Of course, Kwame and I couldn't leave Villa DeLeyva without one more indulgence at thePasteleriaFrancesa. We even dragged our luggage in with us, recognizing we were going to have to carry it all the way to the bus station after. We didn't care. It was so worth it. Both in starch and sugar comas, it was an easy and straightforward one plus a second three hour bus ride to Sogamoso- a town north of Bogota that is in an area known as The Valley of the Sun in Boyacá. I wa

Villa De Leyva's beautiful town square I love Villa de Leyva. It is a gorgeous small town north east of Bogota, nestled in the desert-like mountains, with an old-world charm still reflected in the enormous main plaza and the streets still covered in huge cobblestones. It makes getting around by any other method other than strolling rather bumpy, so strolling is the preferred method. It is a chic destination, and many of Colombia's elite come here to eat, drink and spend mo

Day Trip with Colombian Bike Junkies I spent three more days in San Gil after my day hike to Guane with Kwame. Unfortunately, whatever had plagued me on day 3 of my hike to the Lost City also returned and my symptoms were very strange. Mostly I was exhausted, but I'd developed a fever one evening and almost fainted at a bus stop from dizziness and nausea.It wasn't until just over a week later, on my way to the Choco (Pacific Coast of Colombia) with Kwame that we both realiz

Me and Kwame, arriving in Barichara So it's been a few weeks since I last wrote. For which I apologize...I've been a bit distracted. You see, I met someone. And I've just spent the last 3 weeks traveling with him and spending the time with someone is not conducive to staying on top of one's travel blog! However, I find myself now sitting in my hostel in Bogota, only a few hours' away from leaving for the airport and my flight back home to the States (which I changed for t

Hiking in to Tayrona I last left you jumping off the bus on my return journey to Santa Marta after completing the Lost City jungle trek. I was tired, sweaty, hot, and without adequate cash or ID to get into Tayrona National Park. I was winging it, big time. Fortunately, I at least had my PADI Open Water ID card on me. I have no idea why. I managed to bs my way through the identification checkpoint with the police and the park entrance security and secured my seat on a sma

Hot and Sweaty in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Cartegena had prepared me somewhat for the temperatures and humidity of Santa Marta. But I was about to embark on a 4 day trek in the jungle where I would find a new brand of suffering from the heat, one that had bugs, mosquito repellant, sunscreen and sweat all mixed into one disgusting mass that would cascade off one's body in uncontrollable puddles. In addition, 4 days of gross would not end up being enough for me and I

The city wall I made a good decision by flying to Cartagena. It’s only a 45 minute flight that cost me $70 as opposed to a 13 hour bus ride that ends at a station nearly an hour’s cab ride outside the historic center. I didn’t make a good decision, however, when it came to where I chose to spend the night. I had followed the advice of my hostel owner in Medellin and booked an air-conditioned dorm at Mamallena’s for Wednesday and Thursday nights. I hadn’t known that 1 – It’s

Medellin - Modern and as colorful as it's unfortunate past I was pissed when I arrived in Medellin. The bus journey here from Manizales was supposed to take five hours and it took six and a half because we were stuck behind a town's Saturday night "procession", the bus driver insisted on keeping his front two windows rolled down completely nullifying any cooling effect the air conditioning might have brought those suffering in the back, a really cute guy sitting in the front

Hammock time at Hacienda Venezia I opted to fly across the border, this time from Quito to Cali. I had stayed the night in a motel close to the airport after flying back from The Galapagos and managed to get laundry done, bags re-packed, and, for the first time since June 4, I watched TV in English including my beloved BBC World News. Incidentally, at the airport, I ran into the group of four whom I'd met at The Secret Garden in Cotopaxi and was planning to climb Cotopaxi

Me snorkeling By far, my highlights of the Galapagos came from what I experienced and saw under the water. For the majority of the snorkel sites, there was not a great deal of color, per se, except for the fish themselves, this not being a coral reef based archipelago. However, there were two sites in particular where I got to see some pretty amazing underwater landscapes of life, and they left me longing to have my scuba tanks strapped to my back so that I could get a bett

