Fresh from the solitude of wilderness camping in California’s Kings Canyon National Park, it was perhaps to be expected we would take a little time to adjust to the busy, sprawling streets of Mexico City. We had unintentionally thrown ourselves in the deep end by arriving late on a Friday night to our hostel in […]
Latin America
Catch your breath in Ecuador’s capital
Crossing the Colombia-Ecuador border overland took me seven-and-a-half hours. Next to me, tourists were ready to write off the country there and then. Yet despite this backdrop of festering frustration, I fell for Quito almost immediately. After arriving very late the night before, I woke in the capital on a beautiful, sunny Sunday morning. As […]
How to make the most of your time in Tayrona National Park
Tell anyone who’s not been to Colombia you are imminently travelling to the country and they will inhale sharply and imagine danger around every corner in Medellin and Bogota. This perception is outdated, yet refuses to disappear. But tell someone who’s been to the country about your travel plans, and they will begin to talk […]
Discovering Bocas del Toro
During the course of the months I spent in Bocas del Toro, I became extremely fond of the destination. You would expect this to be self-evident when living and working in a Caribbean paradise, yet each year some visitors are disappointed by their trip to the archipelago. This says more about them than Bocas […]
Exploring Hospital Point
As my time in Bocas del Toro draws to a close, I’ve been slowly ticking off the items on my bucket list here. One such place was Hospital Point. The secluded spot is a the western tip of Solarte Island and although I had passed it on several previous occasions, I had never visited the […]
Sharing the joys of Bocas with friends
The two weeks since my last post have contrasted hugely; the first was dedicated to studying Spanish and during the second my friends Greg and Jack arrived. Consequently, although I continued to attend two hours of intensive conversation classes each day, my progress slowed as I put down my books. It was such a pleasure […]