Author: Colin Clark
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Denmark: Vikings & Lego
On Halloween night 2018 we travelled midway through the week to arrive early morning in Billund, Denmark, home of Lego and heartland of the Vikings. We were greeted on the bus journey from Billund to nearby Vejle (humorously pronounced “vile”) by a bird of prey sitting on a fencepost. Travel in this part of Denmark…
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A Farewell To South America
When guidebooks unhelpfully overhype attractions, they certainly don’t pull any punches when it comes to South America. The irritating and meaningless phrases “a tale of contrasts” or “a country of extremes” are thrown around mercilessly in a bid to passionately sell books, rather than dispassionately review and inform. So what makes South America so “extreme”?…
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Final Destination: Bogota
We arrived in Colombia’s capital on the 11th March 2015, and almost immediately noticed on the news stations that the Colombian terror organization called FARC were joining the peace process after decades trying to reach were we had finally gotten to. It was good to see that the journey to their destination, Bogota, was now…
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The Lakes Of Southern Colombia
The crossing into Colombia from Ecuador was one of if not the easiest border crossings we had done. We managed to get into the town of Ipiales very easily, and we headed to an ATM immediately to get out loads of bumwad from the bank of Toyland. We had been used to dollars for so…
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Quilotoa And Latacunga
On the 17th February, we left Ambato and headed North back along the road to Quito in our journey towards Colombia. We got to a city called Latacunga where we took a small local bus around what is called the Quilotoa Loop. Named after a village on the loop, this mostly touristy route circles around…
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The Many Birds of Mindo
We left Quito on the 8th February to go to Mindo which is described as a bird-watcher’s paradise. We heard the best place to get a bus from Quito’s many and confusing bus stations was from La Ofelia terminal, and we didn’t have to wait long. The journey was fairly easy, although the road suffers…
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Quito: The Middle Of The World
First impressions of Quito were not good. The traffic, pollution, and the up and downs of the roads at the high altitude all added up to an uncomfortable experience. Our hostel was located near the old town of the city, the colonial area. However, the transport system was terrible, in terms of a lack of…
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Whiteout In Banos
We drove the short journey through the jungle from Misahualli to Tena on the 29th January. Changing buses was a bit of a pain in the ass as the bus station in Tena was small and hopeless, but we managed it and continued on our way to the extremely touristy town of Banos. Well known…
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More Jungle At Misahualli
We decided not to stop at Tena in Ecuador, and instead changed buses there for a visit to the small town of Misahualli. We arrived on the 26th January and were quite shocked to see that the whole town was just a few blocks squared, with the main plaza completely dug up and under construction.…
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Puyo: A Nice Diversion
The Pastaza department is located in Eastern Ecuador and it’s capital, Puyo, is the administrative and political capital of the area, and is one of the country’s fastest growing cities. We found a simple hotel in Puyo’s busy and dirty center, and after a small investigation we headed out into the small city. We went…