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Central and South America
  • Ben Marsh
  • Ben Marsh

Central and South America

A 124-day adventure by Ben Read more
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  • Ben MarshCentral and South AmericaBen Marsh

    ¡Bienvenidos a Colombia!

    October 24, 2025 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    We have arrived in Colombia! Capurgana is a small coastal community that is only accessible by plane or boat.

    After 2 days exploring the area 8 of us who sailed San Blas are going to travel to Cartagena together.Read more

  • Ben MarshCentral and South AmericaBen Marsh
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    Hola Cartagena

    October 28, 2025 in Colombia ⋅ 🌬 28 °C

    Cartagena was my first city stop in Colombia and it was an intense shock to the system after island life in Kuna Yala.

    The streets feel completely different to Costa Rica or Panama. More sound, more colour, more people and more street vendors selling cigarettes, cigars, and other world famous Colombian products that start with C.

    Cartagena was a slave port and the second city built by the Spanish in Colombia. The Afro Latin influence is visible everywhere and will be a real contrast to other more central parts of Colombia. Also amazing coffee.    Read more

  • Ben MarshCentral and South AmericaBen Marsh
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    Happy Halloween from El Rio hostel

    October 30, 2025 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Still travelling with my sailing group! We spent 3 days relaxing in a jungle hostel past Santa Marta and north of Buritaca.

    It is a beautiful place with access to a huge river for swimming and jungle all around.

    Colombians party hard and the Halloween event started at 3pm running through to 8am the next day.

    Big night, big day. Tomorrow we leave and start a 4 day hike to Ciudad Perdida (The lost city).    Read more

  • Ben MarshCentral and South AmericaBen Marsh

    Ciudad Perdida - The lost city

    November 3, 2025 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Unbelievable 4 day hike to the lost city. Ciudad Perdida was rediscovered by Colombians in 1976 but was already known to the indigenous population.

    The city is thought to have been built in 600AD and is still partially inhabited by some indigenous groups.

    Very cool, really sweaty.    Read more

  • Ben MarshCentral and South AmericaBen Marsh
    1

    Parque nacional Tayrona - and my new son

    November 6, 2025 in Colombia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Tayrona national stretches from the carribean all the way up to the highest coastal mountain range in the world, Sierra Nevada.

    I stayed in a small hostel run by a local family inside the park. The family had rescued a baby capuchin monkey who immediately decided that I was an excellent spot for sleeping and that pulling my beard was really funny.

    The family also had 5 blue and yellow macaws that lived nearby. They are massive birds and loved to break, steal, and bite anything that they could find.

    Aside from the wildlife you could take a 2 hour hike to the beach to swim and relax in protected and crystal clear water. Only some beaches were open with most containing protected coral reefs that also created their own dangerous rip currents.

    A long post for my last visit to the carribean on this trip and my last time at the coast until Peru. Next stop Medellín.    Read more

  • Ben MarshCentral and South AmericaBen Marsh
    1

    Kickoff in Medellín - Day 1

    November 8, 2025 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Goodbye Caribbean heat, humidity, and mosquitos! Happy to finally be in Medellín and it's great to be back in a city. Amazing street food and my first hot shower for 2 and a half weeks.

    Day 1 in Medellín opened with a walking tour of the city with an amazing guide who walked us through the ups and downs of the cities history before heading to watch Athletic Nacional at a home game.Read more

  • Ben MarshCentral and South AmericaBen Marsh
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    Orchids and barrios - Medellín day 2

    November 9, 2025 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Medellín is built in the centre of a major valley in the Andes which means the city has an insane variation in elevation.

    Because of this the city has a number of cable cars called metrocable that take you up and out into the mountain barrios on the edge of the city. Santo Domingo is one of these working class barrio, totally safe (in the day) it is like visiting another world when you compare it to the main city below.

    After Santo Domingo you can continue to feel even more out of place by continuing your cable car journey all the way to the top of the mountains to visit Medellín's national park. Colombia is home to thousands of orchid species, tarantula hawk wasps and unique birds.

