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South America

January - April 2020
This is the website where I will be posting updates on my trip to South America!! Read more
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  • TravelerSouth America
    13
    Day 10

    Tayrona National Park

    January 24, 2020 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Today we hung out on a small beach and there was nobody else there! My dad and I dug a huge hole and put water in it and my mum said it was an “exfoliating foot bath”. Then my dad and I wandered over to the next beach over and we met a very cute dog who followed us all the way back to the hotel where we went for a swim in the pool and then came to the sunset bar, which is where we are now. It is so beautiful and we are waiting for the sunset to start. My mum is time-lapsing the sunset so I’ll put it with the pictures.Read more

  • TravelerSouth America
    3
    11
    Day 11

    Tayrona National park

    January 25, 2020 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    We climbed up a waterfall!!!

    The day began with a horse ride through an avatar jungle! My horse was so lovely and called Lucero which means Bright Star in Spanish. The trail was winding and following a dried up stream as there hadn’t been any water in 3 months! The trees were unbelievably large and hung down just like in the movie Avatar!

    We climbed up 3 different waterfall zones then went for a swim in the very top waterfall.

    Today is our last day in this region of Colombia. Its very diverse as we have been in beaches, forest and rainforests. Its a very noisy region too. Every morning we get woken up by all kinds if animals, birds, lizards, howler monkeys, frogs and goodness knows what else.

    Im happy to see that there is alot of respect for the indigenous tribes. (Kogi, Wiwa, Arhuaco and Kankuamo). The indigenous people of this community believe it is their duty to keep the planet in balance. They believe this region (Serria Nevada de Santa Marta) is the heart of the world. What happens here happens everywhere. They call themselves the Elder Brothers, because they look after the earth, and the rest of modern society (Younger Brothers) who are destroying the planet with their wilfulness. Even though it is Elder Brother’s job to restore the balance, they still love Younger Brothers because we are family.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth America
    111
    Day 13

    Mompox

    January 27, 2020 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    En route to Mompox, we stopped at Aracataca, the birthplace of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. He was Colombia’s most famous author. He won a Nobel prize for literature, specifically for popularising the use of magical realism in his writing. He was my mum’s favourite author, he also wrote ‘100 years of solitude’.

    Magical realism is when there is a novel that is very realistic but with a magical element to it, like Holes (Louis Sacher), with the curses.

    Mompox is a town almost ‘Frozen in time’ (not really) as it hasn’t changed since the 1900s, except the supermarkets and restaurants. It is a UNESCO - world heritage site.

    Today when we were walking around the town of Mompox, we visited some Filigree workshops! Filigree is silver with lots of intricate designs. While we were walking through the town centre we saw an iguana! It was 1 metre long!!    Read more

  • TravelerSouth America
    3
    6
    Day 15

    Mompox

    January 29, 2020 in Colombia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Omg Mompox is so hot 🥵! It was 37°C yesterday and we did a filigree workshop outdoors! If that didn’t give me heatstroke I don’t know what will! The filigree workshop was 2 hours long and we made part of a flower! It was so cool! Mompox is famous for having lots of handmade filigree items as it used to be the town that minted the coins. So the goldsmiths with silverwork skills are still here. In the workshop I learnt that the silversmiths take a lot of pride in their work. When my mum asked if a particularly complex piece was made by machine, they were rather offended.

     I didn’t understand that such intricate pieces could be made my hand, but in the workshop they showed us how silver is beat to be paper thin, then twirled and hammered to make beautiful shapes. Silver dust is then sprinkled and then heated and melted to hold the whole piece together.

    As I leave Mompox, I reflect on what a historical little town that was. And how all the people were so happy and unusually friendly...    Read more

  • TravelerSouth America
    12
    Day 16

    Cartagena

    January 30, 2020 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Today we had a wonderful tour of Cartagena with our tour guide Fernando. I learned that the earliest people of Central and South America included the Incas around Peru, the Mayans and Aztecs around Central America, and the Muiscas around Bogota and the Taironas around Santa Marta, including some Indigenous people around the coastline and islands. Their main currency was salt, and when the Spanish arrived around 1500 they were very suprised that the people had so much gold but they didn’t value it as a commodity. When the Spanish realised they could trade salt for gold, they started to explore the country with lots of salt. They even believed there was a city made if gold called El Dorado!

    The Spanish wanted to send all the gold back to Spain, so they sent it to Cartagena to then be shipped out. With all the gold in one place it made it very easy for pirates to steal it, so they built a wall that made it easier to protect the city. One of the main sieges of Cartagena was by the English, led by Sir Francis Drake in 1586. We saw his house today - “Casa Drake”. It had huge lion door knockers (Lion knockers represented military houses, Sea animals (fish etc) represented Merchant houses and the Lizard knockers represented houses owned by royalty) and a big wooden door. Sir Francis Drake attacked Cartagena and captured it for England, but only for 2 months (weedy job I say) but took lots of gold before giving it back to the civilians.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth America
    Day 17

    Cartagena

    January 31, 2020 in Colombia ⋅ 🌙 27 °C

    We made CHOCOLATE TODAY!!

