I just submitted a bunch of photos to this, which forced me to rummage through the 50GB of images I had shot in Latin America, Europe and North Africa in the last couple of years - a job I’ve been putting off for way too long. So here’s a small and random selection of photos from Mexico, Cuba, Morocco and Panama that I thought were kinda nice.

Hello folks, happy belated new year. I realise things have been a little slow around here post-wise, chalk it up to a totally hectic end of 2010, coupled with 6 weeks of trekking through a European winter. Good times, but I will never leave an Australian summer to play in the snow ever again. Anyway, here are a very select bunch of images from my trip, which took in Switzerland, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Morocco and good ol’ London town. Good times were had, and way too much jamon was consumed.

It’s been a while. I missed you guys.

So I guess I should bring you all up to speed. Some of you may be aware that I have been on the road, traveling through South and Central America for the last eight or so months. In fact, since my last post in Bogota I made my way through the Amazon in southern Colombia, heading downriver into Brazil, which I explored for almost two months. From there it was Cuba, then Mexico for two and a half months, culminating in a couple of weeks in LA. It has been a pretty amazing time. Like all things though, it inevitably had to come to an end, so now I am back in Melbourne, and it feels good.

Somewhere along the way I stopped posting about my travels (too much time spent living in the real world I guess) but now I’m back, so I’m going to do my best to post a retrospective about each place I have visited whenever I get a sec.

More excitingly, you may have noticed that things look a little different around here, probably due to the fact that I have done some remodeling, including a new website with actual work on it which you can find here. So go check it out, and tell your friends, cause I am open for business.

In other news, I am honored to have been invited to participate in an amazing exhibition in Spain run by the Brrothers Studio in Badalona. The project aims to create a canvas around 100 metres long and 1.5 metres high, representing a time-line of the most important moments of the city of Badalona, interpreted by 100 artists from all over the world. Ambitious and amazing. Check out the blog for the project, and the list of other artists involved here.

As well as this, I was also interviewed by the German creative website Elate Magazine while I was in Puerto Escondido, Mexico. You can check it out here.

So that’s pretty much it for now. Big things are bubbling away though, so stay tuned for more news soon. 

After reluctantly saying goodbye to Providencia we headed back to mainland Colombia - specifically the capital city of Bogota. Nestled in the northern end of The Andes, Bogota is actually the third highest major city in the world, and you can feel it in the altitude when you arrive by plane. To look at, Bogota is definitely not a city with instant appeal. Drab architecture, and an average temperature that doesn’t get much past twenty degrees Celsius meant breaking out the jeans after almost two months of tropical glory. Having said all this, it was nice being back in a big city, and after a couple of days we were pretty much hooked.

Bogota is essentially made up of two sides, the wealthier northern suburbs including the hip yuppie area of Zona Rosa, and the southern areas where the majority of Bogota’s slums are situated. Located at the beginning of the southern district is the colonial area called La Candelaria, where the the hostels are to be found, which was where we ended up staying. Interesting and full of life during the day, La Candelaria’s poky little streets go a little nuts when the sun goes down, filling with drunks, crackheads and thugs, so needless to say it’s not the safest place to wander around. Luckily for us we had an excellent posse at our hostel, so we tended to roam in gringo packs, and pretty much every night was a party. To balance out the rampant debauchery, we spent our days soaking up Colombian culture at the Museo Botero and the Gold Museum, checked out the amazing view from Monseratte, and ate a lot of excellent cheap food. Despite all this goodness however, by the end of ten days in Bogota I was on the verge of self-inflicted ruin, so thankfully for me our next stop was deep in the Amazon jungle.

I do miss you though Bogota.

Oh, and Happy Birthday Emanuel, you crazy bald Swede.

Ahhhhh, Providencia.

After leaving the amazing colonial city that is Cartagena, we split from our posse, who were generally making their way east along the Caribbean coast of mainland Colombia, to head towards the more unexplored islands of San Andres and Providencia. Nestled off the coast of Nicaragua, the Colombian archipelago, in particular the island of San Andres (once a mecca for duty free shopping) is a popular holiday destination for Colombians, but remains relatively unknown to the rest of the world.

Our initial impressions of San Andres were definitely mixed. While the water and surrounding reefs off the island were beautiful, the island itself, and its interior were densely populated and polluted, with overdevelopment creating a beachfront not unlike a decaying Surfer’s Paradise. Adding to our less than positive impression was the presence of a hurricane that rolled through a few hours after our arrival, halting any transport to and from the island, leaving us stuck there for four days, when we’d originally only planned on being there for one. Pretty soon we’d had enough of sitting indoors, so we ventured out into the streets, not realizing that we were wandering into what was potentially the worst moment of the storm. Walking through the deserted town in gale force winds and rain like nothing we’d ever seen before was an experience we won’t forget.

