Explore South America

Explore South Americahttps://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/south-americaExplore South Americahttps://public-web-wn.uat.wng.me/explore/south-america/peru/ausangate-trek-5-magic-days-in-the-peruvian-andesFar less traveled than the Inca Trail, this trek around sacred Ausangate mountain offers spectacular scenery, comfortable lodging, and opportunities to visit local communities. 2023-11-27T11:00:00Z https://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/south-america/peru/ausangate-trek-5-magic-days-in-the-peruvian-andeshttps://www.worldnomads.comIt’s a blustery afternoon in Ocefina, Peru, and we are trudging through its rugged green valley, eyed warily by the thousands of llamas and alpacas that litter the mountainsides. Our guides are Jesús, a permanent grin beneath a heavy cap, and Josef, younger and more reserved, who both bounce alongside our group, merrily informing us about the flora and fauna of the area, its customs and history, its people and their lives. My spirits are high as I take it all in but I’m still nervous for what lies ahead. Ausangate, Peru’s 5th highest peak, sits approximately 62mi (100km) southeast of Cusco in the south of <a href="/explore/south-america/peru">Peru</a>. Looming at 20,905ft (6,372m) above sea level, this mountain dominates the Vilcanota mountain range, an imposing, icy figure standing well above its neighbors. But despite its intimidating aura, Ausangate has an undeniable beauty to it, and right now travelers can enjoy a truly unique experience within its domain. <ul> <li><a href="#ausangate">Hiking Ausangate Mountain</a></li> <li><a href="#eco">Comfortable eco lodges</a></li> <li><a href="#pass">Tackling Palomani Pass</a></li> <li><a href="#rainbow">A visit to Rainbow Mountain</a></li> </ul> <h2 id="ausangate">Hiking Ausangate Mountain</h2> Beginning and ending in the rural community of Ocefina, we’ll be <a href="/travel-insurance/activities/hiking-travel-insurance">hikin</a>g 34mi (55km) over five days on a looping route that passes the base of the giant peak, visiting the local Andean communities that have called this area home for generations on the way. Although most travelers come to Peru for Machu Picchu or the Inca Trail, this Ausangate trail lets you dive deep into the nooks and crannies of rural Cusco, while retaining some home comforts: we’re staying in traditional, community-run Andean lodges, heated by open fires and served delicious food prepared by a talented local team – perfect for the traveler who wants to challenge themselves by day but sleep in a comfy bed at night. It might sound dreamy, but it’s not going to be a walk in the park. The entire trek never drops below 13,120ft (4,000m) and we’ll be scaling multiple steep passes; I’m no natural-born hiker, but this would be challenging for almost anyone. Thankfully, our first day begins relatively easily: after a three-hour drive from Cusco, we jump out into the crisp air and are immediately greeted by the local ladies of Ocefina for a short masterclass into their native textile weavings, creating stunning handmade crafts found only in this area. It’s the perfect chance to buy anything we might’ve forgotten for the journey, as well as <a href="/responsible-travel/make-a-difference/participation/the-ethical-traveler-s-guide-to-souvenir-shopping">supporting the ladies’ local economy.</a> <h2 id="eco">Comfortable eco lodges</h2> After an hours’ walk through the lush, green community of Chillca, we arrive at our first lodge and meet the team we’ll be traveling with. We have a small army of horsemen carrying our food supplies and acting as <a href="/travel-insurance/whats-covered/overseas-medical">potential “ambulances”</a>, llamamen with our possessions strapped to their flock, chefs producing lunches and dinners of fresh salads, quinoa soups, and local trout, and housekeeping ladies all working together to look after us on our journey. All of this has been arranged by Cusco-based Andean Lodges in partnership with Tropic, a company that works behind the scenes to craft thoughtful itineraries for travelers mostly in Peru and Ecuador. I take a warm shower in a private bathroom, then fall into a dead sleep, surrounded by candlelight and hot water bottles, while the outside temperatures plummet. