Tag: backpacking south america

Bogota to Cartagena

Ammon and Sasha contiune on: With Mom now in tow we wanted to make a nice impression. Unfortunately Bogota was not the place to do that. Of all the capitals we visited Bogota was our least favourite. It is a huge city (one of the most populous in […]

Into Ecuador

Come to Ecuador with Ammon and Sasha: From Chachapoyas the closest border crossing into Ecuador is the one at La Balsa, the least visited of the 3 crossings between the 2 countries. It is so rarely used that until late last year there was no cross border transportation […]

Chachapoyas, Peru

The honeymoon continues with Ammon and Sasha : Having others come and join us is an awesome experience but one of the differences and difficulties associated with that is a lack of flexibility in the schedule. They have flights to catch and routes and timing generally need to […]

Trujillo and Cajamarca, Peru

More adventure and ruins with Ammon and Sasha: For Ricardo’s last remaining days we took yet another long and windy bus ride back down to the coastal city of Trujillo, Peru’s third largest. It has an attractive and well restored historic core in its own right, one again […]

Caral-Supe, Chavin and Huascaran, Peru

Hike along with Ammon and Sasha: Our journey out of Lima only took us 4 hours north to a little-known city called Barranca where we stayed the night. The following morning we bumped our way up a nearby valley in an old minivan to the little village of […]

Nazca, Ica and Paracas, Peru

We left Cusco on a night bus to Nazca. 15 hours of the windiest road I think I’ve ever been on. As our bad luck would have it we were sitting in the very front, maximizing the swing through each turn which seemed to occur at 10 second […]

Cusco, Peru

Continuing through Peru with Ammon and Sasha: Returning to Cusco we opted to rent a nice little airbnb apartment rather than risk another bad hotel. It was a nice choice for us and enabled us to cook our own food and hide away from most of the hassle. […]

Machu Picchu

Ammon and Sasha continue: For me Machu Picchu (MP) was the last of the new 7 wonders to visit. For many it is a mystical and magical place and the purpose and highlight of a visit to South America. Yes, we were looking forward to finally seeing it, […]

The Sacred Valley

Visit Peru with Ammon and Sasha: From the Colca Canyon we backtracked to Arequipa and then took a long bus to Cusco where we stayed a night. It was our worst hostel/hotel of the entire trip and based on the reviews of many of the cheaper places to […]

Arequipa and the Colca Canyon, Peru

Come join Ammon, Sasha. Bree and Dylan as the journey continues: We arrived in Arequipa after a beautiful but delayed bus ride from Puno, too late to do anything but sleep and await the arrival of Bre and Dylan the following day. Arriving straight from Vancouver and with […]

Lake Titicaca (Bolivia and Peru)

More fun with Ammon and Sasha in Bolivia: Lake Titicaca is only a couple of hours away from La Paz and is a popular local weekend getaway. So we went during the week and found it relatively quiet. Lake Titicaca is the largest lake in South America and […]

Uyuni to La Paz, Bolivia

Continue the journey with Ammon and Sasha: Having experienced the salt flats, we gave ourselves 2 nights to recover and get reorganized in Uyuni before moving on. While in Uyuni we made a quick day trip to Pulacayo, a mining semi-ghost town nearby. Nestled in the hills above […]

Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia

Join Ammon and Sasha for more adventures: From La Rioja we took an overnight bus to Jujuy, then jumped on another bus directly to the border, 5 hours away. Along the way we picked up a few other travelers including Andrea, a solo Swiss traveler who we decided […]

Punta Arenas and Ushuaia

With very pretty views out the window along the way, we finally landed in Punta Arenas, the largest city in the Tierra del Fuego region of Chile. It was bigger and nicer than I thought with a nice central plaza and a population well over 100,000. It is […]

Northern Patagonia

In Puerto Montt we met up with Monse again to travel together through northern Patagonia for 10 days. She flew in in the morning and we immediately hopped on a 7-hour bus to Bariloche, Argentina. Bariloche is home to the largest ski resort in the southern hemisphere and […]