Beyond-the-Beaten-Trail

On my last trip along the Carretera Austral in 2016, I made it as far as the azure waters of Lago General Carrera in the Aysén …

I hold the coffee beans in my hands, their parchment skin still on, like little tissue paper jackets or the discarded chrysalis of a transformed …

It’s been an awfully long time since I was last on horseback – over twenty years to be precise. But I feel surprisingly in control …

By day three, my long hours of standing at the bow finally pay off. The rain clears suddenly and unexpectedly; the clouds creep away from …

I’ll admit to not being a huge follower of travel lists published by the big travel companies (even if I’ve contributed to them over the …

Stood on top of the 1000-year-old Huaca las Ventanas (Temple of Windows), just 40km from Chiclayo in northern Peru, I feel quite the thrill. Aside …

Say the words “northern Chile” and there’s probably only one place that pops into your head: San Pedro de Atacama. Sure, there’s a reason it’s one …

Beneath the belly of the 20-person aircraft, the verdant jungle foliage of Bolivia’s Madidi National Park scrambles to extract itself from a chaotic knot of …

Having spent the past year in and out of Santiago as I’ve hitchhiked, road tripped and trekked around this country, I think it’s fair to …

With your eyes open and the light of the torches extinguished, you find yourself surrounded by the darkest shade of black that you have ever …

An inhospitable landscape of snow-capped peaks and sun-scorched plains, Patagonia has captured the imaginations of explorers for centuries and remains an irresistible spot for modern adventurers. …

In these days of electricity and instant light available at all times, it’s difficult to imagine how frightening the night could be for our distant …

For some, hitchhiking is a way of travelling that changes perspectives, allowing you to meet local people and really get underneath the skin of a new …

I’ve done my fair share of hitchhiking in South America. I’ve ridden on the backs of trucks in Peru and Bolivia, thumbed a lift along Chilean …

‘Ya’ in South American Spanish is a subtle, fluid word. The fact that it’s linked to time – a concept even more difficult to pin …

When you decide to give up everything that you know as your life and substitute it for a rucksack full of essentials and a one-way ticket …

I’ve always been a little afraid of hitchhiking. Perhaps it was a childhood raised on horror films; nowhere else is it so strongly affirmed that …

Sucre is Bolivia’s true capital city, and it is one of my all-time favorite cities in South America. The food, beautiful architecture, museums, cultural and …

As forms of transport go, a ship through the silent, undisturbed nature of the Chilean fjords sounds particularly romantic. And the Navimag ferry, which sails …

Although the foundations of the Ecuadorian diet are rice and potatoes and would appeal to even the pickiest of eaters, there is much to discover beyond the …

The calmness of Irish lads who happened to be sitting next to us was a sharp contrast to the pulsing of my ear piercing screams. …

Chile doesn’t always make it to the top of traveller’s itineraries. Travel costs and a more European culture compared with other South American countries have …

Every year there are headlines querying how safe it is to travel in South America, particularly for solo females. You might have read about the …

Home to unexplored – and always arresting – countryside, one of the best ways of exploring South America is through wild camping. Whether you’re planning …