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/peru/ausangate/guides-and-staff.jpg" alt="Local trekking guides and porters for the Ausangate trek in Peru." /> <figcaption>Some members of our trekking team. Image credit: Megan FitzGerald</figcaption></figure> After a hearty breakfast of coca tea, eggs, and fresh bread (cheered on by hand-carved fruit animals) the real work begins on our second day as we move onto Machuracay. Jesús is invaluable as our guide, pointing out hidden secrets in the land: a cave where a native owl perches, or a Giant Hummingbird skirting the high rocks. Though it’s an unforgiving landscape, more than 110 species of bird and 25 species of mammals frequent this region, so we crane our necks as we move along on this unexpected safari. Planning a trip to Peru? Find out <a href="/travel-insurance/whats-covered">how travel insurance can cover</a> adventure activities, lost or stolen baggage, sudden illness and more. <h2 id="pass">Tackling Palomani Pass</h2> We ascend higher and the air cools. We navigate glaciers and turquoise bodies of water that appear as the grass fades into rocky terrain, and I have to admit it's exhausting. Watching our local companions skip past gives me motivation to continue, even just out of embarrassment, and I manage to climb further, until I find myself clinging to the sharp incline of the ochre-colored Palomani Pass at 16,730ft (5,100m). The twin bowls of nothingness on either side of me are so vast I can’t help but envision myself floating off into the stratosphere like some sort of rogue astronaut, and this fleeting feeling of gravity-based confusion keeps recurring. Every now and then, as I take in exactly where I am, gazing down at the vast basin of Lake Ausangate, or hearing the cannon-fire echoes of glaciers cracking, the feeling of being in the normal world leaves me. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/peru/ausangate/red-hills-and-lake.jpg" alt="Dramatic hills and lakes along the Asangate trek in the Peruvian Andes.." /> <figcaption>Dramatic hills and lakes along the trek. Image credit: Megan FitzGerald</figcaption></figure> Perhaps that’s the point – Ausangate is intensely sacred, not seen just as a mountain but as a god – and revered by the locals that call the area home. Julio, one of our llamamen, blesses us before we enter its region, asking for our protection as we navigate its rocky terrain. We each place three coca leaves on a small cloth along with some other offerings (thread, corn kernels, cookies), which Julio folds into a bundle and sets alight, sending smoke plumes skyward. I’m not a spiritual person at all, but I find myself unexpectedly emotional being given the chance to pray to Ausangate for assistance. Maybe I’m still nervous. A certain energy permeates the air as we continue. It’s not lost on me how lucky we are to be in such a special place. <h2 id="rainbow">A visit to Rainbow Mountain</h2> Our fourth day brings us to <a href="/explore/south-america/peru/alternatives-to-the-inca-trail">Rainbow Mountain</a>, a kaleidoscopic landscape of reds, greens, and blues, formed by rich natural iron and magnesium deposits, and is, somewhat inevitably, hugely popular with tourists – around 1,500 a day. We’re all slightly perplexed: after days of having only each other and the landscape for company, to suddenly hear ATVs roaring up the hillside from Cusco and see swarms of people on the mountaintops is slightly jarring. “I have nothing against people,” Jesús chirps from next to me as we pause, “but I love places without them.” I can’t help but agree. Our previous days' trekking have spoiled us, and as gorgeous as Rainbow Mountain is, it’s just one part of a huge amalgamation of color and landscape in this stunning area; the joy of this journey is that we get to see so much more of it. We spend some time navigating the crowds before scurrying through a distant archway and on to Red Valley, where the faces of the sleeping Pururauca are etched into the mountainside. It’s as if we plunge back into the secret world we were in before, and the shift in environment is extreme – it’s a prehistoric-feeling land, where the mountains are the backs of giant, dark monsters, sharp and jagged in comparison to the woozy green vistas of before. After a final night sleeping under a thundering sky, we spend our last day climbing the final Anta Pass, then running (literally) entirely downhill, before we say goodbye to our hosts back in Ocefina. It feels strange to be such a small group again, and as we rumble back to Cusco to the sound of car horns and revving engines, I find myself already missing the mountains. My new friends drive away and I step onto the cobbled street I stood on five days before and gaze at the mountain-line in the distance, wondering where I’ll trek next.Megan FitzGerald 0

