Famous for its healing properties, ‘purging’, psychedelic visions and mental revelations, I headed back into the jungle near Iquitos to explore the notorious ayahuasca ‘medicine’. Although I had no particular ailment to cure, my interest had been sparked by hearing of the positive life altering experiences of others. A reputed retreat centre was chosen rather than try a random…
Unsatisfied with the shortness of my trip (!!) on the 30th August I decided to head North and fly out of Lima in completely the wrong direction. The Amazon jungle is a significant part of the South American continent so I had felt uncomfortable about the idea of skipping it. The seed had been sown when passing the turn…
Huaraz is a great place to rest and restock. However it has a problem. It is right by the monumentally distracting Cordilleras Blanca and Huayhuash. A short planned stay of a few days can easily turn into a few weeks. Throw in an inconvenient bout of suspected pneumonia (self-diagnosed) and of course the standard tedious upset tummy and suddenly…
Possibly one of my best hikes ever. With some reasonable navigation skills and experience, the opportunities for deviating from the main routes and exploring Huayhuash’s mind blowing landscapes is very extensive. Here is The Third Circuit…
Climbing Pisco mountain (5752m) is fairly straightforward but also a great warm up for other more challenging peaks in the Cordillera Blanca (popular ones over 6000metres include Chopicalci and Tocllaraju). Here are some photos of the trip which I did with Chris in June 2016 (who I met at the fabulous Llanganuco Mountain Lodge). NOTES on climbing Pisco:…
It can be complicated to go after what we truly want so it was impressive to meet someone who has swum against the current for a consistently long period of time to fulfill their vision. Charlie Good of Llanganuco Mountain Lodge (introduced through the legendary mutual friend Steven Ruhl) gave up his safe career with…
Amazingly (or perhaps not, knowing me) I find myself on the closing end of my visa in Peru and the shoulder months of the rainy season. I smugly entered Peru right at the start of the dry season in May and it is now the 1st of October. I’m writing this only two-thirds of the way down…
After reading about Paulâs experience on his route between Cajamarca and Cajabamba (he and his friend were detained by mistrusting villagers for 18 hours in Santa Rosa) it was with some doubt that cycling the dirt road via Jesus was a good idea. However I had the good will of the âteniente’ in Cachachi and I could…
It’s hard to know what’s round the next corner on this journey so it was without much surprise that I found myself one evening dancing with a large number of strangers two feet smaller than me at a mother’s day town party in hot Perico (Northern Peru). With thirst and tiredness at a non-trivial level it was the last…
Diving in the Galapagos with the right operator is normally a safe experience. Five Fingers island off San Cristobal with its various swirling ocean currents and deep sea drop-offs is, however, somewhat hazardous and more suited to advanced diving. Some years back a couple of divers were taken to 65 metres by down currents for a…