One of Columbia’s most popular national parks, Tayrona is on the jungle covered coast just east of Santa Marta. The park’s beaches, set in deep bays and shaded with coconut palms, are among the loveliest in Columbia. Hammocks were plentiful, and the nights were spent drinking rum and playing cards by candlelight.

Our beds for the week

The local tribal village children that have lived and grown up in the park. The tribe have been living in the national park for centuries and still dress as they did hundreds of years ago (apart from when I swore I saw one with an mp3 player)

We then went and stayed in the fishing village of Taganga.

Here’s the gang – Ben, Marie and Scotty, plus the lovely cleaner at our hostel in Taganga, Vickey.

A VERY luxurious night at a boutique resort along the coastline of the Sierra Nevada. We had our own gorgeous suite, with candles, incense, hammocks and the funkiest Zen hand muralled outdoor shower in The Whole Wide World.

We then headed off to Playa Blanca with our new mate, Ben, to sleep on the beach in hammocks on the white sand beach for our last few nights until we returned to the UK

The local musical talent were jamming next to us, guitars strumming along with bongos to Buena Vista Social Club.

Neil being ‘Wolverine’, his crazy bouffant had now started to imitate classic action heroes

This is where we slept on our first night, t’was a tad windy though

Our local corner shop

And this was our heavenly spot- great hammocks, the shade of the banyan tree and the loveliest family on the beach to look after our every whim. They’d even tried to offer up their only daughter to Ben for marriage, now that’s proper hospitality.

Cartagena

This is a fairytale city of romance. legends and sheer beauty. It’s a maze of cobbled alleys, where enormous balconies are shrouded in bougainvillea and massive churches cast their shadows over leafy plaza. It was founded in 1533, and swiftly blossomed into the main Spanish port on the Caribbean coastline and the gateway to the north of the continent. Treasure plundered from the indigenous people was stored here until the galleons were able to ship it back to Spain. A such, it became a tempting target for pirates, and, in the 16th century alone, it suffered five dreadful sieges, the best known of which was that led by Francis Drake in 1586.

In response to Pirate attacks, the Spaniards decided to make Cartagena  an impregnable port and constructed elaborate walls encircling the town, and a chain of forts. The project took two centuries to complete, due to repeated storm damage and pirate attacks. These fortifications helped save Cartagena from subsequent sieges and it became the key outpost of the Spanish empire and influenced much of Columbia’s history.

Here is our last night treat of luxury, a colonial boutique hotel complete with courtyard swimming pool. Coming from sandy hammocks, this was complete and utter heaven.

Bogota

We only stopped over for a night to catch our connecting flight home, but decided to stay in the historic suburb La Candelaria, a barrio of narrow lanes, trendy cafes and plenty of students and artists lingering about on the weekend. We had a lovely hostel with a wonderful old fireplace in our bedroom, which we lit immediately (it’s cold in Bogota, compared to the coast!)

Then it’s off to Madrid to connect onto Heathrow.. Neil didn’t sleep on the plane, choosing to finally drop off in the oh so comfortable McDonald’s in the departure hall. Good look, I think you’ll agree..

Home sweet home…

These are just the photo’s taken during the 5 hour train journey to Uyuni. The scenery was stunning during sunset, with the train tracks running through desert, lakes and mountains.

The world’s largest salt flat sits at a lofty 3653m (why is all the good stuff at altitiude?? – grrrr), and blankets an amazing 12,000sq km. It was part of a pre-historic salt lake, Lago Minchin, which covered  most of southwest Bolivia. When it dried up, it left a couple of seasonal puddles and several salt pans, the largest being the Salar de Uyuni.

Different times of year offer different experiences on the Salar: from April to September the salares are dry and blindingly white. In the rainy season, they’re under water, projecting a perfect mirror image of clouds, sky and land to the horizon. We had a mix of both, luckily.

This is the (now illegal) salt hotel. Everything, absolutley everything is made from the stuff. Its now a museum, but I think you can still sleep there.. at a price.

This is Isla  de los Pescadores, an island with amazing stands of wild cactus and a marooned colony of long tailed rodents called vizcachas, similar to chinchillas.

This is a coral reef, mad to think that it was under the sea all those years ago

I find it very amusing how, at the most random of places, you can find football pitches all across South America

This is the 4950m-high geyser basin, with it’s boiling mud pots and sulfurous fumaroles. This is VERY early in the morning, silly o’clock to be exact.