Mangoes and Machu Picchu | Peru Travel Storyhttps://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/stories/connection/mangoes-and-machu-picchuMangoes and Machu Picchu | Peru Travel StoryWed, 09 Aug 2023 23:59:52 GMThttps://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/stories/connection/mangoes-and-machu-picchuhttps://public-web-wn.uat.wng.me/explore/south-america/ecuador/why-you-will-love-cuencaCuenca, Ecuador’s third-largest city, is friendly, walkable, and filled with historic charm. Discover the top attractions, what to eat, and the best day trip for getting out into the nearby mountains.2023-04-05T10:00:00Z https://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/south-america/ecuador/why-you-will-love-cuencahttps://www.worldnomads.comAs a daughter of Ecuadorian parents, I have often visited <a href="/explore/south-america/ecuador">Ecuador</a>’s coastal regions – but it wasn’t until adulthood that I experienced Cuenca, a vibrant city perched 8,400 ft (2,560m) above sea level in the Andes Mountains. I was excited about the opportunity. Santa Ana de los Cuatro Ríos de Cuenca, as it was called by the Spanish colonizers (named after Cuenca, Spain), is a city full of history and surrounded by nature. It’s no surprise that UNESCO named Cuenca a World Heritage site in 1999. I’d also heard Cuenca welcomes people from all over the world and had been named one of the best places to retire because of its pleasant weather and affordability. Cuenca is a city that will awaken your senses. You’ll witness the old and new worlds converging in the street, where people dressed in modern clothing mix with those in traditional outfits (thick velvet skirts, patterned woven tops, and black hats) and musicians play modern songs with traditional instruments. Through Cuenca’s architecture, people, and food you’ll be reminded of its rich history and the peoples that have inhabited this land – there was vibrant life and culture before the Spaniards arrived, and the presence of the indigenous Cañari and Incan people can be seen and felt. <ul> <li><a href="#center">Highlights of Cuenca’s Historical Center</a></li> <li><a href="#views">Rivers and views</a></li> <li><a href="#eat">What to eat in Cuenca </a></li> <li><a href="#cajas">El Cajas National Park</a></li> <li><a href="#trip-notes">Trip notes</a></li> </ul> <h2 id="center">Highlights of Cuenca’s Historical Center</h2> The Parque Abdón Calderon is in the heart of the city center. On one side is a church dating back to the 16th century, La Iglesia del Sagrario, commonly called the “Old Cathedral”. This church now appears tiny next to the majestic Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción, (The Immaculate Conception Cathedral), aka the “New Cathedral”, which is right next door. During the Spanish occupation, La Iglesia del Sagrario was reserved only for Spaniards. So, as you can imagine, the inside is grand, with an ornate roof and woodwork. Today, it’s a museum for religious art. The New Cathedral, built over 85 years from 1885, has beautiful domes which have become symbolic of Cuenca and elaborate stained-glass windows. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/ecuador/cuenca/new-cathedral.jpg" alt="The iconic blue domes of the New Cathedral in Cuenca, Ecuador." /> <figcaption>The iconic blue domes of the New Cathedral. Image credit: Getty Images / pxhidalgo.</figcaption></figure> Surrounding the Church are street vendors selling everything from flowers (Ecuador is a major flower exporter, and some of the world’s most beautiful roses come from Ecuador) to silver jewelry. Cuenca is known as a hub for <a href="/responsible-travel/make-a-difference/participation/mindful-souvenir-shopping">traditional handicrafts</a>, some made in workshops in town, and others in the nearby villages. Around the city center you’ll find artisan shops selling brightly colored, woven tapestries, hats, and other handmade items such as hamacas (hammocks) and warm alpaca-wool ponchos and scarves; hand-painted ceramic tiles, vases, and dinnerware; leather goods such as gloves, sandals, and purses; and the famous “Panama” hats which actually originated in Ecuador – the more intricate and tightly woven the hat, the higher the cost. <h2 id="views">Rivers and views</h2> One of the things I love about Cuenca is the crisp mountain air – definitely a change from NYC, where I live. It feels like you experience four seasons in one day, starting off fresh, like spring, and moving to summer warmth and then to a fall breeze and finally, a chilly night. Four rivers converge in Cuenca. The Tomebamba River divides the city in two – historic on one side, modern on the other. If you like to walk in nature, the Tomebamba River is a great place for a stroll, a run, or a <a href="/travel-insurance/activities/mountain-biking">bike ride</a>. (A number of local tour operators offer bike tours, or you can use the city’s shared bike program, <a href="https://www.bicicuenca.com/" target="_blank">Bici Pública Cuenca</a>). Sitting at 8,858 ft (2,700 m), and only 10 minutes from the city center by bus, El Mirador de Turi offers a spectacular view of the city. Once there, you can visit the small church, and if you’re adventurous, try the swing (el columpio del Turi) that gives you the impression you’re flying out into the void thousands of feet above the city. