Argentina - 6 Months I returned to Argentina after cycling from John O Groats to Landsend and spent 3 weeks in Buenos Aires seeing what the night life was all about, and also falling in love with steaks and red wine. From there I went to Cordoba where I decided to stay for 2 months to spend some time improving my Spanish by going out and socializing as much as possible, I made lots of friends while practising. During these months I found time to see where Che grew up as a toddler and to do a little paragliding. After Cordoba I travelled North to Salta to meet another friend and to hire a car with a guy from Holland in order to follow the route of the "Train to the Clouds", which crosses the ... read more

Colombia - 38 Days (3rd May - 10th June 2005) I flew with an Israeli friend up to Colombia to spend 5 weeks travelling around. Bogota was like most cities, with its nice buildings and restaurants etc but the coolest thing was the gold museum with its huge collection of pre-Hispanic gold artefacts. From the capital I flew to the north coast and Santa Marta and we went on a 6 day jungle trek to la ciudad perdida, an archaeological site of an ancient city. The city is hidden deep in the jungle and it is believed to have been founded about 800 A.D., some 650 years earlier than Machu Picchu. To enter the city you must first find and then climb up the 1,200 stone steps hidden by dense jungle. As a part of the ... read more

Peru - 2 Weeks I wanted to pass through the country to pass from Bolivia to Chile and decided to take some time to relax after lots of recent hardcore travelling. I spent a week in Cuzco, chilling and just basically absorbing culture. I visited a market in a near by town and enjoyed the easter celebrations. From Cuzco I met a friend from Huancayo and spent a week visiting the Santa Catalina Monastery, some local vinyards where they make Pisco and also plenty of chilling. From Arequipa I continued South to Tacna and then to Arica in Chile.... read more

Paraguay - 8 Days (9th - 17th Feb) From Iguazu Falls I travelled through Paraguay to Bolivia, taking 8 days to absorb what I could from this little visited, dirty, poor country. I spent 2 days in Encarnacion, so that I could visit the Jesus and Trinidad Jesuit Ruins, preserved religious missions founded by the Jesuit missioners during the colonization of South America in the 17th century. Then I went to the capital, Asuncion to explore all the colonial architecture (the Palacio López was the most attractive thing) but it was your bog standard, nothing special city, so I enjoyed some corn flakes and waited for an American friend coming from Brazil On the way towards Bolivia we stopped at Filadelfia in the Chaco region, right in the heart of the Mennonite settlements. Mennonite settlers came ... read more

John O Groats to Landsend - 16th May - 13th June 2004 I took a break from South America to go back to the Uk for about 2 months to see friends and family and to cycle from John O Groats to Landsend, the furthest two points apart possible on the main British island. The shortest distance between the northeast and the southwest by road is 874 miles but I took time to see some things and friends along the way cycling about 1100 miles over 4 weeks. I spent the first two days heading west along the scottish coast before I began to go south along the really pretty B871. The countryside in Scotland was beautiful, quite mountainous which made cycling a little tricky but the climbing up rewarded me with some great views. ... read more