Latin America has no shortage of spectacular lakes. Lake Titicaca is, I believe, the most spectacular of all. Lago de Atitlan in the Guatemalan highlands is breathtaking.. The lakes of Patagonia will astound you with their colour and incredible backdrops. The list goes on. Lago Petén Itzá in the north of Guatemala is not as […]
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Here’s the second instalment of my brief Latin American food guide – this time L-Z. It has been a bit more challenging to come up with a food for every letter here and I allowed myself some liberty. I’ve enjoyed compiling the guide, I hope you enjoy reading. Lechón: It’s hard to beat roast pork, […]
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Wake up each day and there is that need to put something in your stomach. In three years travelling/living in the Americas I filled up on all of the below and much, much more. I probably ate on the streets too much and am sure that I picked up a range of unwanted gut flora. […]
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Chihuahua is Mexico’s largest state and currently, due to the ongoing drug wars, one of its most maligned. The state is also home to Mexico’s canyon country and while the Copper Canyon is the best known ,the region boasts many other fantastic, less-visited canyon experiences. Barranca de Urique (Urique Canyon) is the deepest of all […]
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An accidental adventure. Serendipitous and rewarding. However many times during the ascent, on the peak and the descent I would have given anything to be anywhere other than on that mongrel mountain in the southeast of Venezuela. Mount Roraima is a tepui, or table mountain, that rises to an imposing 2,810 metres above sea […]
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In late 2012 I found myself in a taxi in Mexico City with a fifty-something year old driver. Our conversation followed a familiar pattern. He asked me how long I had been in Mexico and which parts of the country I had visited. I told him of my travels and he replied that while that […]
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This is the first in a series of brief travel bites. I’ll aim to add one from every Latin American country I’ve visited. Isla de Ometepe rises majestically from Central America’s largest lake in Central America’s largest country-Nicaragua. Ometepe is reached by ferry which leaves port six kilometres from the township of Rivas. The voyage […]
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I love the small towns of Latin America and one of my favourites is Todos Santos Cuchumatán in the western highlands of Guatemala. The surrounding mountain scenery is spectacular, the air crisp and fresh and the culture of the Mam people is well preserved in town. Virtually all the native inhabitants of the village wear […]
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Wandering the streets of the small town of Rurrenabaque in Bolivia I spotted this scene. I grabbed my camera to capture the juxtaposition; woman and monkey, back to back. As the shutter clicked she sensed my presence and swiveled her head over her left shoulder. I got the second shot and a few nice minutes […]
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Chicken buses – the epithet comes from the possibility that you might be seated next to one – are the mainstay of travel in Central America. These old American Bluebird school buses, often repainted in the most garish of colours and adorning such adages as ‘Jesus Christ is the saviour’ and ‘Jehovah will show the […]
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LATIN AMERICA FOCUS 