South America is full of gastronomical treats and cultural treasures, and you can experience both in a single cup of coca tea. Arriving in Colonial Quito I look around our accommodation and find a generous supply of Coca tea in tea bag form.
If you are searching the web for information about the four day Inca Trail trek you will find hundreds of travel companies offering this popular experience in Peru. However, many of these companies are acting only as agents for the relatively few specialist trekking companies that actually operate the trek of the Inca Trail to, Read More
Day 3 – Inca Trail Chaquicocha to Winaywayna – Inca Flats Our reward from yesterday’s slog on the Inca Trail is a somewhat more leisurely scenic six hour day on what is called Inca Flats. In reality the “Inca Flats” means up, down, up down, and then there is a long slow drop of 1,200, Read More
Inca Trail – Day 1 Km 82 (2720m) – Ayapata (3300m) The big day has finally arrived. We are actually going to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. There has been little preparation apart from alcohol and coffee abstination, but we are feeling confident. We wake at 3.30am on the morning of the, Read More
After days spent trawling the internet for a suitable cruise ship to travel in the Galapagos, I settled on Athala II at Haugen Cruises. (update 2018 I see it has been renamed Exploration) It met many of my pre-ordained criteria for a cruise and we did have a fantastic time traveling and exploring the, Read More
One of the reasons people go to the Galapagos Islands is the animals never experienced humans as predators. This means you can get up close and personal with them without them being afraid of you. Never in a million years did I think I would get to the Galapagos Islands. Hell I hardly even knew exactly, Read More
“Dear Guests – Prepare for a Wet landing” – What the Heck? I thought this was a luxury cruise? Of course a wet landing just means you get your feet wet…no big deal, but it sounded so funny over the loud speaker on our boat. For our first trip to the Galapagos Islands we chose, Read More
Every day we were surrounded by special scenes of mating, courtship, territorial disputes, birth and death and every other extreme of wildlife up close and personal. It’s so hard to choose a defining image or moment from our week long cruise in the Galapagos Islands…what would you choose?
The Galapagos Islands are home to so many unique and fascinating wildlife species, it’s hard to choose a favourite. But it was the mysterious and comical Galapagos Blue Footed Booby that really caught our eye. Not just because of their striking bright blue feet but their comical mating antics, clumsy movements which are in total contrast their precision, Read More