Our sailing trip from Cartagena, Colombia to El Porvenir, Panama was a fantastic and memorable five-day trip that was arguably the highlight of our South/Central America travels. We were two of eight guests aboard the Gypsy Mothm, which is a 54ft mono-hull Gulfstar sailboat. It is captained by skipper Sym and crewed by his wife Amy and their 3-year old daughter Hallie whom are all UK-expats. From the reviews we'd read online, the trip was meant to be an activity...

We arrived in Cartagena on the evening of September 21st after a comfortable 8-hour flight from Lima, which included a 20-minute stopover in Bogota. We collected our bags and stepped outside the terminal to take in our first glimpse of Colombia, and we were (or at least I was) not disappointed. Greeting us was a tall, voluptuous black lady dressed in a sun-goddess bikini who, for a small fee, would let you take your picture with her. Unfortunately I had to pa...

Lima, Peru We had a relatively short stay in Lima (2 days) as we'd arrived a little later in our trip than we'd planned and had already booked our flights to Colombia. Despite the time being short, we saw a fair bit of the city including a rare sighting of the President during the changing of the guards at the Governor's Palace, and were able to catch up with a family friend that I hadn't seen since her visit to Colorado 14 years earlier. Our hostel in Lima ...

Cusco and Machu Picchu, Peru After an 18-hour overnight bus from Arequipa we arrived early in the morning in the picturesque city of Cusco, Peru. We took a cab to our third and last Wild Rover Hostel and were given an impromptu tour of the city by the cab driver en route who took us by some of the famous cathedrals, plazas and parks of Cusco. We checked into the hostel at 8AM and immediately sat down at the hostel bar to watch the opening match of the 2011 Rug...

Arequipa, Peru We had a great time and and were given an excellent first impression of Peru during our three day stay in sunny Arequipa. We stayed at the Wild Rover Hostel again (sister Irish hostel of the one we stayed at in La Paz) to catch up with our friend Eogene Casey whose manager there. Arequipa is called the 'White City' because the majority of the buildings there are made up of a white volcanic rock making the whole place look like a giant museum. ...