When I was putting together my year-long trip last year, I had very few concrete plans. In fact, the only plan I made for Peru was that I knew I wanted to do some hiking in the Cordillera Blanca near Huaraz. And it was for this reason that I’ve been lugging around a relatively…
One of the things I was excited to do while in Cuenca was to get out and explore Parque Nacional Cajas. So I signed up for a day tour with one of the agencies in town and was joined by a family of 3 from the US. We all crammed into a very small…
I wanted to get some hiking in while I was in Ecuador and my first idea was to hike El Altar to see the 5 lagoons. However, one of the biggest problems with travelling alone is that most excursions only happen with a minimum of 2 (or 4) people, and unfortunately, I couldn’t find…
One of the things I had been ummming and ahhhing about doing since arriving in Quito was going up the teleférico and climbing Volcán Pichincha. What finally decided me was a) signing up to do the 3-day Ecuadorian Inca Trail hike (I figured some hiking preparation wouldn’t hurt) and b) an invitation from Charlotte. So off we headed…
Mindo is a small chilled-out town in the middle of a high-biodiversity cloud forest about an hour and a half north-west of Quito. There are lots of things to do there, but because I was feeling like some down-time, I only managed to do two things in 3 days. I could easily have stayed a few more!…
What is the most obvious thing to do when you’ve spent 1 day at altitude in the last 18 months, haven’t been on a pushbike at all for about 9 years and have never mountain biked? Do a 3-day mountain bike tour of the Ecuadorian altiplano with the Biking Dutchman of course! I came across…
The Viñales valley (you guessed it – yet another UNESCO location) is about 2 hours away from La Habana, really chilled out and really beautiful. It is one of the biggest tobacco growing areas in Cuba where traditional cultivation techniques still dominate, and is renowned for its mogotes – dome-like limestone outcrops that rise abruptly…
Caught the 2:40am ViAzul bus (that didn’t leave until 4am) from Camagüey to Trinidad and experienced a huge internal-to-Cuba culture shock! Up until this point in my trip, I’d been in the eastern part of Cuba, which is far less touristy than the parts closer to La Habana. I saw more souvenir shops and…
Unfortunately Wendy and I had to part ways in Baracoa – she was headed to the beach and I was headed back the way I came and through to Bayamo, the jumping off point to visit La Commandancia de la Plata where Fidel Castro, Che Guevara Pico Turquino from La Commandancia de la Plata – Cuba…
After 4 days, Wendy (Belgian lady I travelled with for several days) and I escaped the hassle of Santiago de Cuba and caught the ViAzul bus to Baracoa. This trip (which in theory takes 5 hours, but in practice takes more like 6 due to all the unscheduled bus stops) passes through the infamous Guantanamo…