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/ecuador/cuenca/mirador-swing-new.jpg" alt="A visitor on a high swing overlooking the city of Cuenca, Ecuador." /> <figcaption>The swing at El Mirador de Turi (we recommend holding on with both hands). Image credit: Getty Images / Andi Navarez/EyeEm</figcaption></figure> <h2 id="eat">What to eat in Cuenca</h2> Despite its small size, Ecuador has been blessed with fertile soil and a range of climates making it ideal for producing a rich variety of foods. In the highlands, many dishes are based on corn and potato, unlike the coastal regions where there is a lot of fish and citrus-based food. The main meal of the day is the midday meal, el almuerzo. It usually consists of two plates: a soup and meat dish. I may be biased because I grew up eating Ecuadorian dishes, but Ecuadorian food is hearty and flavorful. Ecuadorians show their love with food, so if a local wants to share a meal with you, that means they like you. <h3>Don’t leave until you’ve tasted these specialties:</h3> Locro de papa: this is a creamy potato soup served with a side of avocado. Fritada: chunks of pork cooked in pork drippings and served with toasted corn or mote (similar to hominy). Some places serve it with homemade ají (hot sauce) and pickled red onions. Cuy: I can’t not mention that cuy, or guinea pig, is a delicacy in this part of Ecuador. I’ve heard it’s delicious, but I confess I haven’t been adventurous enough to try it. All the fresh fruit! There is so much available in Cuenca – check out the markets and try them all. Some you’ve seen before, like pineapples, clementines, and passion fruit (called maracuyá in Spanish) and some you’ve probably never seen or tried: chirimoya, taxo, pitaya, granadilla, guanábana, and my absolute personal favorites tomate de árbol and naranjilla, which I recommend you try in fresh fruit juices. <h2 id="cajas">Visiting El Cajas National Park</h2> About 45 minutes from Cuenca, El Cajas National Park is an Ecuadorian treasure. Bird watchers can spot up to 157 bird species (look for the Andean condor – which is featured on the Ecuadorian flag – and the giant hummingbird). There is a network of 786 lakes, lagoons and ponds and 11 <a href="/travel-insurance/activities/hiking-travel-insurance">hiking trails</a>, with opportunties for trout fishing, horseback riding, and more. Public buses are the cheapest way to get there. It makes a great self-guided day trip, or you can arrange to camp, stay at the refuge or hire a tour guide for a day tour. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/ecuador/cuenca/el-cajas.jpg" alt="A llama stands beside an alpine lake in El Cajas National Park, Ecuador." /> <figcaption>Lake and llama at El Cajas National Park. Image credit: Getty Images / SL_Photography</figcaption></figure> The Mirador Tres Cruces is the highest lookout in the park, standing 12,467ft (3,800m) above sea level. It’s a great place to take photos and admire the local llamas and alpacas. <h2 id="trip-notes">Trip notes</h2> Getting to Cuenca: you can fly or take a private or public bus from Quito or Guayaquil. If you have the time, I recommend driving. On the journey from Guayaquil, you’ll see how the climate changes from tropical to mountainous – the transformation is kind of breathtaking. The hot and humid coast with its banana and sugarcane crops turns into a foggy, chilly cloud forest. There are fruit stands along the road, and near the end of the three-hour drive you’ll reach spectacular El Cajas National Park. Where to stay and how to get around: Cuenca offers plenty of accommodation options in all price ranges. I recommend staying in the Historical Center to be close to everything. Being from New York, one of the things I love most about Cuenca is its walkability. You won’t need to rent a car, as trams, buses, and taxis are readily available and affordable. What to pack: Pack layers that you can add or remove depending on the time of the day. Bring comfortable shoes for walking. Sunscreen is a must as although it may get chilly, the sun can be very strong. You can visit year-round, as the climate is pleasant throughout the year. Cuencanos are very friendly and eager to help you, and the city is accustomed to receiving international visitors.Getty Images / ampueroleonardo 01450733014 Getty Images An Andean woman in traditional clothing sells flowers at a market in Cuenca, Ecuador.

