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Phil Vinter and Sophie Cross are a couple of journalists taking a little jaunt through Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and anywhere else the wind takes them!
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Monthly Archives: September 2011
Peru’s buses, ballads and big hats
The middle-aged Peruvians surrounding me can only frown or look on, mystified, as I stifle giggles watching the small television screen on the bus. Singer Milder Oré and his trio of merry musicians are grooving along and miming to popular hit, … Continue reading
The Cavern of Cajamarca
Jaime Valera takes another sip of ruby red wine before he peers into his laid-open, yellowing notebook and begins lightly strumming a melody on his old guitar. He turns and says something to his group of assembled friends and they … Continue reading
Posted in Cajamarca, Peru
Tagged Cajamarca, cajon drum, chilcano de pisco, Greensleaves, guitar, Hey Jude, Jaime Valera, Latin America, music, Paraguay, Peru, red wine, shaky eggs, The Beatles, The Cavern, Usha Usha
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Kuelap: North Peru’s answer to Machu Picchu
Utter the words “Peru” and “ruins” in the same breath and 99 per cent of people (Phil and I included) would probably think of Machu Picchu. But hidden away among the clouds above the Utcubamba Valley in the northern Andes … Continue reading
Posted in Chachapoyas, Kuelap, Peru
Tagged archaeologists, Chachapoyas, Egypt, fortress, Kuelap, llama, Machu Picchu, Peru, pre-Inca, pyramids, Quechua, ruins, stone
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Is a diet of guinea pig, Amazonian frogs legs and snake juice the key to longevity?
Shanta winks as he slams a giant jar containing yellow-tinged liquid and an unfriendly looking snake on the bar. At first glance it looks like a preserved specimen from a natural history museum, but no, this is snake juice. Sugarcane … Continue reading
Posted in Ecuador, Uncategorized, Vilcabamba
Tagged amazonian frogs legs, centenarians, longevity, podycarpus national park, snake juice, villcabamba
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Monkey business in Baños
With his misshapen, bent arms dragging alongside him, tiny Etsa slowly shuffles across the dusty floor before gently leaning his furry head against my knee. The pitiful sight of this small brown woolly monkey is hard to watch. Etsa is … Continue reading
Posted in Baños, Ecuador
Tagged animal trafficking, Banos, capuchin, coati, coaties, ecuador, monkey sanctuary, otter, paseo los monos, Puyo, volunteer, woolly monkey
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The quest for the cheese factory in the Andes
A blind, barefooted old woman is garbling loudly at me in incomprehensible Spanish. She stumbles and falls into a muddy ditch. I try to help her up but she shrugs me off. Speaking a fraction more clearly I make out … Continue reading
Posted in Ecuador, Quilotoa loop
Tagged andes, cheese, chugchillan, hike, lagoon, quilotoa, quilotoa lake, trek, volcano, walk
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Having a whale of a time spotting boobies
“Oh my gosh, that is AMAZING! Did you see that??!” screeches the fellow lifejacket-clad woman to my right, as the occupants of the front side of our boat simultaneously whip out their cameras. Phil and I struggle to follow her … Continue reading
Posted in Ecuador, Puerto Lopez
Tagged Antarctica, boobies, ecuador, Humpback, Isla de la Plata, Pacific Ocean, Puerto Lopez, whales
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