“Ooh, look! A partridge!” “… A pheasant, you mean?” Gill looked at me quizzically from the driver’s seat. On the grassy kerb beside my window, the long-tail-feathered bird twitched his bright…
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Language Personal Peru South America Spanish ChallengeThe Spanish Challenge: a Surprise Return to Paracas, Peru
It’s early in Lima. Men scurry along either side of the barrier which divides the congested highway in two. They carry paper-covered boxes of snacks to sell to car drivers through their windows:…
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Arriving in Santiago de Compostela didn’t feel the way I expected. The Spaniards I had been walking with for the last seven days had tears in their eyes as we walked through…
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Croatia France Middle East Personal Syria VolunteeringFrom Syria to Calais: Nine Years of Changing Perspectives
In the summer of 2007 I travelled to Syria. Our group were on a trip around the Middle East when we crossed over the Jordanian border to arrive in the ancient walled city of…
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“Are there any good pubs on Whitstable beach?” The train conductor mutters something indecipherable as he hands a ticket back to the man asking questions. I’ve spent the last half hour…
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advice Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Peru South America VolunteeringSo You Want to Volunteer in South America?
Last updated March 2019 “I’m going to volunteer in South America!” This gleeful announcement was made to my dad in the summer of 2013, just three days after I’d flown back home…
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High up in the Rif mountains of Morocco, past a succession of hairpin bends and steep cliffs dropping down to nothingness, is a town that’s entirely blue. The reasons that led the community…
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I was nervous. Standing awkwardly on a patch of sloping mud below a grassy sand dune, I stared down at my hefty walking boots half covered by waterproof trousers. Opposite me…
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There is French dirt from the Calais camps coating my clothes. Dust from the warehouse blurring the lenses of my glasses. The cracks in my hands are sore and dried out, and…
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They say the Camino brings out the best in people. I didn’t believe them at first, but it’s true. Becoming a pilgrim means talking to, befriending and helping out others just for…