South America

When we talk with people about our travelling lifestyle, the same questions seem to come up a lot. What’s your favorite place? Where haven’t you been? Where did you hate? Where did you guys meet? Another one that we get asked a lot is: “Have you ever been robbed?” The answer is yes. I know why people ask, it’s a …

There are more direct ways to get from Colombia to Panama than taking a five day sailing trip through the San Blas Islands… but I’m sure it’s the most enjoyable option. So, we set sail with three other couples to live the sailing life in the Caribbean. This sailing trip was an opportunity to disconnect from the world for a while. …

I’m splayed out, face first, belly down, strapped to a cable suspended high above the ground and surrounded by lush green forest. The guide strapped in behind me is counting “uno, dos…” and when he reaches “tres” he pushes off from the wooden platform. I gasp as we zoom through the air. My arms spread wide, my hair blowing everywhere, …

Somewhere deep in a thick green forest just outside of the small highland town of Juayúa in El Salvador there is a waterfall cascading down a rock face where locals dive, swim and play. During our stay in this quiet outpost we took a day to hike to these beautiful waterfalls, accompanied by three guides from our hostel – one …

When I entered Panama I had only three previous associations with the country in my head: The Van Halen song, the Panama Hat and the Panama Canal. Well, the song was stuck in my head every day, I saw plenty of people wearing hats and we got to see the Canal up close. However, we also discovered that this country …

I leaned against the smudged glass of the gondola car, peering out at the ramshackle houses strewn across the mountainside below us as we slowly glided upwards. Scruffy stray dogs trotted confidently across dirt roads and children played football in parks alongside buildings covered with elaborate graffiti scrawls. A couple on a motorbike weaved through the switchbacks up the steep slope. …

For many a good cup of coffee is more than just a drink, it’s a sacred morning ritual. The anticipation as you brew it, the aroma that fills the room. The slosh of the dark liquid into the cup and the radiant heat as you draw the mug toward your face. As you sip your first cup of coffee, your …

Now that you’ve enjoyed the delicious steak, live tango music and European vibe of Buenos Aires it’s time to move on to your next destination: Montevideo, Uruguay. These two cities are relatively close together geographically, so you would think that it would be simple to get between them. However, it’s not possible to simply drive from one to the other, …

Every country has its own unique blend of characteristics that add up in a different way, creating an overall experience that is like nowhere else on Earth. Chile is a great example, so here are five aspects of this country that really made me enjoy my time here. 1.      The Varied Landscapes Chile is a long and skinny country, shaped …

While we were in Quito, Ecuador we got a chance to visit the equator. In fact, we had enough time to visit both of them. Yes, both of them. The location of the original equator was pinpointed by Charles-Marie de La Condamie on an expedition in 1736. However, this was well before the invention of accurate GPS systems and he …

While we were in Ecuador, we didn’t go to the famously remote and biodiverse Galapagos Islands. It’s not that we didn’t want to, we probably would have loved it. We simply decided that the trip (including flights and wildlife tours) would cost us thousands of dollars and that was a little too much for our digital nomad lifestyle budget. So, …

Sao Paulo is the biggest city in Brazil and a number of walls, streets, and alleyways in this concrete jungle have been used as a canvas by urban artists. Amidst the trendy coffee shops, chic bars, and independent art galleries and studios there are amazing murals that are so much more than just a simple graffiti “tag” scrawled on a …

It was hard to see it at first – its mottled brown fur blended in with the wet rocks along the shore – but I squealed with excitement when I spotted it. It was a big, fat sea lion, lazily sprawled on the rocks only a few metres from the pier Lee and I were standing on. It rolled slowly …

Strapped in from head to toe in a wet suit, hip harness and countless carabiners, I was attached to a rope suspending me above a roaring waterfall in the rainforest just outside Baños, Ecuador. The Go Pro camera stuck to the helmet of our tour guide was focused on me and I could hear the faint noise of everyone cheering …

“Don’t look down. Don’t look down.” I pleaded with myself while gripping the metal rungs of the steep ladder-like staircase along the side of the Basilica del Voto Nacional in Quito, Ecuador. However, telling yourself not to look down has the same effect as telling yourself not to think about pink elephants. Naturally, it’s the first thing you do. So …

Piranha Fishing. Caiman spotting at night. Sleeping in a hammock in the jaguar-infested jungle. When I read about the activities available on our Amazon jungle tour in Brazil I started to feel a little nervous. Does my travel insurance cover getting eaten alive by Piranhas? Just how dangerous will this experience be? Along with a few nervous butterflies I was …

It’s hard to wrap your head around the sheer scale of the Amazon River – this humongous waterway makes most other rivers in the world look like a mere trickle. Last week, Lee and I travelled a total of 1,584 km between the Brazilian cities of Manaus and Belem on a river ferry – an epic journey that takes five …

If I could have a crush on a city, it would certainly be on this one. Poetic and beautiful, yet a little rough around the edges, Valparaiso has a complex past and many layers. The more I got to know it, the more I wanted to know. We returned there twice during our travels in Chile and stayed for almost …

The third-largest city in Brazil, Salvador was the first colonial capital of the country and, being founded by the Portuguese in 1549, is also one of the oldest colonised cities in the New World. At the heart of this antiquated city lies the Historic Centre, better known as Pelourinho, or just Pelô to the locals. The etymology of the name …