Backpack South America

Hiking the Inca Trail: Tips, Information and Advice

Like many of you out there, hiking the classic Inca Trail to Machu Picchu had been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember. The 4-day trek follows ancient trails laid by the Incas, as they snake their way through the Sacred Valley, passing stunning mountain vistas, pre-columbian…

Learning Spanish in South America: Bolivia

A little bit of Spanish goes a very long way in South America – where in most countries almost no one speaks English, even in hotels and at tourist attractions. Travelling this continent will be extremely tough if you don’t make at least some effort to learn the local language, and…

Study Spanish in South America: Learning Spanish in Colombia

This is the second post in my new series on learning Spanish in South America – the first was all about learning in Argentina. If you’re travelling long term in South America, learning a little Spanish really will be invaluable: in many South American countries, even in the big cities…

Your home away from home: Lima Backpackers (Lima, Peru) Lima, the amazing capital of Peru can be an exhausting city. With its 12 million people, constant traffic jams and cars’ horns and its bustling activity, it can easily get overwhelming. There are plenty of hostels one may stay at in town, and most backpackers pick the area of…

Inca Jungle Trek Guide – What to Expect

Perhaps the most iconic site in all of South America, certainly the most visited and well-known destination in Peru, Machu Picchu is on many backpackers’ Bucket Lists and is, quite simply, a must-see. The ruined Inca City, set amongst the towering green peaks of the Huayna Picchu and Machu Picchu mountains,…

Review – Biking Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires, Argentina’s beautiful capital city, is a fabulously metropolitan with such varied districts and so much history that you could explore it for days and still not see everything. With loads of incredible architecture, awesome street art, markets and plenty of green space, one of the best ways to…

Study Spanish in South America: Learning Spanish in Argentina

When it comes to long term travel in South America, I honestly can’t stress enough how much easier your life will be if you learn a little Spanish. Many popular travel destinations, like Europe and Asia, tend to spoil us by having very good English as a second language, but in…

Five More Awesome Things to do in The Amazon

If the first two posts in this series already had you hungering for a trip to The Amazon, read on for even more reasons to visit the world’s largest ecosystem. The Amazon rainforest is six million square kilometres in size, takes up about a third of South America, and is home to…

Best Apps for Learning Spanish

For long term travel in South America, I can stress enough how helpful it will be to know at least a little bit of the language before you go. On the whole, the locals speak little or no English – even in big cities and popular tourist destinations – and…

Inca Jungle Trek Packing List

For those of us that maybe aren’t quite fit enough to take on the most popular of the treks to Machu Picchu, the Inca Trail, or who simply didn’t book it early enough (the trek is now so popular that you need to book at least five months in advance),…

Five More Things to do in The Amazon

Following on from last week’s post all about The Amazon, here are five more incredible things you can do in the world’s largest ecosystem. The six million square kilometre rainforest, which takes up over a third of South America, is worth a visit in it’s own right as a place to see an…

Hostel Review: Mama Waldy

Mama Waldy, Getsemani, Cartagena (Colombia) First the good news: the hostel is conveniently located in the heart of Getsemani, a cool area of Cartagena that is undergoing constant restoration, where you can meet many locals and other fellow travellers. This is about the only positive thing I can think of…