After three weeks spent working in Medellin in my first ever journalism role, I hit a metaphorical wall. Despite my best efforts to the contrary, there simply wasn't enough time to get everything done.…
Last month when I arrived in Medellin to attempt to be a journalist, I knew my life was about to get busy. What I hadn't expected was having less than six hours of time to myself per day: six hours that involved getting the bus home from the office, taking clothes to the laundry, buying food, cooking, and eventually passing out before midnight. So while I get a bit more used to my life here in Colombia, I've decided to…
Colombia South America
Moving to Medellin, Colombia: My New Life as a Journalist
Posted on April 3, 2014
My decision to move to Medellin was three-fold. First, I wanted to improve my Spanish, to learn more about Colombia by living here, and to take my first steps in journalism. After over a year of travelling throughout South America, I’ve been harbouring an urge to settle down somewhere and work on my writing: an urge which has only been getting stronger. While I love writing at Flora the Explorer, there’s only so much blogging that can satisfy me –…
Challenges Colombia Ecuador
Crossing the Ecuador Colombia Border by Bus: an Unexpected Drama (Updated 2019)
Posted on March 27, 2014
The Ecuador Colombia border crossing by bus is simple. What’s not so simple is making sure you’re on the right bus in the first place. If you’re reading this article because you’ve googled ‘how to get across the Ecuador Colombia border’ or ‘how to get from Quito to Pasto in one day’ then congrats, you’ve come to the right place. I spent a day travelling from Quito to Pasto (just over ten hours) and I’ve made a quick bullet-point list…
Ecuador Galapagos Islands South America
What Happened When I Booked a Last Minute Galapagos Cruise
Posted on March 20, 2014
Would you go to the Galapagos last minute? “So what do you want to do for your birthday then?” Josh said, as we journeyed across the Ecuadorian countryside on yet another long bus ride. With only a week to go before I turned 26, the options were becoming somewhat limited. And after volunteering in Cuenca for five months last year, I’d been to most of the places in Ecuador which I’d wanted to visit. Later that afternoon, finally off the…
Ecuador South America
Salinas de Guaranda: Ecuador’s Fascinating Mountain Community
Posted on March 13, 2014
Salinas de Guaranda is a cold village. It’s nestled in the Ecuadorian mountains at an altitude of 5,300 metres; a temperature which warrants the wearing of every warm layer to hand, topped with a waterproof jacket to combat the sudden downpour which rolls in every afternoon. Even when sitting under five layers of blankets in a hostel bedroom, a cloud of breath is still visible. But the people of Salinas de Guaranda are anything but cold. This tiny pueblo of…
This week, I turned 26. It's an age I've never been particularly concerned about before, but when it was pointed out to me that 26 is actually much nearer to 30 than I'd first realised, a tiny bit of panic set in. Where the hell did all that time go?! I'm very happy with what I've achieved so far in life, don't get me wrong. But there are a number of things I've always had on the back burner –…
advice Language Spanish Challenge
The Spanish Challenge: Learning How to Argue
Posted on February 27, 2014
After a year of travelling through South America, something about the Spanish language has become acutely clear to me. From my foreigner’s perspective, I’ve realised that it’s not enough to have a vague understanding of what people are saying, or be able to respond with a few choice phrases and bits of vocabulary. More and more often, I’ve needed to know how to use my Spanish in much more stressful situations. And that means arguing. It’s not like people in…
On a warm night in Mancora, the conversation had somehow moved onto breasts. “It’s really horrible!” Jenna said, picking up her beer bottle and looking at her husband’s face. “You’re in the perfect location to sunbathe, and then you can’t wear a bikini because your breasts are burnt!” Jenna and Dave were in a year into the trip of a lifetime, driving themselves and their giant dog through the Americas, from Oregon in the US to Uruguay, where they hoped…
I came back to London with a cold. It’s totally understandable, really. From Peru to the United States to England in thirty eight hours, I travelled under a haze of stale recycled air; surrounded at all times by the germs of a hundred sets of lungs, breathing in and out. But being in the freezing temperatures of an English January for a few weeks has reminded me just how much my health suffers when I’m travelling. I exchanged the bright…