Pleasantly pickled in red wine, I listened to the Gaucho’s guitar and took in my bucolic surroundings. Dogs played in a dusty courtyard. Behind them, weary horses gathered in the shade. Within arm’s reach, the remnants of a delicious barbeque were scattered across a colossal table. An extremely large swimming pool Travel takes many different…
Once the second largest city in the Americas, Potosí is still well known for its silver mine. Since the 17th century, the precious metal has been carried across the continent for use as the Spanish Colonial Mint. Today is it known as the world’s largest silver deposit, and by the 1990s over 50,000 tonnes had…
A large, friendly zebra carefully took the hand of a small child before looking both ways along a hectic main road. Then, calmly and upright, the pair began to cross to the backdrop of angry horns and revving engines. Once safe, the animal left the child and turned to repeat the process with someone else.…
Puno is an unremarkable town in southern Peru. It has some dreary tower blocks, a mall of sorts and, from personal experience, a shabby restaurant on a side street somewhere that cooks amazing fried rice. At least, it may be amazing. When I dined there I classed anything travelling down my esophagus and not immediately…
“Give me your simplest fish”. I chirped nervously as I rolled onto the leather couch. In a narrow Cusco street I’d decided to get my first, and incidentally, my only tattoo. The poor Peruvian tattoo artist who had to deal with my cursing and it’s fair to say, the very opposite of a British stiff…
By the time I arrived at Machu Picchu in June 2007, I’d been on the road for over a month. I had travelled southwards from Quito in the north of Ecuador, dabbling all too briefly with the rainforest, before crossing the border into Peru and travelling along the coast through Punta Sal, Pisco and the…
In a world where few corners remain unexplored, it’s easy to become cynical about well-trodden paths. These days many articles suggest alternatives to iconic trips, like my recent post on the Ballestas Islands. However we must never forget that these experiences become popular because they are fantastic. We can’t all forge tracks on unadulterated ground,…