    We went to a chocolate making workshop and I made chocolate just the way the Mayans used to 3000 years ago! We learned all about how Chocolate is produced!

    First the beans are harvested by hand to get the white seeds inside, then it is fermented over 6 days using anaerobic and aerobic respiration to concentrate the flavoured of the beans. After the beans are dried they are roasted. The Mayans used the roasting of the beans as a communal affair, so we did the same! We took it in turns to stir the beans while we each told a story. The man helping us make the chocolate’s story was about when he was younger he and his friends used to play in the grass that was 2 metres high and have a mini war by throwing rocks at each other. We then we peeled the beans while they were still warm and crushed the inside of the bean untill it became a paste. With the paste we make tea and hot chocolate!!

    Next we made the chocolate. We got melted 70% dark chocolate and put a little in some moulds. We them put all sorts of toppings in and I even put CHILLI in a few! And we filled the rest with chocolate and I put sprinkles on top of them. It was so messy but they turned out great!!    Read more

  • TravelerSouth America
    11
    Day 18

    Colourful Cartagena

    February 1, 2020 in Colombia ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Cartagena has so many colourful buildings and fabulous architecture. Every single building is unique. There are huge old walls surrounding the city to stop pirates from sealing the gold from Cartagena! The streets are like a cobbled maze with every colour everywhere you look. It’s not just the exterior of the houses and shops but the insides too. The doors are wide open and all the artefacts have vibrant colours catching your eye wherever you go.

    I will remember Cartagena for its heat, horse drawn carriages, the stunning sunsets every evening, the loud music in the evenings and the really fun place we had pizza whilst waiting for our laundry 😂    Read more

  • TravelerSouth America
    1
    11
    Day 20

    Providencia

    February 3, 2020 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    I DROVE A CAR!!!

    Well not really a car but a buggy that goes a max speed of 25 mph and 31mph going down a hill. My mum gave me lessons and I drove on the road with other drivers and it was EPIC! I drove my parents all around the island and we stopped at multiple beaches along the way. The place we went to watch the sunset had loads of super friendly dogs and there were tree swings and the sand was the softest sand I had ever felt in my life!

    Yesterday we took a mini plane from San Andres ( where we stopped for like 2 hrs from Cartagena) and the plane was so small that there was only one row of seats on each side and the isle in the middle just about big enough for me to fit through. It was quite scary at first because we took off smoothly but as soon as we started going through clouds it felt like we were falling all the way to the ground! But it was a very fun 22 mins apart from that.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth America
    1
    Day 21

    Providencia

    February 4, 2020 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Have you ever wondered what it would be like to harpoon a fish and eat it for lunch? Well I got to do that today...and it was delicious.

    Today’s adventure involves taking a boat into the Caribbean sea and trying to catch a fish by harpooning it. Our guide Josh showed us how it was done and caught 4 fish for our lunch. While my dad helped Josh catch the fish by scaring them in his direction, my mum and I went snorkelling in the ocean together 🤿. We saw some lovely fish but were startled by a giant sting ray!

    When Josh caught each fish, Captain Arnold made sure he brought the boat quickly near him because any blood from the fish in the water would attract sharks (Hammer heads, Tiger sharks and Nurse sharks) very quickly from miles away.

    Captain said Josh was new at catching fish with a harpoon so he kept making fun on Josh when he missed a harpoon so Captain said : “ Ay Josh! Are you a Fisherman or a Housewife? ”, because if he didn’t manage to catch any fish he would have to buy some from the shop!

    Then we found a secluded beach and grilled the fish in the firewood he found. Josh and I went to get some mangos and they were super sweet but very small! We snorkelled around the bay and we saw tons of tiny fish! I followed a long silver fish with a funny smile for a while and my dad said it was a Barracuda. Woahhh😳😬🐟.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth America
    Day 23

    Bad news

    February 6, 2020 in Colombia ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

    We have just had some very bad news. My grandad has just passed away extremely unexpectedly so we will be heading back to England. I’ll stop the blog now until we decide what to do about this family adventure.

    Thank you for reading my blog and posting such lovely comments!! It makes me feel like I’m sharing my journey with so many friends. My grandad, Keith, really enjoyed reading my blog and used to post lots of comments. Look out for his comments!! (Keith Chadwick).

    I love you Grandad Chad. And I will miss you ❤️😘    Read more

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