Anyway, eventually the hurricane moved on, and we managed to get on our boat to Providencia. After 2 hours on the open sea, the volcanic peaks of the island came into view, and it was incredible. Like something out of Jurassic Park, Providencia loomed with a jungle-covered mountainous interior, ringed by white sand beaches, cliffs and a shitload of coconut palms. With a population strictly limited to around five thousand people, Providencia remains completely and intentionally undeveloped. The locals are fervently protective of their home, and show extreme pride when asked about it. Tourism exists, but is limited, however locals are incredibly welcoming and super, super laid-back, giving you sense of being part of the family while you’re there. So for the next two weeks we spent our time doing what you do in an island paradise. Lazing on the beach, snorkeling around the third-largest reef in the world, hiking through jungle to get to mountain peaks, a lot of fishing, dodging the abundance of crabs and iguanas wandering on the roads while riding scooters, and drinking Rum and Aguardiente. Basically it was perfect.

A couple of side notes worth mentioning about Providencia:

The island is rumoured to be the hiding place of Captain Morgan’s treasure, and apparently a lot of gold still remains there. When we quizzed a local about this, we were told that a lone European man actually turned up to the island about a year earlier, and had found some treasure, only to have it confiscated by authorities when he tried to get it on a plane.

The island is also thought (at least by the locals) to be the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Which I thought was kind of cool.

Just outside of Cartagena, the Totumo mud volcano is essentially a small dirt hill surrounding a two thousand meter hole in the ground that’s completely filled with thick grey mud – and you can bathe in it. Apparently the mud has some dubious therapeutic benefits, but stranger than the idea of bathing in a volcano is the process of getting cleaned once you’re out. When you’re done floating around, you make your way down the hill towards a nearby lagoon, where you’re quickly attacked by ferocious cleaning ladies who forcibly remove all your clothes and proceed to rub you down until all traces of mud are gone. Call me a prude, but surprisingly it wasn’t quite as enjoyable as it may sound. Despite this, Totumo was definitely worth checking out. Also I realise I’m really, really, really behind on posting. So sorry I guess, and I’ll try to bring you up to speed as quickly as possible. Happy New Year!

Once we’d arrived in Cartagena, (apparently the plastic surgery capital of Colombia – supposedly good AND cheap if you’re into that sort of thing), we made our way to Getsemani, a suburb adjoining the walled Old City that we later discovered was one of the sketchier parts of town, populated by hookers, drug dealers and a bunch of backpackers. Having said that, we definitely felt infinitely more comfortable there than in many of the other cities we’d visited, and Cartagena’s laid-back vibe clearly defied the reputation that precedes Colombia. Even the coke dealers on most street corners were friendly, and while they definitely had ulterior motives, you didn’t have to be a paying customer to get useful bits of info from them once they’d struck up a conversation.

Despite being a seriously touristy city, it’s pretty hard not to love the shit out of Cartagena. The beautifully maintained Spanish Colonial architecture, tropical weather, Reggaeton, Soca and Salsa music blasting from every doorway, cheap food and booze and super easy going (and attractive) locals make for a pretty infectious combo. In total we spent a week there, basically just wandering around the city, visiting some attractions (like the Totumo mud volcano) and partying at night on the rooftop of the Media Luna hostel and a bunch of bars and clubs around town, including a Halloween bender on Calle Arsenal which we paid for tenfold the next day. No regrets. Next stop San Andres and Providencia.

Oh and if anyone can be bothered I’ve figured out how to install a commenting system on the blog, so now YOU can leave a comment without having to log in or anything, which would make me happy.

After finally tearing ourselves away from the vortex that is Bocas, we flew back to Panama City, on the hunt for a boat to our next destination, Cartagena. After some extensive research and a bit of luck, we reserved a couple of spots on the infamous German ship The Stahlratte. With about a week to kill before the boat set sail, we kept ourselves entertained playing Risk, checking out the nightlife and drinking beer. Amongst this we managed to fit in a random day trip to Portobelo for the Black Christ festival, an annual event that sees around 40,000 Panamanians swarm into the tiny harbor town for a weird frenzy of drinking, fireworks, and religious fervor that culminates in a four hour parade where a large statue of a black Jesus is carried out of the local church by hundreds of inspired devotees. Combine with this a bunch of particularly eager penance-seeking pilgrims that actually walk the approximately 150-200km (I don’t know, it’s just far) from Panama City, followed by a 2km CRAWL into town whilst having hot wax dropped onto their naked backs, and you’ve got a pretty strange event going on.

Anyway, the day finally arrived for us to set sail. After getting up at 4am, we were loaded into jeeps for a two hour drive down to the Comarca De Kuna Yala, a rough and ready territory run autonomously by Panama’s indigenous people, the Kuna Indians. With their help (in the form of motorized canoes) we had to get to the Stahlratte, which was anchored off-shore in the San Blas archipelago, where we were to spend the next couple of days.

Now, if you’ve ever had an image in your head of the ultimate deserted island, San Blas is the reality. Made up of over 300 islands of varying sizes (some are no more than 5x5 meters) complete with white sand beaches and coconut palms, the archipelago consists of  crystal clear water, coral reefs, a few Kuna villages, and not much else. Basically it’s incredible.

So after taking some time to get acquainted with the boat and it’s kooky German crew, we spent the next few days exploring the area, swimming from island to island, snorkeling some incredible reefs, swinging on a rope off the boat, having beach bbq’s with insane amounts of lobster, and drinking a lot of rum.

