I feel like the coolest person in the world. I'm staying upright, and not only that but staying upright at quite a speed. I turn to the left, change my leading foot in a move so smooth that I feel like I've been doing it forever, and continue whooshing down the snowy side of the active volcano that overlooks the log cabin town and glittering lake of Pucon. What fresh air, what beautiful views, what brilliant sunshine reflecting off the brilliant snow... And it's...

Downtown Medellin, Friday night. In the entrance of an unassuming street corner shop, encased in burglar bars, sits an old man in a wheelchair. I'm with B, an Aussie girl, and a Swiss guy, and we all hesitate before approaching the doorway. The man in the wheelchair nods us through, and we decend a narrow staircase. Halfway down, the sticky air, thick with sweat, starts to crawl up my body, as my eyes struggle to adjust to the dim light in the small room. The lou...

Flavours, faces and a fever for life have drifted across the sea from the Caribbean and made themselves at home with the coastal Colombians in Cartagena. The brightly coloured buildings contrast like a child's drawing with the blue cloudless sky, and old peeling balconies jut out over narrow cobbled streets supporting the overspills from cafe's and rows of crafts and local food. We threw ourselves in at the deep end in the first night, getting caught up in a ce...

The humidity was almost as heavy as my backpack, and beads of sweat slid down my drenched fringe before falling to the jungle floor. Occasionally a line of donkeys and mules would pass, carrying absurd loads on their underfed frames, and I would find new energy from somewhere. The promise of a world where wild beaches hug a tropical forest, flanked by brilliant blue ocean had brought us here, to Tayrona National Park in the north of Colombia. We met a local guy...

I had called best friend B back in Cuzco in Peru, caught in a disgracefully early bout of homesickness and loneliness. Hearing a familiar voice for the 7 minutes I was allowed warmed me up, "so you'll be on the next flight out to Peru then yeah?" I joked, just as the snotty tone of the dead line rang out. Recharged, I went on my solo way, and we didn't speak again until Mancora a few weeks later. "Where you being serious about coming out to South America? Coz...