Colombia Cartagena de Indias: Journey's end Each day we ran a gauntlet of street sellers hawking Panama hats, Cuban cigars and cheap jewellery; after dark, the same people offered us cocaína in a conspiratorial whisper...
Colombia Medellín: Stepping out of the shadows I found myself wondering why we were all here. Was it to learn about an inspiring story of urban renewal, or was it for the thrill of being somewhere with a frisson of danger...?
Colombia Salento & Jardín: Colombia's colourful countryside The main square was surrounded by bars and cafés where men in cowboy hats and ponchos sat on brightly painted chairs, sipping aguardiente and playing dominos...
Colombia Villa de Leyva & Bogotá: A fragile peace We scanned our surroundings nervously. Was there a threat from dissident guerrillas? Or maybe a high-level narco hiding out in the town?
Ecuador The Galapagos: A world without humans Straight away we spotted sea turtles swimming underneath us, incredibly close, and they were quickly joined by inquisitive sea lions. Then a couple of penguins, shooting through the water like torpedoes...
Peru Lima & Quito: Two capitals in four days After weeks of travelling through the Andes, gasping for air at high altitude and sometimes shivering at night, the warm coastal climate of Lima was a welcome change...
Peru Hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu We scrambled down the other side of the mountain, stopping briefly to struggle and swear our way into our waterproof trousers, fingers already numb from the freezing rain...
Peru Cusco: Capital of the Incas Cusco's historic centre was like an open air museum of colonial architecture, a warren of narrow, cobbled streets that all seemed to lead back to the majestic Plaza de Armas...
Bolivia Highs and lows on Lake Titicaca The boats bobbing in the harbour and the terracotta tiled roofs lent the island an almost Mediterranean feel, an illusion only broken by the occasional Aymara lady ambling past in a trademark bowler hat...
Bolivia Monkeying around in Madidi National Park We saw egrets and herons fishing by the river bank; swallows darting overhead; and the unmistakable silhouette of two scarlet macaws, flying through the treetops...
Bolivia La Paz: The cholita city This is La Paz: sprawling, crowded, congested, dirty, noisy, polluted and utterly compelling...
Bolivia Potosí & Sucre: A tale of two cities As our taxi struggled up one of the city's many steep and narrow streets, the charcoal clouds hanging overhead suddenly fell in on themselves, thunder rippling out as hailstones started pouring from the sky...
Bolivia Lagoons, llamas and the Salar de Uyuni As the horizon started to glow orange with the rising sun we got our first glimpse of the salt flat, a dream-like landscape of white, hexagonal crystals stretching as far as the eye could see...
Chile Spaced out in San Pedro de Atacama Once we were over the border into Chile the landscape became even weirder, an empty and desolate desert ringed with chocolate brown volcanoes streaked white with snow...
Argentina The Quebrada de Humahuaca: Argentina's wild north west The Quebrada de Humahuaca is a world away from Buenos Aires, a wild and surreal landscape of multi-coloured mountains and cactus-filled deserts...
Argentina Salta: Gateway to the Andes As the city fell away we passed through a scrubby landscape of hills prickly with cardón cacti, before entering the stunning Quebrada de las Conchas...
Argentina Merry in Mendoza Our starter and main course were paired with our eighth and ninth wines of the day, a punchy chardonnay and another very nice malbec, and by this point the day had acquired rather fuzzy edges...
Argentina Córdoba: Argentina's surprising second city The cathedral looked particularly beautiful against the sunny blue skies, built on a site that has been in continuous use as a church since 1582, longer than anywhere else in Argentina...
Argentina Buenos Aires: A capital in crisis Buenos Aires is tinged with sadness, like an aristocratic old lady who's lost her husband and turned to gin...
Uruguay Colonia del Sacramento & Montevideo: A Uruguayan interlude Some buildings were smartly painted in bright, summery colours, while others sat beautifully dilapidated, with multi-hued layers of paint peeling away and flowers taking root in the cracks.
Brazil Iguazu Falls: Both sides of the story Every time we thought we'd got our heads round the size and layout of Iguazu, we'd round a corner and realise that another huge series of waterfalls had been hiding just out of view.
Brazil São Paulo: South America's megacity Around 12 million people live in the city itself, and a whopping 21 million in the wider metropolitan area, making São Paulo not just the biggest city in South America, but the biggest in the entire Southern Hemisphere.
Brazil Ilha Grande & Paraty: Brazil's Costa Verde Everyone seemed to be ambling along in their Havaianas in a sort of tropical daze, like a tiny Caribbean island with a Brazilian twist...
Brazil Rio de Janeiro: Letting it all hang out The sun was just starting to dip behind the Dois Irmaos peaks at the far end of the beach, and the spray coming off the sea was floating above the beach like a golden mist...
Brazil Setting off for South America... We're getting ready to head off on a 4-month trip around South America, visiting Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia...