Termas de Polques were the hot springs (30 degrees centigrade) we visited as the sun came up. They spout mineral rich sulfurous water and provided a relaxing morning dip at 4200m

Using my sleeping bag as a towel to dry off. NIce.

This is the Laguna Colorada, a bright adobe-red lake fringed with cakey white minerals, 35km east of the Chilean border. Wildlife in the area includes 3 types of flamingoes, plus plenty of llamas

A small town in the middle of the Salar where we stopped for lunch

This is the Cementerio de Trenes ie ‘Train Cemetery’ , where rusty old locomotives from yesteryear have come to die. Train graveyard, hmmm..very random.

Uyuni Town

A strange place, an otherworldly and isolated community (elevation 3675m), which seems to exist only for the tourist hoards who venture out to see the salares. We were lucky enough to get friendly with the local ‘yoof’, who took us out for lunch at their favourite local restaurant. Afterwards, I took some snaps about the local market and then ran into a Bolivian protest march (as you do)

The Bowler Hat Brigade were out in full force

The “Airport”

So we decide to change our plans and head home via Columbia, instead of Argentina (all this altitude has made me miss the beach). The local airport is brilliiant, being entirely constructed from salt, even the check-in desk! Neil got a bit excited, in that nerdy bloke way, about the airplane and I have to admit his photos are a bit good.

Me playing check-in lady..now, have you packed any knives, flammable materials or SALT by any chance, sir?

We flew into Santa Cruz, the capital of Bolivia and stayed the night at a lovely little hotel which had two beautiful toucan birds that hung out in the gardens there.. here’s a random picture. They’re so beautiful, they don’t seem real as even close up they are just as stunning

Then we flew to The Columbian coastline (via Peru and several other destinations), and made it to the beach by the following night…

After descending for hours we arrived at the resort.  La Sende Verde is on the edge of the rainforest and is a resort combined with an animal rescue centre.  It takes on animals that have either been donated or recovered from agencies in La Paz or all over Bolivia.  As a result all the animals live together they all seem to live in relative harmony.  The monkeys with the cats, raccoons, dogs, parrots, snakes, etc..  It’s like Dr Doolittle’s farm over there.  We decided after staying a couple of nights that we’d like to volunteer there for a week.  The work was not really work.  It only really involved feeding animals a couple of times a day and the rest of the time was spent bonding and playing with the monkeys.  A hard life eh!!

Anyway – some introductions;

The Three Jimmy’s

The ‘three Jimmy’s’ are three brothers.  They are squirrel monkeys or sometimes called ‘skull monkeys’.  They are very small, VERY fast and a lot of fun.  Despite their small size they pretty much rule the place and are the only animals that don’t actually get fed a meal as they are so naughty they steal food off plate in a shot.  As there’s three of them they will distract you while one of the other brothers will make a raid on the table.  They even have honour amongst thieves, the plundered food is shared between the three of them, but the one who actually does the deed keeps a slightly larger amount.  They were a lot of fun. 

Sambito & Wyrra

Sambito and Wyra are spider monkeys.  It’s pretty obvious why with their long dark hair, quiffs, and long gangly arms and legs.  They were quite young and very affectionate. Wyrra thought she still was a baby and spent most of her time under Lisa’s tee shirt.  She had been pampered all her life and was a little spoiled.  Sambito on the other hand was more like a petulant child.  He was either wanted hugs, or to play, or he was very upset with the world.  His mood could change in a second and he was very easy to wind up.  He was also incredibility naughty and would sometimes climb on me just to have a pee then clamber off again and run off when I realised what he was doing.. the little bastard.  We had great fun with ‘Sambo’ watching him playing, sulking, mock fighting with puppies or whatever.

Sambito

Sambo again..

Wyra on Lisa’s head.

Sambo again

Wyrra in her usual position..

Lisa (getting very broody)

Me with Sambo.  Sambo loved when I wore my black jacket.  I think he thought I look more like him and loved to climb around inside.  All good fun until he pissed on me again.. the little @$#%bag

The Capuchins

The majority of the monkeys at the park were Capuchins.  They are the brightest of all the monkeys and are very affectionate and cute.  Kimbo (below) was a new addition the centre when we were there.  He was only about 2 months old so needed lots of attention and care.  Lisa was more than happy to look after him.  Even though he was so small he still had loads of character.  We thought he looked more like Eddie Munster so we called him ‘Eddie’ while we were there.