Unfortunately all this had to come to an end, and on the third day the boat set sail for Cartagena, leaving San Blas behind for a two day voyage on the open sea. After some initial issues with sea sickness, we settled into the rhythm and spent the next two days lazing on deck in the sun, reading, sleeping and doing not much else as the boat made its way to Colombia. Finally on the morning of the fourth day we spotted the tiniest hint of land on the horizon, and within a couple of hours the skyscrapers of Cartagena came into view. It was a beautiful thing. Little did we know that we’d have to sit for 8 hours anchored in the port while Colombian immigration processed our passports, but all was forgiven after a few beers and an amazing sunset over the water. Eventually we made our way to dry land, and so began our love affair with Colombia.

While in Bocas we decided to get our PADI Open Water Diver certification, as it’s actually one of the cheapest places in the world to do it, probably due to the notoriously low visibility of the water. So, paired up with our trusty instructor Roosevelt aka Chombo, we got stuck into three solid days of classroom theory, confined water dives and open water dives, and despite running out of air 18 meters under the sea, I didn’t drown once and still managed to get certified. Diving is definitely a good time.

Once we were done with Isla Grande, we headed back to Panama City to catch our flight out to the supposed paradise of the Bocas Del Toro archipelago. After one of the sketchiest flights and landings I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing, we finally arrived on the main island of Isla Colon.

As we pretty quickly discovered, Bocas is not entirely the out-of-the-way island paradise we had anticipated. Well and truly infiltrated by aging American tourists, Bocas can definitely give you the sense of being a Caribbean styled theme park at times. Having said that however, it’s easy to get over the occasional cheesiness, and falling into the easy-going way of life on the island becomes almost obligatory.  While there’s not a hell of a lot to see on Isla Colon itself (the good beaches are all a bus or boat ride away), we kept ourselves busy doing open water diving certifications, checking out the amazing Cayo Zapatilla islands and the picturesque beach of Bocas Del Drago and drinking a heap of Pina Coladas at the floating Pickled Parrot bar. Special mention also has to go out to Alberto and Marcella, the Italian couple who kept us well fed, well boozed and well slept at their hotel and restaurant Cala Luna, definitely the best (and cheap) place on the island. I pretty much blame them for us staying there a week longer than anticipated. Also hi to Jenny Bastimentos, we’ll see you in NY soon.

So I pretty quickly discovered that the Inca trail is not really as easy as everyone told me it was. Four days of trekking and camping at altitude can seriously take it out of you, so much so that at times I was left wondering why the hell I had paid so much to dump myself in the shit we were going through. However with the incredible views, ample amounts of coca leaves to chew, and the big unveiling on the last day, it all became very, very clear.

Like Cusco, the Inca trail and Machu Picchu are probably the most recognizable tourist attractions in South America, but I guess being one of the Seven Wonders of the World, you kind of let the occasional tackiness and throngs of tourists slide. The down side? After stumbling out of the wilderness from four days of grueling trekking, you’re faced with a shitload of shiny, clean tourists who beat you there after catching the train that morning from Cusco. The up side? Check the photos.

3300 metres above sea level, Cusco is a small town nestled in the Peruvian Andes, and is the starting point for most people’s pilgrimages along the Inca trail. Once an Inca stronghold, Cusco was invaded by the Spanish a few hundred years ago, creating a weird mish mash of Spanish colonial and original Inca architecture, which would be pretty interesting if it wasn’t for the fact that Cusco has basically had the life sucked out of it by its main industry, tourism. To look at, Cusco is an amazing place made up of tiny cobbled alleys, pokey little shops and insane cab drivers, all surrounded by mountains covered in red dirt and yellow grass, but unfortunately the city itself is filled with touts and would-be promoters, peddling everything from woolen Peruvian beanies, to crappy toy llamas, to massages and shitty drink deals at the local bars and night clubs. However if you can get past the touts and the fact that tourists make up more of the population of the city than actual locals, you can find another side to Cusco, with some great restaurants, strange little bars and interesting people. All in all it’s a pretty fun time, as long as you can cope with the altitude.

Once we got into Chile we headed straight to the capital city of Santiago, eventually finding our way to barrio Bella Vista, the suburb where we were staying. Seeing as we only had one full day in Santiago, and there happened to be a large hill that overlooked the entire city just around the corner from our place, we decided that getting to the top of the hill was our best option to see the whole place in a day. The view was actually amazing, so in celebration we spent the remaining eight hours of the day drinking beer and pisco sours at a bar on the street, which turned out to be another excellent way to see the city. The next morning we were up at 3am to catch an early flight to Cusco, Peru. Hurty.

So having exhausted the wine tour option, and with a few more days to kill, we went looking for something else to do, and discovered that Mendoza is also the adventure sport capital of Argentina. Excellent.

We thought it might be fun to try paragliding since there are a bunch of companies that run flights, and turns out that it was the best decision we could have made. I have never experienced anything quite as amazing as floating 2km above the Andes with nothing but air between you and the ground. Incredible. Photos above.

They also have some hot springs up in the mountains which were fun, and the wine was still really good. That’s about it for Mendoza, I’d definitely go back though.