothing but positive reports from other travellers that had recently visited, with many saying with a knowing look that I would end up spending a lot longer here than I expected! I hate to pander to the stereotypes but they were exactly right, as I've already been here 6 weeks and this may be the first country where I have to do a nifty quickstep across the nearest border to renew a visa, as the three months I was given doesn't look like its going to be enough! The trip didn't start too auspiciously with a looooong bus (close to 24 hours instead of the expected 14-15) from Ecuador, which reached the southern town of Popoyan so late in the day that all the buses to my intended destination ... read more

At the beginning of March my family flew out to meet me in Ecuador for what must have been our first long holiday together for nearly 15 years! We had “agreed”, that we would look to take advantage of my Spanish language and do the trip in a manner more akin to the way I travel – i.e. not having any fixed plans apart from the start and finish dates, and organising things as we go along according to what we hear is good. Obviously there was a little more pressure on getting things reasonably well organised, as I didn't think my parents would take too kindly to sleeping a night in a cockroach infested fleapit because we turned up late in a town that was fully booked because we hadn't realised that it was the ... read more

Our arrival in Cusco certainly meant we were going to visit the famous Inka city of Machu Pichu. But, we had heard from many people that you need to book up the fabled “Inka Trail” many months in advance to have a chance of getting one of the restricted number of places. What we hadn't reckoned on is that turning up in the middle of rainy season in late January, demand for the Inka trail does actually drop off, and one of the most reputable agencies, Llama Path, offered Chris, Andrew and I a spot on their trip. I had declined the use (and cost!) of a porter, so I was testing myself by carrying all my stuff (except the tent and cooking equipment which were taken by the porters) throughout the four days. One of ... read more

After leaving Cordoba, my final stop in Argentina was to be the colonial city of Salta. Immediately I was able to put my improved Spanish into practice, first with an incredibly friendly taxi driver (especially considering my bus had arrived about 5.30a.m.!) and then with the Spanish speaking crowd at the hostel. Here, for once the language around the communal dinner table in the hostel was definitely not English! My memories of Salta will probably not be of the abundance of colonial architecture, but instead of the natural sciences museum which was stuffed to the gills (literally) with the widest possible array of stuffed animals from around South America. It was similar to the science museum James, Steve, Chris and I had visited in Bariloche on the previous trip – so I thought it only right ... read more