Kimbo (AKA “Eddie” AKA “Fluffball”)

Kimbo with Robyn.  Robyn was responsible for all the animals in the centre.

This is Teresa.  She was probably the brightest monkey at the sanctuary.  She would go through pockets instantly when she got near someone.  We often found our stuff in her house, along with some money that she’d taken and shredded from someone.  It’s no wonder these monkeys are trained to be pickpockets.  The capuchins needed to be kept on long lead in their enclosure.  After too many unfortunate incidents in the kitchen and breakages they needed to be tied up.   They were in a group and were able to play together and had daily walks in the jungle where they were allowed to play freely so they had very happy lives.

This little fellah below is Martin.  He was donated to the sanctuary by an old lady who lived in La Paz.  He had been spoiled rotten all his life and he even came with a box of clothes to wear!  He had the nicest temperament and was extremely friendly and affectionate.  He would look deeply into your eyes and hold your face still while he spoke to you.  He would rabbit on for ages if you spoke back to him.  He was our favourite monkey and Lisa would often steal him and take him to bed with her.  Pretty sick if you asked me but what do I know..

Teresa being instantly maternal and looking after the new arrival Kimbo.

Lisa getting amorous with Kimbo.  The small one near her legs is Lily.

Lisa and Martin.. can you see the theme developing here..

Chica

Chica is a howler monkey.  It’s quite rare to see them in captivity as they are very fragile.  If they are attacked they go into shock and more often than not die.  A week before we arrived the Ocelot (wild cat) escaped and killed one.  Very sad.   However Chica was more than happy.  She had a temperament more of a cat than a monkey.  She would often sleep up in the canvas netting with the 3 Jimmy’s and only descend to steal food from the guests. 

Chica trying on Lisa’s hat, upside down.

Me on one of the parrot / Macaw feeding stations.

A rare shot of Lisa hard at work chopping up food for the monkeys.  Most of the food would be stolen before it was handed out for the monkeys.

This racoon type animal was called Kantuta.  She was strangely very affectionate and would sleep with the three Jimmy’s.  She was very tame and the last animal you would expect would love cuddles and being stroked.

The cat below was some sort of mountain cat.  She was maybe an Ocelot but noone was quite sure.  She was going to be re-introduced to the wild soon so was segregated from the other animals.  She was not tame at all and killed one of the howler monkeys the week before.   She was beautiful though. 

This is Charlie, he got hardly any attention (bless) with all those monkeys about. He’s play fight for hours with Sambo, the spider monkey.

The duck below we called ‘Dogduck’.  It had grown up around dogs and was not aware it was a duck.   As a result when you said hello it would shake it’s tail and pant like a dog.

A couple of the boa constrictors bathing in the pool.  We had to take them out after we took this shot as we had seen eagles circling above.  That would have been a hard one to explain to the owners of the park

The coach journey to the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca was full of the most amazing scenery, I took these photos from the bus, so sorry they’re a bit rubbish. But I really wanted to capture the scenery. It’s not even about the lake, but it was the first time in weeks we’d seen beautiful green fields at such altitude (3800m). The local people have learnt how to use the shores of the lake to grow the hardiest of crop and to feed their animals.

We based ourselves at the small village of Copacabana at the southern shores of the lake. It’s nestled between two hills and for centuries it was the site of religious pilgrimages, nowadays its a very laid back bohemian town, with arty cafe’s and late night smoky jazz bars. We stayed in a beautiful hostel called La Cupula, with hammocks overlooking the lake and gorgeous views across the village.

Copacabana

Isla Del Sol

The Island of the Sun is the legendary Inca creation site and is the birthplace of the sun in Inca mythology. With a population of around 5000, Isla del Sol is dotted with several villages. Yumani, where we stayed, being the largest. There isn’t much to do here, which is the beauty of the place. There are no roads, and donkey is the main form of transportation..it literally is like stepping back in time whilst you are on this little Corsican-style island. Networks of walking tracks make exploration easy, however the extreme sunshine and high altitude really take their toll, making a humble hike an arduous climb. Trick is to go slowly..very slowly.

I wasn’t very happy here. My mozzy bites from the jungle had been big enough to rape a small chicken. So we looked for anti-histamines on the island, being directed to the pharmacy. Or so we thought. We found ourselves at a large white hut, the medic-centre, being injected in the arse by the local nurse with a vitamin B complex to stop the itching. Not really what we had in mind when we started out out morning hike. It worked though, I have to say.

