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Travels South/Central America

July 2024 – July 2025
  • Chris Grieve
  • Jodie Hill
Current
3 months across south/central America Read more
  • Chris Grieve
  • Jodie Hill
Currently traveling

List of countries

  • Guatemala Guatemala
  • Colombia Colombia
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Couple, Nature, Sightseeing, Wilderness
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  • Travels South/Central America
    1
    242yoga shala with lake views3Our private airbnb yoga shala!112breakfast with a view

    Lake Atitlan

    Aug 9–15, 2024 in Guatemala ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    After the volcano hike, I spent one more night in antigua to recover and then headed to meet Jodie at lake Atitlan the next day. The lake is huge and there are a load of surrounding towns, all named after the 12 Apostles. Jodie was staying at a yoga retreat in a town called San Marcos. The retreat was an eco lodge up in the hills, there werre some amazing views of the lake from up there and we had a really nice room with great views.

    Jodie had been there a few days so she showed me around and we did a yoga class together the next morning which was very relaxing. We also tried temezcal which is essentially a traditional sauna followed by an ice plunge. There was a huge thunderstorm happening one of the days we did the cold plunge so was amazing to see the lightening across the sky.

    After a couple of days in San Marcos, we headed to the nearby lake town called Jaibalito. We'd booked a special airbnb up in the hills here which had a private yoga shala. One of the nicest airbnbs I've stayed in, with some more amazing lake views. We wanted to make good use of the private shala so I helped Jodie film some yoga videos against the lake as a backdrop for her new yoga business. We managed to catch the sunset in the background which looks really good on film! Sadly the airbnb was only available for one night but we definitely made the most of our time.

    Our penultimate stop in Guatemala was Pana, which is the largest town on the lake but not the best place for backpackers. We were staying in a nice cabin but I wasn't a huge fan of this town, as the views of the lake weren't as good and it were more cars/grungy areas than other parts. Also it was around this time that my allergic reaction to a mosquito repellant was getting really bad. I had a lot of red blotchy patches on my skin and i was pretty much constantly itchy for about a week and a half around this time. I had to go to the hospital here as well to get an IV with antihistamines as it got quite bad. Hoping I can recoup the costs of it on my insurance!

    After Pana, we finally went back to San Marcos to finish up in Guatemala in a place we really liked. We were in a new hostel this time which also had nice lake views.

    Next penguin 🐧 will be of our first week in Mexico! I am back home in Scotland now so all following penguins will be retrospective.    Read more

  • Travels South/Central America
    2
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    Antigua & Acatanego Pt 2

    Aug 7–10, 2024 in Guatemala ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    [2 / 2]

    This post is for pictures of the volcano hike. See previous post for description.

  • Travels South/Central America
    11lots of arches in antigua3street photography1arches otra veztried something artsy!1drinks at a microbrewery roof3

    Antigua & Acatanengo

    Aug 1–7, 2024 in Guatemala ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    🐧 update.

    I will do two uploads, one for Antigua, one for the volcano hike! This post is photos of antigua.

    [1 / 2]

    After Colombia, we flew into Guatemala City but didn't stay long, heading straight to Antigua. We heard it was safer, and our Uber driver confirmed that by warning us about the dangerous zones in the city. The drive took around two hours, so we arrived in Antigua quite late. Antigua felt very safe and charming, with a well-preserved historic atmosphere. Even fast food restaurants (like mcdonalds, Starbucks, Taco Bell) here are nicely designed to fit the city’s colonial style! Overall I really liked antigua, although there were parts of it I felt have been designed just for the tourists.

    We stayed for four nights, spending time wandering the old town, which is small and easy to explore on foot. We went to some great spots for food and drinks. The city is good for walking and enjoying the vibrant Mayan culture/colonial style. Anothr plus for us was that the people in Guatemala speak Spanish slowly and clearly, so was a good place to practice and improve our Spanish.

