Travel and culture
"Now here you go again You say you want your freedom. Well who am I to keep you down? It's only right that you should Play the way you feel it. But listen carefully to the sound Of your loneliness like a heartbeat Drives you mad. In the stillness of remembering what you had, And… Continue reading “Cycling from where to where?!” – A Prelude
Almost a year ago I was in the department of Choco on Colombia's Pacific Coast, which feels like a different country altogether - here, latinos are almost as foreign as white folk. The locals are a mix of indigenous and afro Colombians, who escaped slavery at the hands of the Spaniards and fled to the… Continue reading El Choco, Colombia
Do you exist if you don't have Facebook? Is a place really there if you can't access the internet there? Colombia's Pacific coast, specifically the department (equivalent of an Australian state) of Choco, is like another country. Almost completely inaccessible from the rest of Colombia by land, except via the narco-trafficking port of Buenaventura, it… Continue reading …and if you can’t go online?
"Camila! Quinten! What are you drinking?" asks Señor Salazar. "Something with rum?" I reply, and before his daughter can order he's off the beach, over the road and into the resort he and his wife have been terrorising for a couple of days now. Having an absolute ball, it seems. At the slightly quieter posada… Continue reading Not Exploring San Andres
Since air travel has become a thing, travellers can find all kinds of weird and wonderful ways to culture shock themselves. A flight between the Middle Eastern hubs of Istanbul and Tel Aviv once took me via the icy Latvian capital of Riga. A few hours on a plane can take you someplace where things… Continue reading On Leaving
Originally published in The City Paper Bogota on June 18, 2013 as "Tequendama: Forgotten Falls". Find the original story here. The trip to Tequendama Falls does not smell nice. You’ll start on the Transmilenio, which houses a diverse mix of body odour and strong perfume at the best of times, and riding down the G… Continue reading The Worst Smelling Waterfall in the World
Originally published in the May 2013 edition of the Bogota City Paper. It took me a moment to realise I was being mugged. He was friendly at first and I didn’t notice when the tone changed and the knife appeared at my throat. I handed over my cash and he seemed pleased: “This is a… Continue reading “Take Your Parents Where?”
It should be noted that Colombia isn't exactly the easiest country to travel. It's not the hardest, but that conveniently timed bus still means ten hours of twisting and rolling around in your seat as the bus driver throws himself down and back up Colombia's three ranges of Andes. If you're lucky, you'll get vallenato… Continue reading Pitstops
This article and photos was first published in the December 2012 issue of Phoebella Magazine as 'Life as an Exchange Student". We’ve just noticed them building Colombia’s biggest Christmas tree in Plaza Simon Bolivar when my housemate grabs my shoulder – “Firewood!” We’re walking home through the obnoxious, polluted rush that is central Bogota in the… Continue reading ‘Studying’ in Bogota
"Yeah, I want to go to El Cocuy" "Oh cool! I've never been, but you have to take a guide, it's very dangerous!" "Na, it'll be right" "No you really have to! Last year a group of tourists went without a guide and got lost. They weren't seen for a month, and one of them… Continue reading A Lesson in Humility in El Cocuy