A few days ago, I left Bolivia to travel into Peru. I’ve been in Bolivia for fourteen weeks. During that time I’ve visited nine cities, taken part in two volunteer projects and spent way too long stressing about an overstayed visa. My sense of relief at leaving Bolivia is palpable. Because while I’ve seriously enjoyed the time I’ve spent travelling in Bolivia, there’s no doubt that over the last three months it’s also slowly been driving me crazy. Read…
Most days I find myself thinking about death. It’s a secret, almost casual thought. When I’m on the bus, I idly imagine someone hitting me from behind. There are invisible attackers waiting around corners. I die in plane crashes and earthquakes and house fires. I die in a myriad of situations that I cannot control. This fear of my own demise is a pretty obvious death anxiety; a common consequence of coping with the death of someone close to you. Bereavement causes us…
An introduction to tejo, Colombia’s best sport you’ve never heard of. Of all the drinking games you’ve played in your life, how many have involved gunpowder? Over the years, Colombians have readily adopted a game called tejo as their national sport. It’s an alcohol-fuelled event which feels like a mix between bowling and shot-put, but with added firecrackers thrown in. I played a grand total of three games of tejo while I travelled through Colombia, and became increasingly enamoured of the…
I was only supposed to spend a few weeks backpacking Colombia. Instead, this magical country completely pulled me in – I ended up spending three months backpacking Colombia, and a further two months putting down roots to live in Medellin. I’m fiercely defensive of Colombia. It still has a negative reputation, but that usually comes from people who’ve never visited. Before I chose to travel solo in Colombia in 2013 I was a little nervous – I’d heard all the horror…
I confess: I may have been hungover on my Nazca Lines tour. It’s a necessary admission, because I couldn’t tell whether the rolling feeling in my stomach was due to alcohol or the flight itself. Let’s face it: any bit of research will tell you that the Nazca Lines flight can make you airsick. The combination of boarding a tiny Cessna plane, flying at a turbulent-friendly low altitude and being subject to constant twists and turns during the 90 minute…
There’s nothing quite like India’s Holi Festival. Anywhere else in the world, a pink-paint-splattered cow wandering through the streets might seem a bit strange. But in India, nobody bats an eyelid. That’s because Holi Festival – the three-day colour extravaganza – leaves its mark on everything. And those marks last long after the festival is over. What exactly is the Festival of Colours, and why is it celebrated? India is already a ridiculously colorful country. During the five months I…
I spent an unforgettable three months backpacking Bolivia. Bolivia is one of the cheapest countries in South America for backpackers – particularly compared to its neighbours in Chile and Argentina. Many visitors travel Bolivia for the Salt Flat deserts, the witches markets in the breathlessly high city of La Paz, and the mysterious Lake Titicaca – the world’s highest navigable lake. But there’s so much more to see in Bolivia. I chose to spend three months backpacking Bolivia, and my…
Up in the mountains above La Paz, Bolivia, there’s a market called El Alto. On a Sunday morning under a crisp blue sky, I stepped out of a minibus beside the ‘Mi Teleferico’ station and felt the air stop in my throat. Before me lay Bolivia’s El Alto market: a chaotic sight of stalls, products, people and activity, sprawling everywhere and overtaking every block in sight with seemingly no end. Everywhere I looked there was movement. Huge sheets of corrugated…
Breathe. You are going to be OK. It might not feel like it right now. Your heart might be beating out of your chest with anxiety. Tears may be streaming down your face. There might be an empty blackness enveloping your insides – or perhaps this current sense of being overwhelmed with pain and sadness is the heaviest weight you’ve ever known. Say this out loud with me. You have been OK before. You will be OK again. I’ve suffered…
Welcome to Pyramiden, Svalbard: population 7 High up in the north of Norway in the Svalbard archipelago is a town called Longyearbyen. It’s generally known as the northernmost town in the world: about a thousand people live and work here, despite its remote location above the Arctic Circle. But there’s actually another place which deserves the ‘northernmost-everything’ accolade – except it’s virtually uninhabited. This is Pyramiden, a Russian coal-mining settlement which was hastily abandoned by its residents in 1998. Ever…