    After four nights, Jodie decided she wanted to head up to Lake Atitlan to go to a yoga retreat whereas I opted to stay in antigua to do the Acatanengo volcano hike. This is a 2 day tough hike which i did with a group of 20 people through a tour company. Day one was a 6 hour hike to basecamp which was difficult for two reasons. Firstly because it was very steep and our group was moving fairly quickly and secondly because I was carrying a 13.5kg bag the whole way up which was packed with layers for the cold (which the tour company offered for rent for free) along with 4 litres of water and lunch for the day. This made the climb much more difficult and my legs started to cramp quite badly towards the end of the day (later realised I hadn't adjusted my rented bag properly which probably was making it a lot worse). Some people in other groups didn't make it to basecamp but all of our group made it up!

    After the basecamp hike, we were given the option to continue hiking to fuego which is the active volcano next to acatanengo. Fuego erupts around once every 20 minutes so it's a very rare experience to hike up an erupting volcano! Our whole group decided to do fuego which was the hardest part of the hike yet, super steep and very windy and cold as it was getting darker. It was very cloudy so visibility was limited, and there were also no trees for protection from the wind after a point so was tricky to keep walking and not fall over, the trekking poles helped alot here. After a point, our guide told us we couldn't go any further without it being dangerous, so we waited on a ridge for the clouds to clear so we could see the volcano erupting from up close. Sadly the clouds were persistent. We had to turn back after about an hour and a half of waiting in the freezing cold. The hike back to base camp was brutal, but once we got there we could see a super clear view of fuego erupting from basecamp which was amazing! We spent the night watching it erupting.

    The next morning there was another optional sunrise summit hike to the top of acatanengo, but everyone in our group was so tired that only 5 of us managed to wake up at 3am for it! It was worth the rise as the views were amazing at the top although was very windy.

    Finally after the sunrise summit, we started the long descent to the bottom. Sore on the knees but not as tiring as the way up!

    Next 🐧 coming very soon, probably tomorrow! Stay frosty.    Read more

  • Travels South/Central America
    1Our hostel in Salento!
    2Jodie with a huge dog in the hostel1My coffee tour2Amazing sunset in Salento, have never seen the sky like thatSalento main squarePalm tree walkBogota Candaleria areaBogota Candaleria area

    Cali, Salento & Bogota

    Jul 25–Aug 3, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    After Medellin, we took a flight south to the Salsa capital of the world, Cali. The city itself isn't very nice in my opinion, little bit run down and apparently not very safe in a lot of areas. So there wasn't a huge amount to explore during the day - it is much more of a nighttime place. So besides going for a few walks we spent the mornings and early afternoons working in a cafe next to our hostel. Once it got to the later afternoon, there were different events organised by the hostel each day. We did a Spanish lesson and a couple of Salsa lessons and some other social activities with the other hostel guests. Salsa is quite hard it turns out, especially the Cali style. Our teacher kept throwing in lots of fancy footwork to keep us om our toes. We also went to something called Salsa Street which happens every Friday and involves thousands of locals pouring into a huge street and eberyone dancing to Salsa music blaring out of loud speakers in the street. Was hectic but very fun to be amongst all the locals, they were all going nuts. They are all very good at Salsa as they've been doing it since they were kids. They have a saying which they kept shouting "Cali es cali lo demás es loma". Sadly because there was so many people around, neither me or jodie wanted to take our phones out to take any pics or videos... Actually I don't really have any pictures of Cali since we pretty much only went put at night when I didn't want to bring my phone out! So no photos on this penguin are from Cali.

    After Cali, we headed to a small colonial mountain town famous for coffee and cocoa called Salento. It reminded me of a ski village, but surrounded by really nice mountains and natural scenery. We were staying in a very nice looking hostel here, had a great view of the town and the sunsets every night. I did a coffee tour here which was interesting and jodie and I played a local game called Tejo which was really fun. It is similar to boules only that you are throwing big stone disks and instead of getting it close to a small ball, you need to get it close/to land on small bits of paper packed with gunpowder. When the stone hits the paper, there is a really loud bang and the paper goes on fire. Different points for how close you are/actually exploding it. We were with a group and a few of us had hit the paper somehow without an explosion so we decided to sneakily add loads of gunpowder and paper to our aisle. Then jodie's turn came, and she landed directly on the paper, which caused a massive explosion! We also did a tour of some nearby tall palm trees, which was good fun.

