Kayaking the Comau Fjord – Hornopirén to Isla Llancahué
A first-person account of day one kayaking Patagonia’s Comau Fjord, covering first-time nerves, group logistics, weather, physical reality, and the demands ahead.
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Easter Island – Part 4
Final day on the e-Bike was a bit of an easier one as I was just exploring the Rano Kau volcano and Orongo, both of which are right near Hanga Roa. Started out early and was at 90% assistance getting up the volcano. Everybody who comes to Easter Island visits Orongo at the top of the…
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Easter Island – Part 3
Back on the e-Bike today but not as much riding 🙂 First stop – Puna Pau – where they quarried the red basalt for the topknots (pukaos). It is thought that these represented hair rather than hats, and seem to be very late additions to the Moais (only a fraction of the Moais actually…
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Easter Island – Part 1
I had always had a fascination for Easter Island (Isla de Pascua / Rapa Nui) ever since I was a kid, and made my first trip to the Island back in 2003. I stayed 5 days on that occasion and could not understand how the majority of people who were visiting said they were bored…
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Sand Dunes and Sand Boarding – Huacachina, Peru
Huacachina is a small oasis surrounded by sand dunes and looks pretty amazing, until you realise it is only 5km outside the large city of Ica in southern Peru. If you’ve never seen reasonably large sand dunes and are travelling through Peru – this would definitely be worth a visit (though unfortunately the water in…
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Ziplining – Baños, Ecuador
Although ziplining has become really popular over the past years, I’d never actually tried it. It never looked like something that would get the adrenaline going (I’m not afraid of heights), though it did look fun, so I thought I’d give it a go in Baños. Chose to do the 6-zipline trip at Puntzan – because, well,…
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Pailón del Diablo – Baños, Ecuador
One of the most popular things to do in Baños is the Ruta de las Cascadas, or Waterfall Route. This is a 17km trip that takes in several waterfalls and ends up at the most famous of them all – the Pailón del Diablo. There are a few different ways you can do it, including by…
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More Canyoning – Baños, Ecuador
I visited Baños when I was in Ecuador ~13 years ago and it was quite a sleepy little place where the main attraction was the Pailon del Diablo waterfall. Whoa – culture shock when I stepped off the bus this time! It has grown enormously and every shop is offering either food (of course), adventure…
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Canyoning / Waterfall Rappelling – Mindo
After hiking the waterfalls in the morning, Jenny, Maic, Thalles and I then doubled up and went canyoning in the afternoon. We decided to do the canyoning trip that included 3 waterfalls, rather than the one that just included a single, larger waterfall. My thinking was that the first decent would get us…
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Ciclopaseo – Quito – Ecuador
Another of the awesome initiatives in Quito is the Ciclopaseo. Basically, the city shuts down 30km of one of its main North-South arteries (Avenida Amazonas) to traffic each Sunday between 8am and 2pm (Quito is a long, narrow city oriented North-South), to encourage everyone to get out on their bikes. And its incredible how many people take advantage…