This is South America’s largest lake, also the world’s largest navigable lake. Altitude is at 3820m and its more than 230km long and 97km wide. It straddles both Peru and Bolivia. The air is magically clear here, as dazzling high altitude sunlight reflects the highland antiplano on the deep waters. Horizons stretch until almost limitless.

We decided to visit the amazing sounding Islas Flotantes (yep, that’ll be the Floating Islands then). The Uros people have lived on these islands for centuries, escaping the persecution of the Spanish Invasion by literally floating away onto the great expanse that is Lake Titicaca. The islands are built using layers of the buoyant totora reeds that grow abundantly in the shallows of Lake Titicaca. The Uros people began their existence centuries ago in an effort to isolate themselves from the aggressive Collas and Incas. They use the reeds to make their homes, boats and the crafts that they constantly churn out for tourists. The islands reeds are constantly replenished from the top as they rot away, so the ground is always soft and springy..like walking on a giant island-shaped mattress, really.

The drive to the lake was stunning, the sky was ethereal and the shoreline was green and lush with kids playing football, cattle grazing and old women having a good gossip as they washed their laundry.

Some very random kid’s boats, moored to the side of the lake. They looked really eery against the melancholic background of the lake.

Neil tries chewing on the fibrous reed, that is also part of their staple diet on the islands

This is the local phone booth. Honest.  

I have heard countless tales of inflated ankles and swollen kneecaps.  However, I didn’t get out of it that easily, in fact we actually ended up doing an even longer trek. The Inca Jungle Trek, is a 4 day Jungle Trail that starts off with a dizzying mountain-bike ride from the Abra de Malaga pass (4319m)  down to Santa Maria, a 7 hour bike ride.

Our good-for-nothing piece of c*@p tour company obviously searched out the most ill-equipped, dangerous, ancient mountain bikes they could find for this leg of the journey. Penny farthings would have been just as efficient, and probably comfier. Oh, and they also neglected to tell us that they are the only tour company that drive that high up to allow you to cycle from the very top. That’s all very good, and it was stunningly beautiful, but cycling through clouds, with snow capped mountains next to you in no more than your swimming trunks (Neil couldn’t actually speak for hours later) was not in the brochure.

Two hours of cycling downhill and then the heavens opened, and sheets of rain tipped down so we all took refuge in a small farmyard kitchen. As we were all completely soaked through (our tour company had suggested we bring a poncho, not unlike those ones you might wear at Disney Land – brilliant), I dried my socks by the fire. Except I didn’t and I actually burnt one of them.. so badly that there was now a big hole where my toes should’ve snuggly been. Yes, this was  turning into my idea of hell. We cycled for 3 hours in the rain until we reached our hostel in Santa Maria.

The next morning, we started out trekking at 7am. We walked through Amazonian jungle to Santa Teresa, and then started what will be the most physically challenging day of my life (apart from childbirth, I guess). Why the Inca’s didn’t just follow the river, I don’t know..instead we climbed and descended about 25 km’s of Inca staircase over and above the jungle mountains, starting at1400 metres and ascending about 3,500 metres. The only thing that kept me going was the lure of my next Twix bar, which I would reward myself with every 3 hours. Inca messengers would run this route in 3 hours, minus confectionary. That’s coca leaves for you, I say. Also, being born at altitude has got it’s advantages, our weedy little blood cells can’t quite match up. We finally made it to Aguas Calientes (the natural hot springs were so comforting after the 7 hour trek) and jumped straight in. The next day was an easier day of trekking, and involved walking along boulders and rocks amongst the river and then following the disused train tracks for several hours, until we reached the nearest local town to Machu Pichu where we collapsed, exhausted onto a comfy bed and the world’s most deserved hot shower.

The first day of the trek, starting at 4,319 metres .. we had no idea and frantically put on every article of clothing we had with us  as it was soooo cold. Yes, those are clouds I’m surrounded by.

My very own cycling fashion statement – yes, I can show you how to also look this good at altitude on a crusty old mountain bike

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Our first night at the hostel  in the small jungle village of Santa Maria, with our guide and Rambo the dog

This beautiful little pooch slept outside our bedroom door all night, and then followed us on at the start of the trek the next morning.

