South America
Mamallena Shuttle Bus & Playa Blanca, Cartagena
Chips of coral looking for all the world like bleached bones litter the creamy white sand. Powdery as chalk dust, the beach stretches along into the horizon flanked on the one side with the translucent sea green Caribbean sea, the other lost in a muddle of straw...
Eco Hostel Medellin
So, after an initial few days spent settling into Medellin I jumped on a local bus on a Sunday lunchtime and I headed off to the little mountain town called Amagá which is just 45 minutes south of the city. After being deposited in the bustling central parque an...
Funky Facts #3 Colombia is Colombia (updated)
Colombia is Colombia! But it's Colombia! Both of the above expressions can be heard over and over again, usually accompanied by a nonchalant shrug of one shoulder and a wry smile, and used to excuse or explain away just about anything that needs an excuse or an...
‘I am sad and shocked’
'I am sad and shocked'. M put into words what I had been thinking as our tourist bus negotiated its way through the city centre traffic in Medellin. M only had a few days in Medellin before flying home so we had opted to go on one of those big red tourist buses and...
Hostal Endamo, Latacunga
So what does Latacunga have to offer apart from the natural beauty of the area? There is a tiny but cute museum known as Casa de la Maquesas where a little old man un-padlocked each of the doors for me, switched on lights and proudly showed me around. I never quite...
Pollyanna fails to like Cali
I sometimes wonder if I am travelling and viewing the world through rose tinted glasses. I am constantly amazed by the sights and the people that I meet but I do worry that I am portraying a skewed image for you. I know that I am a 'glass-half-full' sort of a person...
Santa Semana and Popayán
We arrived in Popayán at eight in the evening but our cab driver was unable to get us close to our hostel due to road closures. Assuming this would be because of roadworks we were amazed to discover that the entire town centre was closed off and the streets were...
Casa Quimbaya Outdoors and Massive Trees
Diana and her partner who run the Casa Quimbaya live outside Armenia on a farm which will soon be available as an alternative hostel to the one in town and they had invited me and M to spend a night there. The house which will be named Casa Quimbaya Outdoors it is...
Armenia and the Casa Quimbaya
After the intense searing heat of Cali it was lovely to roll into Armenia. There were more mountains but there was a subtle difference. The air smelt like an early summer’s morning in England when the promise of a beautiful day steals in with the dawn. Cut grass,...
The Eclipse was Worth the Wait
The day after meeting Lady and Jimena at the lake we left our biggest bags at Lady's town house and set off with her and Jimena in a camionetta to the countryside. After trekking across a couple of fields we arrived at the cutest wooden cabin miles from anywhere. ...