Around 200 kilometers south of Salta is a valley called Cafayate which is known for its good conditions for growing wine, having around 240 sunny days a year. I had booked a 12 hour day trip that would take me there starting with an early hotel pickup at our hotel in Salta around 7 o’clock....Read More
San Pedro de Atacama is a small town in Northern Chile with both Bolivia and Argentina being accessible within a few hours drive through the driest desert in the World. Everything of a tourists interest such as restaurants, travel agencies souvenier shops and kiosks are located in the small main street, and the tinyness of...Read More
On the last day of the desert crossing we were up at 6 in the morning, frozen as a stick and just wanting to get into the car with maximum heating on. It was going to be a long day with lots of driving, but that was something we did not mind at all as...Read More
The ones who wanted to get up to see the sunrise over the Salt Flats did so, while the rest of us just got up for breakfast around half an hour before leaving the hotel at eight. We knew we had lots of driving and lots of sights on our programme and even though it...Read More
Having spent the night in Uyuni, a small town with just 20 000 people and overpriced souveniers, we were ready to leave around noon to start our three day desert crossing with four wheel drive cars that would take us to Chile. Just after ten minutes of driving we had our first stop, which was...Read More
Potosi is the worlds highest city with its 4090 meters and was once one of the biggest and wealthiest city in all of the Americas because of the mines of Cerro Rico (“Rich Mountain”) that brough out more than 60 000 tonnes of silver. The mines have also claimed more than 8 million lives, and...Read More
Even though La Paz has taken over as the administrative capital of Bolivia, Sucre is still being the constitutional capital, with the historical reason being that it was located close to the wealth and silver mines in Potosi which will be our next stop on this journey. “La Ciudad Blanca” or the white city probably...Read More
Months ago, around the same time we booked our around the world tickets, we also booked a day tour activity called the “Death Road”. An old trade route where hundreds of trucks had fallen down the steep cliffs that followed the narrow road that today is mainly used for cyclists. This day trip had been...Read More
Flying into La Paz in the morning was incredible, where we could see the shantytowns laying around the airport in El Alto at 4000 meters, while the nicest houses were located down in the valley where it was almost a thousand meters lower, and therefore a lot warmer. These were things that were well explained...Read More
At 03.50 we heard a car honking repeatedly outside our hostel door, and just a few minutes later we were in a van together with a handful of other people heading for “Ollantanboo” where we would catch the train up to Machu Picchu, the lost Inca City that has become the biggest tourist attraction in...Read More
We have found Cuzco to be a quite fascinating city, being the most genuine (with well preserved colonial architecture as evidence of a rich and complex history) and at the same time most touristy place we have visited so far in South America (where everyone and everything in the city center are there because of...Read More
Mitad del Mundo is a monument marking where the Equator crosses through Equador. It is a must see for anyone who visits Quito, and lots of tour operators will try to sell you guided day trips there, but these tours are less flexible and usually much more expensive than doing it on your own. The...Read More
6.45 a white pickup with bikes on the back was waiting for us outside our hostel. Inside was our guide and an 67 year old lady from England who were going with us up to the Cotopaxi Volcano, which has the second highest summit in Equador at 5897 meters above sea level. On the way...Read More
When getting into Quito in the morning were determined to just get the sightseeing of the old city over with, both to having explored the neighbourhood where we were living and to see the things that the city was famous for. The highlight of our totally random walking city tour, with no goals or directions...Read More
Bogotá, like every other cirty in Colombia has street numbers instead of street names. A system that is not always working too well for us and the taxi drivers, so when going from the airport to our hostel we gave my cell phone to the taxi driver to help him find the way with my...Read More
After having my cellphone stolen by a taxi driver in Bogotá (see post) I was given a lesson about an expression used in Colombia that explains how many locals percieves steeling or as they see it, letting others steel your stuff. The expression they use about such situations is “a papaya dada, papaya partida” which...Read More
Taganga is a place with a bad reputation for drugs, prostitutes and frequent muggings. For us it was only the gateway to get from Tayrona over to Santa Marta, the city we would fly from a few days after. Since we had already been to Santa Marta we decided to give it a chance and...Read More
El Cabo San Juan has definately become one of my top ten favorite places in the world, and it is totally without having any kind of “wow” factor. There are not much to see, not much to do, but that is also what makes it so great. The places with the nicest beaches, best night...Read More
Tyrona has been one of the nicest places I have visited in my life. Although being totally fine for the five days spent here, there are a couple of things I wish I would have known before going in to make the stay even better. To start with, there were some false rhumors that I...Read More
El Rodadero is a harbour city located just an hour away from Santa Marta, known for it’s beaches. Since we were based in Santa Marta for four nights, which was not the most interesting place to stay, we decided to do a day trip to El Rodadero to see how the beaches there were like....Read More
