Back in Colombia
So, we've made it back to Colombia - in fact we've been back here for over a fortnight. It all started with a mammoth bus day from Otavalo in Ecuador, up to Ipiales where we crossed the border, followed by the worst bus journey so far, up to Popayan. It's hard to...
A Hard Life
I remember reading once that in order to maintain reader interest, a blog should be updated at least 3 times a week. Well, you may have noticed that I'm not quite there! Since moving the blog from Vox to jontyjago.com I've wanted to write much more, but the simple...
Close One?
Was watching the local news yesterday and was a little bit freaked out to see a brief item about a bus crash having killed 4 people here in Ecuador. Nothing particularly unusual about that, but what caught our attention was that the bus had come from the Peruvian...
Best Laid Plans
There are times when it simply just doesn't work out. We got to Ecuador last Thursday and found a nice relaxing hostel in the historic centre. Friday we just mooched around, Saturday we took a trip up to the Cajas National Park which was beautiful - it contains...
Middle Earth
So, after a few puzzled frowns and huffing and puffing, Laura got stamped into Ecuador for the next 90 days which was a relief as the Peru-Ecuador border was not the nicest place I've ever been and I really didn't fancy getting stuck there. In fact, in general terms,...
A Wonderful Bird
A wonderful bird is the pelican, His bill can hold more than his belican, He can take in his beak, Food enough for a week, But I’m damned if I see how the helican. Dixon Lanier Merritt After the big city bustle of Lima we jumped onto a nice big comfortable bus and...
Something Fishy
So, after a most wonderful lunch at a place called Punto Azul here in Miraflores, I have decided that I should try and eat Ceviche every day between now and the day I leave Peru. I'd heard of it before coming here but never eaten it, when I was in Cusco last year I...
Riding Shotgun
After all this time in South America it's easy to become a little complacent in your expectations and you take a lot things in your stride. For example yesterday I saw a man crouched next to to a very wide and busy road having a poo in broad daylight. Didn't bat an...
A Capital Time
Talk about contrasts. Last week we'd just got off the boat from Hell and now we're spending our days strolling along seaside clifftops past penthouse apartment blocks, watching the surfers below. This is Lima. The centre is old and attractive and most definitely South...
Rollin’! Rollin’! Rollin’ Down the River!
At 2am last Tuesday morning, the good ship Henry 3 arrived finally at the port of Pucallpa more than 100 hours after leaving Iquitos. This was not the happy moment I was expecting. It had taken nearly 4 days for me to be truly sick of the boat, the river, the food, my...
Travelling Without Moving
I haven't had chance to look at this properly, but it looks wonderful - Google have teamed up with Russian Railways to allow you to travel the Trans-Siberian railway. When I have my proper computer back I'll take a more detailed look, so let me know what you think of...
Amazon
We've spent nearly 3 weeks all told in the Amazon region, half in Colombia and half in Peru. I have lots of notes and photos that will one day find themselves onto the blog, but at the moment by and large I'm limited to public internet access or my iPod when there is...