    Amazing and strange day in an amazing and strange city    Read more

  • Ben MarshCentral and South AmericaBen Marsh

    Escuela española

    November 12, 2025 in Colombia ⋅ 🌧 23 °C

    A whole week in Medellín complete! Intensive Spanish school is easily the most tiring thing that I have done on the trip so far, 5.5 hours of lessons a day Monday to Friday is a lot. I think it made me worse at English and helped me realise how bad I am at Spanish....

    Still so useful and having more and more conversations everyday!

    This is the end of an amazing time in Medellín, a truly mad city that is absolutely beautiful. Can't wait to go back another day!    Read more

  • Ben MarshCentral and South AmericaBen Marsh
    1

    A bank holiday weekend in Jericó

    November 17, 2025 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Turns out there is a big difference between Jericho and Jericó! Primarily that Jericó is just 3 hours south of Medellín and is true coffee heartland.

    An amazing weekend spent outside of the city. Jericó is beautifully decorated with the main method of transport being the classic jeeps that are littered around town. If you want to visit a farm, you gotta take a jeep.

    I spent the weekend with a friend from Dorset and her friend who lives in Bogotá. We visited an incredible coffee farm called Finca Sagrada where the owners walked us through the whole process of cultivating coffee. Picking, washing, drying and roasting. Finca Sagrada are also doing their whole process organically with a commitment to re-foresting their farmland.

    Beautiful landscapes and delicious coffee. Also statues of Mary.... everywhere....    Read more

  • Ben MarshCentral and South AmericaBen Marsh

    Get Bogged (Adios Bogotá)

    November 18, 2025 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    I wasn't sure what to expect going into Bogotá. More than one traveller I'd met in Colombia had told me that Bog wasn't worth visiting for long or not to go at all.

    I can happily say that advice is totally wrong. Bogotá is not as touristy as Medellín and is definitely rougher around the edges. Also in the middle.... but overall everyone is overwhelmingly nice, helpful and loves to give you extremely long and confusing advice.

    Highlights were the gold museum which detailed Colombias pre colonial past, salsa class at the language exchange centre, going for a night out in Colombia's largest night club Theatron, the Botero museum showcasing all of his amazing and crazy art and a trip out of the city to the unique ecosystem called Páramo where the weird and wonderful frilajones grow.

    Next is the Amazon jungle!    Read more

  • Ben MarshCentral and South AmericaBen Marsh
    1

    Arrival in Las Amazonas

    November 23, 2025 in Colombia ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    Arrived in the Amazon! A short 2 hour flight transports you from Colombia's capital of Bogotá to it's Amazon gateway, Leticia.

    Leticia is crazy, so much sound and noise along with heat and humidity. The town sits at a triple border junction between Colombia (Leticia), Brazil (Tabatinga) and Peru (Santa Rosa). In a place like this borders barely matter and you can walk freely between all three countries.

    Next is a journey up river to the indigenous town of Macedonia.

    And yes, this man is selling beetle grubs to eat.    Read more

  • Ben MarshCentral and South AmericaBen Marsh

    Macedonia (not that one)

    November 23, 2025 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    A 2 hour boat ride upriver, and we arrive in Macedonia! I've been joined by 3 French guys and an Italian. For the next 4 days we are living together in Macedonia's hostel, which sits directly alongside el rio de amazonas.

    Today is getting to know the town and meeting the local families who are all part of a group called Tekuna.    Read more

  • Ben MarshCentral and South AmericaBen Marsh
    1

    Piranha fishing and Selva sleeping

    November 24, 2025 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Disclaimer: we only caught one piranha.

    We started the day by taking a small boat down the river and then up into one of the thousands of small streams that cut through the jungle. Our guide Jésus gave us wooden rods and bait to dangle over the side of our boat. Turns out piranha are smarter than us with all of our bait apart from one being successfully snatched off the line.

    After this our guide decided that it was time to head into la selva (the jungle). We were given rubber boots and a hammock each which we carried for our three hour hike into the primary forest beyond the town. Jésus told us about the area, gave us fruits to try from trees I had never heard of and always had his shotgun over his shoulder watching for jaguars.