This is the village of Santa Maria, which got totally swept away during the floods of El Nino a few years back. It’s really creepy, a complete ghost town

The view as we start trekking along and up the river

Exhausted, we finally reach the half way point up the mountain (the mountain on the right side of the above picture). Hammocks, cold drinks and Twix bars are all gratefully accepted

Pineapples grew wild, as did mangoes and bananas. Coca leaves being dried  for tea and chewing

A whole field of coca leaves. Me already looking exhausted, probably about 18 minutes in..

So a brief rundown on Machu Pichu.  The Incan Citadel was founded around 1438 to house priests, astronomers and students (this is just one theory, another being that it was actually a city made for the nobility). Machu Pichu was only inhabited for only 100 years, until the entire population abandoned the city, possibly to escape a plague of yellow fever or possibly they had had word of the inevitable onslaught of The Conquistadors that were invading Cusco. No-one really knows, which adds to the mystery of it all.  The Spanish never found Machu Pichu and it was Hiram Bingham, an American explorer, that rediscovered Machu Pichu in 1912. He loaned the gold excavated from the citadel to Yale, where it remained ever since. This past September, Yale finally agreed to return the treasures to Peru.

Today, llamas roam free among the abandoned grassy terraces and perfectly cut stonetemples set at the top of a colossal hill. A tablleau of tourists in the distance makes the bright green squares and stone walls even more awesome. The finest of all the constructions is the Temple of the Sun, a rounded tower with several windows that encircles a natural rock formation at the edge of a cliff. Each June 21, the sun passes through one of the tower’s windows and is perfectly bisected by the sharp edge of the sacred rock. Incas were magnificent architects who seamlessly integrated their stone cities into the mammoth  granite mountains that surrounded them.

Then followed a 3 hour walk down the disused railway tracks

Rewarded at the end, with hot springs

When we finally arrived at Machu Pichu, about 7am

We then climbed for one and a half hours up the neighbouring mountain, Waynapichu

We booked ourselves onto a flight on a small Cessna plane which is the only way to see the lines.  The antiplano has a lot of heat so the flight was bumpy!  I was loving it and Lisa was.. well…. not loving it.

We shared our plane with a german couple who sat in the middle.  As I was the largest I sat upfront with the pilot.  As Lisa was the smallest she was relagated to balast status and stuck in the back.  This is the only picture I dared take of the interior of the plane as about one minute into the flight Lisa became extremely motion sick.  The flight lasted for about 35 minutes.  This was about 34 minutes of nausea for Lisa and she didn’t recover for about 2 hours after landing.

Lisa suffering from post traumatic stress after the flight. This was taken after myself and the small team of nurses had calmed her down.

Theres not a whole lot I can say about these pictures.  I got quite snap happy at the time and I have a lot of pictures but they don’t look that great unless seen from the sky.  Anyway here are some of the better ones.

The Spaceman (very strange!)

This picture gives some idea of the scale of the lines.  I think this culture had far too much time on their hands.

The Hummingbird

Erm.. I can’t remember what this was supposed to be.  Answers on a postcard please.

The town is dwarfed on three sides by massive sand dunes.  The actual lagoon in the oasis is not very inviting and quite smelly.   There are still a few pedalos that you can hire out and paddle around if you feel the need.  We didn’t and instead holed up in a lovely hotel for a few days.

Neither Lisa or I had been in a desert before.  We were both pretty excited.  The only real tourist activity in Huacachina is Sandboarding (like snowboarding but on sand.. duh) or hooning around in sand buggies like below.  These buggies have the added benefit of removing the hiking up massive sand dunes on foot.  The desert is blisteringly hot during the day.  You can’t even really walk on the sand barefoot which is why we choose to go out in our buggy around dusk when the heat is more bearable.

There was some great light around dusk so Lisa was playing around with her new SLR camera.  We are pretty pleased with the results and look forward to blowing some of these up into posters when we get back home.

More pictures of the beautiful desert.  It was like being in a film.

I was the only one in our group stupid or brave enough to try sandboarding.  It’s a little like snowboarding and the books will tell you it’s more safe.  I can tell you that the books all lie.  It’s a lot harder than it looks and you stop dead when you fall on it.  We met many people with broken backs etc after doing this sport so after a few attempts with varying levels of success we decided to surf down on our belies instead (video to follow)  This was great fun and the worst injury you can expect is swallowing sand when you wipe out.