    For our final stop in Colombia, we headed to Bogota for a couple of nights. Bogota is known as la nevara by the Colombians because of how cold it is (to them). Temp tends to be in the lare teens usually there. It was actually quite a nice break from the heat, and I finally got to wear my fleece in the day, pretty much for the first time in South America. We did some more salsa lessons in Bogota which was fun, and actually helped me improve quite a lot (Jodie is already much better than me). We then had dinner with some new friends from the hostel and called it a night. Got to explore Bogota a little but during the day, although mainly in the Candaleria district. From what I saw, it's a pretty nice city with lots to do and see. I also didn't realise how big it is, population of 11 million! So there's loads that I didn't get to see sadly.

    After a short stay in Bogota, we took a flight to Guatemala which is where I am now. Next 🐧 will be on that.

    Stay frosty. 🐧    Read more

  • Travels South/Central America
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    Medellin

    Jul 21–25, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Second batch of photos, from Medellin. Very vibrant and lively city. Climate is also reqlly nice, stays around high 20s all year and not too humid like cartagena. See previous 🐧 for descriptions.

  • Travels South/Central America
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    Cartagena Old Town

    Jul 17–21, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    🐧 update! Sorry for the delay.

    ✨️ I will split pictures into 2 posts, this one for pics of cartagena, then another one for medellin pics ✨️

    After Minca we went to Cartagena to stay for four nights. We were staying in a hostel which wasn't the nicest spot and not very social, but we made do. By far my favourite part of the city was the old walled port town. Filled with loads of colourful buildings and colonial style architecture - great spot for photos! One of our days we did a walking tour through this part which was very interesting. A lot of the old buildings are very fancy inside, and loads of them have been converted to luxury airbnbs. Also some interesting connections between Cartagena and some famous people like the author Gabriel Garcia Marquez and the artist Fernando Botero. We also learned a lot about the history of the culture which is a mix of Spanish and African.

    There were some really nice parks around this area as well, in one of then you can see some wild sloths and monkeys and then some salsa dancers in others. Also some great food options around this area and nice bars along the coast to watch the sunset.

    Outside of the old town, we didn't explore a huge amount but have heard that the old town is deifnitley the nicest. What I did see outside the old town I wasn't a huge fan of. The other issue was the humidity, very sweaty alot of the time so pretty much can't go outside anywhere in the peak of the afternoon without being drenched in sweat. Also a lot of people trying to sell you things in the more touristy areas and people coming up to sing and rap for you for money.

    After Cartagena, we got a long bus down to Medellin. We spent 4 nights here, in an area called poblado which is actually very nice. Surrounded by loads of trees and nice cafes and bars. Jodie and I both did quite a bit of work in Medellin, but we also explored the city. They have a really good metro which is the heart of the city, we learned how it being built completely changed how the city was connected and allowed the people from the further out areas to get to the centr (also learned how Fernando Botero helped with this, his artwork is everywhere in the city). Medellin is in a valley so they have even built cable cars to connect the metro to the places which are higher up in the valley. We did another walking tour in Medellin and learned a lot about the past 100 years of history and the more recent history around Pablo Escobar. They don't like to say his name in the city, but there are still a lot of people selling tshirts and other souvenirs etc with his mugshot. Our tour guide was also warning us about some of the more dangerous areas, and telling us about a Spanish phrase 'No de papaya' which literally translates to don't give papaya but means not to make yourself a target for muggers and pickpockets. There are certain areas that even a lot of the locals never go. I even had a couple of random people come up to me and tell me to put away my phone at certain points.. But the guide also said that if anything was to happen somewhere publically, you just need to shout ladrón and the public will take him down. They rely a lot on tourism so the people hate thiefs and the cartel/narcos messing with tourists. Still, I have been very careful with getting my camera out in busy spots and we are both keeping our phones out of sight when we can.

