Being vegetarian in Tallinn

Being vegetarian in Tallinn

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Sitting on the plane on the way to Tallinn, reading my guide book, my heart started to sink.  “The idea of anyone willingly giving up meat is fairly baffling to the porkchop-loving Estonians”, it declared. Those vegetarian dishes that do exist “range from fairly uninspired concoctions of stir fried veggies or grilled cauliflower”, read the next sentence. There was also a warning that any soups or salad that may appear meat-free by reading the menu were likely to include bits of…

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A walk around picturesque Castle Coombe

A walk around picturesque Castle Coombe

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While visiting Sarah’s family in Bristol, in the South West of England, we spent a long morning in the picturesque village of Castle Combe.  The village has been used as the setting in a number of films and TV programmes, including Dr Dolittle, Poirot and more recently Warhorse. For reasons that will be obvious, Castle Combe is regularly listed as one of the prettiest villages in England and is a well worth a visit. A walk in the woods around the…

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Visiting the island of Menorca

Visiting the island of Menorca

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Which way to the beach please? After our 6 and a half month trip around South America, we were ready for a holiday! So we went and surprised James’ family who had rented out a villa on the Spanish island of Menorca. This also gave us the opportunity to meet James’ new niece for the first time! James’ niece and sister enjoying the Mediterranean Sea at the beautiful Arenal d’en Castell beach They were staying in Na Macaret in the…

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Being Vegetarian in Colombia

Being Vegetarian in Colombia

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Like everywhere else in South America, vegetarianism isn’t particular popular in Colombia and most traditional fare involves some kind of meat or fish. However, with a little shopping around, you can find vegetarian friendly Colombian food. And of course, in the bigger cities of Bogotá, Medellín and Cartagena there are also a range of international options. Here’s what we ate: Colombian food1. Arepas: An ubiquitous lunchtime snack or side dish in Colombia, arepas are a type flatbread, made with a pre-cooked cornflour….

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Photo Friday: Viewing the moon

Photo Friday: Viewing the moon

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Looking through our photos from our South American trip, I found these amazing pictures that we took of the moon!  Even more amazingly, they were taken on an iPhone!  While we were in Nazca in Peru, we went to the Maria Reiche planetarium at the Nazca Lines Hotel. Maria Reiche was a German researcher who dedicated her life to research on the Nazca Lines and was successful in raising their profile and ensuring the protection of the Nazca desert.The planetarium offers nightly shows about…

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Where we stayed – Colombia

Where we stayed – Colombia

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Bogotá: We’d advise booking ahead for hostels in Bogotá. We booked through hostelworld 4 days in advance and really struggled to find vacancies in those places we’d been recommended or which had the best online reviews. We ended up in the Explora Hostel in the Candelaria area of the city, where we didn’t have the best of stays. When we arrived they’d lost our booking and the woman on reception really struggled to know what to do to resolve the…

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Visiting the Panama Canal

Visiting the Panama Canal

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The Panama Canal first opened over 100 years ago in 1914. Since then more than a million vessels have passed through. The canal links the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean, allowing ships to avoid the lengthy Cape Horn route around the southern tip of South America.  There are three sets of locks in the canal – two at the Pacific Ocean end of the canal and one at the Atlantic end. Visiting the Miraflores Locks The Miraflores Locks, which have two…

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Being vegetarian in Brazil

Being vegetarian in Brazil

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Like the Argentinians, the Brazilians do like their meat, meaning that for our just over two weeks in the country, we found that Brazil was not a particularly vegetarian friendly place. As in Argentina, we found that ‘by weight’ self- service restaurants, where you are charged by the kilo for the amount of food you put on your plate, are a good option (particularly if you like beans and rice!). In Rio and Sao Paulo, as you might expect, there…

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Crossing Borders: In pictures

Crossing Borders: In pictures

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We crossed a number of land borders throughout our 6 and a half months in South America – quite a novelty for two Brits! Here are some of our border crossing photos.  Leaving Peru, we were pleased that the border crossing was well marked with the iconic Peru sign and a big bottle of Cusquena beer! We walked across the border into Bolivia and were less delighted with the queue for Bolivian immigration that we were confronted with. We left Bolivia…

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The ‘ultimate’ guide to getting a sail-boat from Cartagena to Panama

The ‘ultimate’ guide to getting a sail-boat from Cartagena to Panama

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Sunset on the boat Overview On a map it looks like it would be relatively straightforward to get from Colombia to Panama. The two are linked by land and so you’d think that there must be regular transport between the two.  But you’d be wrong! The Darién Gap is an area of dense jungle and swampland of 160 kilometres in length that links the two countries together and there is no road that goes through it. The area is also home…

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