I know it is a big call, but I've come to the conclusion, after a month of pondering and reminiscing, that out of all the cities in South America, Cartagena is my favourite. After getting in rather late the first night, because I couldn't get a direct bus from Santa Marta, I realised that I didn't have much energy. To be brutally honest, even, I spent most of my time in Cartagena doing absolutely nothing, as I woke up late and would have a mid afternoon nap to pass the time. Being on the Carribean, I found Cartagena awfully humid and hot, more so than perhaps Taganga. The weather sapped me of my strength, and along with Jonathan and Kayla, I found myself doing not very much at all. I had been in a bit of ... read more

Colombia has been rico. Countless days ago I caught a bus from Otovalo to Ibarra, and from there on to the Ecuadorian border town of Tulcán. I caught a collectivo to the border crossing, a bridge over a deep gorge and a river. After waiting for quite some time to get my exit stamps from Ecuador I walked over the bridge to Colombia, waiting for a while more while the man at the immigration office talked on his phone before finally getting my stamps for Colombia. Grabbing a collectivo I headed straight to the bus terminal, from where I caught an overnight bus destined for Cali. I don´t mean to put down Bolivia, Peru or Ecuador, but Colombia is a seriously exciting place compared. I was aware of some tingles when I got to the bus ... read more

Amazing things happen in the mountains. After writing my last blog entry in Lima, I waited a few more hours before catching my bus to Huaraz, 8 hours North-East of Lima. Naturally my bus took 10 hours, but I didn´t seem to mind so much because I ended up having an amazing sleep - I don´t even remember half the people getting on the bus. I arrived here in Huaraz on the Monday morning, quite early, and found myself a short time later at a family run hostel, down the road four blocks, down a flight of steps, down a side street and right down the alley. I know it sounds pretty bad, but the guy who approached me at the bus stop was right - apart from about the hot water. The family that own ... read more

After being in La Paz for the good part of 5 days, doing a lot of not much, I was pretty keen to jump into the wilds of Bolivia. On the Thursday evening I was pretty set on the idea of getting up really early on the Friday morning, to be on the bus to Copacabana, on the shore of Lake Titicaca, at around 7 or 8 am, so I could start my hiking adventure that afternoon. This was all very good in theory, but naturally it didn´t work out whatsoever. After waking up at 9, deciding to have a leisurely breakfast of pancakes (surprise) and then realising that my bathroom bag had been misplaced my plans were officially thrown out the backdoor. I finally peeled myself out of bed, finished my breakfast some time later, ... read more

Antofagasta is 19 hours from Santiago, 11 hours from Peru and 8 hours from natural vegetation. Stuck between the extremes of the Pacific Ocean and the Atacama Desert, the driest in the world, Antofagasta has been said to be the "ass end of the back of nowhere". Although that may be quite true, Antofagasta is quite an enjoyable town. Back in the day when nitrates, used for fertilisers, were found in the Atacama Desert, Antofagasta was the main export port. Today, with a population of just under 300,000, Antofagasta exports much of northern Chile's vast copper resources. I jumped on the bus in Santiago at around 9:30 on Wednesday night for Antofagasta, a pretty long 19 hours away. I slept for most of the night, then spent a large part of the day wondering why the ... read more