    At camp we made dinner and hung our hammocks before going on a night hike deep in the jungle. This was unbelievable. We found crickets, frogs, electric eels, moths and tarantulas. The next morning we woke up at 5am and hiked back to Macedonia.    Read more

  • Ben MarshCentral and South AmericaBen Marsh
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    Swimming in the amazon

    November 25, 2025 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Crazy to say "I swam in the amazon river" but now I can! Another great day on the river where we visited a beautiful town called Puerto Nariño and a nature reserve that rescues injured animals.

    After that we finished the day by grabbing some beers in town before jumping into the river and then cruising back home to Macedonia.    Read more

  • Ben MarshCentral and South AmericaBen Marsh

    San Antonio island, Peru

    November 26, 2025 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Last day in Macedonia and we crossed the river to find ourselves on the Peruvian island of San Antonio. Our guide Christy is only 18 and is the first female guide to work in the reserve.

    We saw 2 species of sloth, so many birds and met someone's pet capybara! She loved being fed and is called Juanita.

    Amazing way to finish our time touring the amazon.    Read more

  • Ben MarshCentral and South AmericaBen Marsh

    Salida del amazonas

    November 27, 2025 in Colombia ⋅ 🌧 26 °C

    Leaving the amazon is not as easy as entering the amazon....

    After an incredible time in Macedonia, I decided to take the speed boat (19 hours...) from Leticia in Colombia to Iquitos, Peru.

    Originally, I was going to take the 3 day slow boat, but as Christmas gets close, I'm starting to feel like time is against me. Buying a ticket for the speed boat, though, was an interesting challenge!

    Leticia (Colombia) was where I started, I then had to cross into Tabatinga (Brazil) to buy a boat ticket from a Peruvian company.

    After crossing into Brazil and returning with my ticket, it was time to get the boat. I walked to the harbour with a new friend called Noah where we found a family with a wooden boat who would take us over the river to Santa Rosa (Peru) so that we could do our immigration.

    Crossing the river in this tiny boat was interesting, but we made it. On the other side, we took a tuktuk to immigration before travelling back to take a new motorboat to reach our ferry, which we had now been told was further up the coast of the island!

    The last twist was the timing of the boat. We knew it left at 1 pm, but on our way to it, we realised that my phone now said 12:55pm Peru and Noah's said 11:55am Colombia. To top it all off, we realised that we'd technically bought the ticket in Brazil!?

    Fortunately for us, this is Latin America, and even though we were on time, the ferry was late anyway. Our reward for all this was entry to Iquitos and Peru!    Read more

  • Ben MarshCentral and South AmericaBen Marsh
    3

    Bienvenido a Perú. Iquitos to Lima

    November 28, 2025 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Our speedboat ride ended in Iquitos, Peru. Iquitos is one of the Peruvian amazon gateway towns and is a minimum 1 hour flight from any other city. Your only options for onward travel are planes or more boats...

    Iquitos also had almost no cars, using only tuktuk and motorcycles. Car's are expensive to ship downriver, meaning only the army or police use them.

    I spent 5 hours in Iquitos before flying to Lima, but it was a crazy 5 hours!    Read more

  • Ben MarshCentral and South AmericaBen Marsh
    11

    Lima, football, weird hostel, great food

    November 28, 2025 in Peru ⋅ 🌙 20 °C

    First impression of Lima was not a good one. The final game of the Pan South America cup was on in Lima with the decider played between 2 of Brazils biggest football clubs.

    When I arrived at the hostel, I'd booked a few days before I was turned away and told that my booking shouldn't have been accepted and that they were full! The football meant this was the case across the city, with hotels charging hundreds.

    Just before panic set in, though, a tiny hostel suddenly appeared online after a cancellation, and I took it. Was it the best hostel? No... was it better than sleeping outside? Yes.

    After this, though, Lima quickly turned into one of my favourite cities in Latin America.

    The coast is incredible, but the food is stunning. Lima is called the food capital of South america for a reason, and it really delivered.

    I had dinner with a colleague and friend who was also travelling Peru with his fiance and went on a food tour the next day. Peru is famous for its fish dish Ceviche, and we were lucky enough to go into a number of different restaurant kitchens to watch it be prepared!