Sea Lions frolicking on a beach My favorite experience was watching the mating dance of the Albatrosses on Espanola island. It was hysterical watching their clumsy walk, lateral head bob following by the clacking of their beaks together – their version of French kissing. It felt somewhat awkward being present to witness the birds’ at their version of foreplay, but that was one of the wonderfully unique things about the islands. A lack of natural predators has resulted in the

Beach on Floreana Island I just returned from a week long sailboat cruise around The Galapagos islands. I am going to start this post by stating something which will probably strike up some controversy. But I’ve never shied away from speaking the truth and I can’t write about my experience there without being supremely honest. Most people (as in 100% of all the people I’ve ever talked to who have been to the Galapagos, including everyone who was on my boat) wax superlative

Beautiful Cotopaxi While in Banos, I met a traveler who raved about a hostel that was situated within the Cotopaxi National Park. He said that it was in such a stunning setting, all meals included, and that I would be able to arrange my climb of the volcano from there. It sounded like a great recommendation, so after Saquisili, Lilian and I headed back to Latacunga to pick up our luggage and then immediately turned around and got the bus headed north to Machachi where I had a

Saquisili main square In Ecuador, markets are an extremely important part of the culture. We had been told that the market in Saquisili was the most authentic indigenous market in the country and it was held every Thursday. Upon arriving in the city, we were informed there were actually four markets in one- a textile market, a food market, and the large and small animals market. Finding the one hotel in town was easy enough and though a little shabby, at $15 for a comfy bed f

Lago Quilotoa - An extinct Volcano Lilian and I grabbed a bus heading to Quilotoa because we’d decided after much consideration to do the Quilotoa loop in the regular direction. A number of people in our hostel had elected to do the loop in reverse, arguing that the additional altitude would help them train for Cotopaxi. I personally didn’t think that an extra 600m of ascent would really make that big of a difference in my physical conditioning, and Lilian was quite happy to

Me and the stunning Lilian I was ready to leave Baños and take on my next adventure. Luckily for me, I ran into a lovely young Dutch woman called Lilian the night before I left, at her hostel. I’d gone there to meet up with four other travelers who’d agreed to go to eat together. None of them showed up, so Lilian and I chatted. She had had a rather rough day because her ATM card had been skimmed. I told her about my scary waterfall experience and a little bit about how tough

With Nick and Florian With one more day to spend in Baños before heading out to Lago Quilotoa, I decided to join Nick on a Canyoning tour of a local river. I’d rapelled lots of times recently in my climbing course, so I figured that it would be within my capabilities to do the same thing in the middle of a waterfall...?! As it turned out, it was a little bit more tricky than I had counted on. The first couple of waterfalls were easy, you could maintain your footing and just g

Beautiful Baños I last left you a bit depressed for me because I hadn't had much luck connecting with other travelers until I met 3 lovely young Americans in Casa Hood Restaurant in the adrenaline capital of Ecuador, Baños. Lucky for me, the 3 Americans were planning to do the same thing as I the following day and so we formed a happy team ready to take on the famous Baños to Puyo "Waterfall Route" on bicycles. I even added a solo traveling Kiwi guy called Nick the next morni

The day I arrived in Huaraz after 4 transfers I have been traveling the world solo for many years and to lots of different destinations. When asked, I'm the first person to sit up and spout the benefits of solo travel: you can go anywhere you want anytime you feel like it, you have complete freedom, you change your plans on a whim. But the greatest benefit of traveling alone that I willingly promote is that traveling alone hardly ever means that - you end up meeting a plet

Better weather on Day 6 By day six, the weather started co-operating with us and I awoke to brilliant sunshine. However, trouble was brewing as evidenced by the worried and perplexed looks on our guides' faces. "The donkeys are gone", were the first words said to me in response to my "Buenos Dias". "What do you mean they're gone? Where did they go? Or were they stolen? And what does that mean for our group?" (of course, this conversation happened in Spanish) Our group a