Stories of Travel and Adventure

Crazy Beat Nights on the Panamericana -- also published on the Road Junky website. Moral of the story: it’s not the brightest idea to leave yourself two days to travel overland from southern Colombia to northern Peru. Departing from the Colombian city of Popayán, my hassles start at the border crossing to Ecuador, where the Ecuadorian customs officials decide I’m a potential Pablo Escobar.

How Not to Mug A Gringo in Guatemala -- also published on the Road Junky website. It was really the Cuban’s fault that I ended up at La Recife in the first place. If he hadn’t come by, I would have walked quietly home and woken up Saturday morning in the intense dry-season sunlight with a mild hangover.

Climbing Nevado Chachani (20,000 feet above sea level) -- based on a blog entry from June 2004. They say it's the 'world's easiest 6,000-metre peak'. Gasping for oxygen and scrambling along the edge of an icy ravine, I come to the conclusion that everything is relative.

Across the Andes to Andagua -- blog entries from December 2004. The trek from Cabanaconde in the Colca Canyon to Andagua in the Valley of the Volcanoes is an amazing trip across a jaw-dropping variety of geographical zones.

Day 1 >> Day 2 >> Day 3 >> Day 4 >>

The Curse of Cachiche -- published in the New Zealand Listener, November 2005. The strange story of the seven-headed palm tree of Cachiche, and the witch's curse that condemned a town.

Journey into the Amazon -- published in the Christchurch Press, November 2007. A journey on an overcrowded boat into the heart of the Peruvian Amazon proves to be a little more charming and pleasant than Aguirre, Wrath of God.