    I also found Paddington at 3am outside a bar on the waterfront.    Read more

  • Ben MarshCentral and South AmericaBen Marsh
    1

    Paracas and Huacachina

    November 30, 2025 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Paracas is 4 hours south of Lima on the Peruvian coast. From Paracas, you can take a boat out to the Islas ballestas, described as Peru's galapagos. That seems a strange comparison as the islands are pretty small, but the penguins, sealions, and bird life are amazing.

    After Paracas, I continued across Peru into the desert and went to Huacachina. A really strange town built around an oasis in the desert where there are only 2 things to do... dune buggies and sand boarding. So I did both!    Read more

  • Ben MarshCentral and South AmericaBen Marsh

    A brief look at a Nazca line

    December 1, 2025 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    After leaving Paracas, I took the bus to Nazca, home of the famous Nazca lines. I didn't take a flight over the lines and climbed one of the watch towers instead. From these, you can view the smaller lines.

    After Nazca, I was meant to take the bus to a new town called Arequipa. Unfortunately, a general strike by Peruvian miners was called, which led to them blocking the main highway!

    So Arequipa is off the list, and it is straight to Cusco on an 18-hour night bus for me!    Read more

  • Ben MarshCentral and South AmericaBen Marsh

    Finding my new groove in Cusco

    December 2, 2025 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    That title is a reference for any true movie fans.

    Cusco is high, really really high at 3400m above sea level, and can take some adjustment when you first arrive. Luckily, I had been travelling up through Peru gradually and wasn't too shocked when I finally reached the top.

    The architecture of old Cusco is a strange and amazing blend of Inca walls, colonial architecture, and new buildings all sat on top of each other.

    Easily one of the safest and most relaxed cities that I have been to on my trip, Cusco is amazing.    Read more

  • Ben MarshCentral and South AmericaBen Marsh
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    A very white rainbow mountain

    December 4, 2025 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 1 °C

    To prepare for my 5 day hike over Salkantay pass to Machu Picchu, I was advised to do the rainbow mountain day hike. At the top of Rainbow Mountain, you reach 5000m above sea level, where you are meant to be able to see the different minerals of the soil across the mountain.

    For me, all I saw was snow and Alpaca.... but it was still fun!    Read more

  • Ben MarshCentral and South AmericaBen Marsh
    11

    Salkantay trail and Machu Picchu

    December 10, 2025 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

    Salkantay is a snow-capped mountain north of Cusco and is one of the most famous mountain passes across the Andes.

    I did a 5 day hike starting at the base of Salkantay, which then went up and through Salkantay pass before following ancient inca trails for 3 more days until we reached Machu Picchu.

    The mountains and landscapes along the way are some of the craziest places I have ever seen.    Read more

  • Ben MarshCentral and South AmericaBen Marsh

    Ollantaytambo and goodbye Cusco

    December 12, 2025 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    The Salkantay trek was incredible and is going to be written down as one of the highlights of my trip. Unfortunately, though, I did spend most of the trek with a bad fever... A friend of mine from the trek suggested that I needed some recovery time and invited me up to the town of Ollantaytambo in the sacred valley to, in her words, do nothing for 4 days.

    It turns out that this was the best advice I could have been given.

    Ollantaytambo is a beautiful town and is situated deep in the sacred valley of the Inca. Every 5 minutes, there is a new incredible view or ruin to see.

    As a final twist, Lucia and I also attended a Peruvian wedding?! We were told that a huge wedding was happening in the town and that everyone was invited. We turned up to take a look, and before we knew it, we had been ushered in, seated, and had food and wine placed in front of us! Out of all the things I thought I would do on this trip, I did not think that attending a Peruvian wedding with an Argentinian would be one of them.

    A beautiful place, my amazing friend Lucia, a hostel host with a thousand stories to tell, a crazy wedding and a very cute dog.

    Salkantay is one of my trip highlights, but only because it was followed by Ollantaytambo.

    After this, it's finally time to say goodbye to Cusco. On to Puno and then Bolivia!    Read more

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