We spent a few days in Huacachina.  There were very few people and it was really nice to relax by the pool an catch up on things.  However it was blisteringly hot and we had to move on after having a bad experience with one of the local thugs.  I won’t elaborate on this point but if anyone is considering visiting Huacachina please take note of the below.

Do not stay at Casa de Arena.  It is owned by the local small town criminal.  He has several properties in the area most of which are illegal.  They have only not been knocked down as he bribes the local officials.  Casa de Arena is filthy and everyone we met who had stayed there had been savaged by bedbugs.  They also keep a baby capuchin monkey on a rope with no shade.  The monkey is clearly distressed and it’s very cruel.  The owner has has a whole suit of animal cruelty stories against his name (we were witness to some of the most extreme) but nothing is done.   Please avoid this place.  The following is quoted from the lonely planet book;

“Casa de Arena – A perennially popular place with an outdoor pool for all night parties, the staff here don’t seem to care though pretty women can expect lots of attention.”

PLEASE PLEASE unless you want to support animal cruelty, get food poisoning and be bitten by bedbugs avoid Casa de Arena.  We also met some other travellers who had woken up to the staff in their rooms trying to steal their money and valuables.  AVOID PLEASE!!  (Casa de Arena)

Guess where we are..

As you can see they’re stupidly big, technically the largest (spread over an area) in the world

This is the very top of the daddy of all the waterfalls – the semi-circular Garaganta del Diablo (Devil’s Throat). It’s the deafening, dampening part of the experience and you approach it via a train and then a series of walkways across the top of the waterfall.

We had decided that we’d had enough Argentinean steaks to last a while, so leapt over the border to Brazil to catch our plane to Rio for Carnivaaaaaaaaaaal

Ok, I cannot pretend that we are now not writing this blog in a bit of a hurry, with the vague attempt at making sure we do not find ourselves trying to publish our last leg of our journey in South American in Barons Court, Fulham. So if you’re starting to notice that, well.. there’s not really anywhere near enough quality words to match pictures, then you’re bang on the money. Apologies, but don’t they say that a picture paints a thousand words.. well, let’s hope it does for the sake of this blog anyway

Peru, after Rio was where we started to notice the ‘real’ South America.. as we’d imagined it. Cheap, being the first important difference for us as our budget was exhausted in Uruguay and Brazil. We knew what we were here to see, mainly the altitude defying city of Cuzco, the lost Inca city remains of Machu Pichu, and the mysterious ancient Nazca Lines.

Cuzco

This is a beautiful city (once you’ve stopped cursing the altitiude it’s at). It was the heart of the once-mighty Inca empire, and is (I think) around 3,800 meters above sea level. Climbing the cobbled colonial streets, whilst pausing for breath and finding yourself face to face (I’m fairly short) with a hairy big llama with bright pink earings  and a silly stare… you begin to really like the place. A definite backpackers party town, but without the tack. At this stage in our journey, we had to yet to really meet any other backpackers.. and we had a lot of fun partying at the very messy Loki hostel. In a vain attempt to be a bit more cultural, we took spanish classes and I then realised just how much I despise Neil for being the one in this outfit that can actually get his point across, whilst I flap my arms about and talk the oddest Spanglish, mixed with french and italian. I have now realised, however, that I am bloody good at charades thank you very much.

Here’s some piccies..

The view from our hostel..it sent even the fittest person into a cardiac arrest trying to climb the hill to the entrance. So we took a taxi, obviously.

She wasn’t having such a great day (not helped by the enthusiastic gringo taking photos of her, I guess)

And, yes, they are indeed carrying a baby llama.. not sure if they’re trying to copy the Paris Hilton look or not here. Someone needs to have a word, methinks.

The central Plaza

Typical Peruvian (also very similar to Bolivian) traditional costume for women. The cloth on their back carries everything.. and I mean absolutely EVERYTHING. Babies, souvenirs to sell, even on packed buses I saw one women pull out a stinky half dead piece of unidentifiable meat, and start hacking away at it to sell to locals as their lunch on a very, very long bus journey. I can still remember the smell to this day, in fact.

Nuns having a stroll on the way to the casino (maybe, you never know)

These kids had made pretend guns out of thrown away polystyrene and were in the middle of a shoot out down an alley. Even if you don’t buy them guns, boys always find a way..

The chilled out cafe’s in San Blas, perfect for catching your breath after climbing the cobbled streets. The light was very odd in Cusco, moody dark clouds with piercing bright high altitude sunlight