    The walking tour really showed how much the city had transformed in the past 50 years, especially in a place called Comuna 13 which used to be the hotspot for cartel drug traficking but has now been transofrmed into a safe spot for tourism. It was interesting to see but very loud and busy. I also went to a museum which showed the timeline of homicides in the city and how much they have decreased over the years.

    That's all for now! We have just been in Cali which is the Salsa capital of colombia 🕺 and have now arrived in Salento.

    Next🐧 coming soon...    Read more

  • Travels South/Central America
    1View from the dining area in the Mundo Nuevo hostel
    3Infinity pool in Mundo Nuevo1Eating area, also great place to work or read3Jodie doing some morning yoga with a friend2Sunrise views, got up early for this but worth it1One of many sunset pictures from the viewpoint in the hostel2Some birds I captured, there was so many types of birds around3semi candid picture from out first hostelHills view from our first hostel2View from Mundo Nuevo, you can see Santa Marta at top rightCopa america final!

    Minca - Week 1

    Jul 9–16, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Back with a brand new 🐧. I've been in colombia one week now and really enjoying it, arrived into Cartagena on the evening of the 9th after a pretty stressful journey and went straight to sleep at my hotel. The next morning I had a nice chat with the owners which was a good chance to practice some of my Spanish (which I've realised is very rusty..). They helped me find a bus to Santa Marta and werre generally very nice and accommodating, they were showing me lots of pictures of their grandkids.

    I left the next day to Santa Marta on a ~6 hour bus journey, all went pretty smoothly although we did have to change busses once. I then had to get another taxi from Santa Marta to a place called Bonda which I managed to haggle down to a good price, and then finally get a motorbike taxi up to the hostel where jodie was teaching yoga since the dirt roads aren't accessible by a normal car. I stayed with Jodie for a couple of nights at this place, was really nice and chilled. Surrounded by jungles and rivers where you can swim. We also spent some time taking some yoga photos for jodies website here using my new camera/tripod as the scenery was really nice.

    After a couple of nights at this hostel, we headed to our next destination which was an ecolodge (essentially a fancy hostel) recommended by a friend of mine. On the way to this new place, me and jodie stopped at a Pharmacy in Santa Marta to buy some new soap but we both forgot that 'sopa' means soup and not soap. We had some very confused looks from the till lady when we asked for soup for the body.

    When we arrived in Minca, it was another motorbike ride up in the hills to get to the hostel. This ride was a lot bumpier than the first one, my driver was crazy and kept trying to go fast up really steep rocky hills, I was holding on for life! There is a slightly more expensive option to get a 4×4 jeep instead which is what we used after that point.

    When we did get to the top and arrive at the hostel, it had to be the nicest place I've ever stayed in whilst travelling. Place called Mundo Nuevo, high highly recommend. It has amazing views over Santa Marta, Minca and the surrounding mountains. There is an amazing infinity pool which overlooks the view and loads of nature around the hostel. They had a mixture of dorms and private rooms, we had a nice big private room with ensuite and great views. The general age of travellers in Colombia is much higher than in Southeast Asia which has been nice, and there was also a couple of families staying there. Nearby to the place there are some waterfalls, hikes, walks, bird watching and also coffee/cacao tours you can do in a nearby indigenous village. The sunsets were amazing every night, we also caught a sunrise one early morning. It was a great place to relax, whilst also doing some of my coding work and Jodie has been working on her yoga business. I'm very limited with only 10 photos to upload so need to be very selective, I have so many nice photos of this place that I could do another post quite easily!

    We went down into Minca a couple of times by jeep, once with a group to watch the Copa America final which Colombia were playing in. Sadly they lost in extra time but the atmosphere was crazy, they cheered for everything Colombia did and were throwing foam around everywhere! The pace of south American football is so much quicker than European football.

    Now we are in Cartagena where we will spend four nights before potentially going to a language school for a week in Medellin!

    Stay frosty.🐧    Read more

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