https://public-web-wn.uat.wng.me/explore/south-america/argentina/4-reasons-to-discover-entre-rios-argentinaConcordia, in Argentina’s Entre Ríos region, is blessed with hot springs, wildlife, and interesting local history. Nomad Heather shares what to see and do here, and why it’s worth a visit.2022-02-28T11:00:00Z https://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/south-america/argentina/4-reasons-to-discover-entre-rios-argentinahttps://www.worldnomads.comConcordia is full of surprises. Before visiting, all I knew about the city was its hot springs and a connection to the children’s book The Little Prince. I discovered that the area is great for spotting wildlife, has lots of local history, and offers lovely beaches on the giant Salto Grande reservoir. Officially named San Antonio de Padua de la Concordia, the city is easily accessible from Buenos Aires (which is 267mi/430km to the south) by car or bus and is in the region of <a href="/explore/south-america/argentina/guide-to-the-northeast">Entre Ríos</a> (meaning “between rivers”), sandwiched between the Paraná and Uruguay Rivers. <ul> <li><a href="#hot-springs">Hot springs for all</a></li> <li><a href="#beaches">Beaches and wildlife in Entre Rios</a></li> <li><a href="#dam">Nature and engineering at Salto Grande dam </a></li> <li><a href="#little-prince">The Little Prince’s Argentine inspiration</a></li> <li><a href="#trip-notes">Trip notes</a></li> </ul> <h2 id="hot-springs">Hot springs for all</h2> Three hot springs in Concordia caught my attention: Termas Concordia, Termas del Ayuí, and Termas de Punta Viracho, all about half an hour north of town, in a forested area on the banks of Salto Grande. It was a warm day when I went to Termas Concordia, but the thermal waters still felt lovely. There are seven open air pools in varying temperatures, plus two covered pools. I visited the massage spa and the small restaurant, which had weak coffee but good food. There are dozens of cabins to rent, hidden discreetly in the forest a few minutes’ walk from the pools; perfect if you want to retreat from the world. Termas y Parque Acuático del Ayuí is much livelier. The name Ayuí is an indigenous Guaraní word, which means “flowing water”. There is a water park with three main pools – one with a giant water slide – and a lazy river. The day I went it was bustling with happy families. In the nearby forest, there is a great high ropes course in the trees. Enthusiastic kids whizzed along zip lines and concentrated intently on the Z-shaped balance beam. This is the place for a big group, where you can find something for everyone. The hot springs at Punta Viracho are the smallest and the most peaceful. There are two pools here, and spectacular views across Salto Grande to Uruguay. This is the place for a relaxing soak as you watch boats on the lake and birds soaring above the water. <h2 id="beaches">Beaches and wildlife in Entre Rios</h2> Salto Grande also has beaches with lifeguards, where you can play in the water or lounge on the sand. Punta Soler, near Punta Viracho, has the most developed beach and a wonderful outdoor bar run by Juan Martín, who everybody calls Coco. This is also a great place for fishing and it’s famous for sportfishing the freshwater golden dorado. If you’re into birdwatching, in the nearby forests I saw wild parrots, hawks, egrets and other water birds. As a bonus, the park that you drive through on your way to Punta Viracho is often home to grazing capybara, the native South American giant rodent. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/argentina/entre-rios/capybara.jpg" alt="Capybara (giant South American rodents) graze in a park in the Entre Rios region of Argentina." /> <figcaption>Capybara grazing along the road to Punta Viracho. Image credit: Heather Jasper</figcaption></figure> <h2 id="dam">Nature and engineering at Salto Grande dam</h2> The Salto Grande dam has an interesting history and progressive environmental protection programs. It began in 1890, with an imaginative entrepreneur named Gregorio Soler, who saw the set of rapids churning the river and thought that they could be used to create electricity. It took almost a hundred years and a lot of international diplomacy for the dam to become fully operational in 1983. The power is split 50-50 between Argentina and Uruguay and the dam has so far saved the two nations from burning more than 30 million tons of oil. However, there are also environmental concerns about the dam’s impact on wildlife, especially native fish populations. The tour of the dam starts in a giant native species garden and ends with a bus trip across the top of the dam to Uruguay and back. The garden is part of the dam’s mission to restore native trees and plants and bring back <a href="/explore/south-america/argentina/best-destinations-for-wildlife-encounters">native birds and other wildlife</a>. <h2 id="little-prince">The Little Prince’s Argentine inspiration</h2> Any fan of The Little Prince must visit the Castillo de San Carlos in Concordia. The author Antoine de St. Exupéry was an aviator and in his quest for postal service air routes in Argentina, he landed near the castle. Upon landing, his wheel strut broke. He was surveying the damage when two girls on horseback appeared and laughed at him, rather than offering to help, which for me is clearly his inspiration for how the Little Prince meets the aviator in the book. Walking around the castle, you’ll notice the Silk Floss trees, with their barrel-like swollen trunks. They look much more like the baobab trees in St. Exupéry’s book than any baobab trees in Africa. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/argentina/entre-rios/silk-floss-tree-castillo-san-carlos.jpg" alt="Silk Floss trees with bulging trunks on the grounds of Castillo de San Carlos, Concordia, Argentina" /> <figcaption>Silk Floss trees on the grounds of Castillo de San Carlos. Image credit: Heather Jasper</figcaption></figure> Besides Antoine de St. Exupéry, Entre Ríos has another fortuitous French connection. In 1872, Augustin Niez emigrated from southern France and worked first in viticulture, growing grapes for <a href="/explore/south-america/argentina/argentinas-love-for-wine-and-beer">wine</a>. By 1889 he had also started to grow oranges, which has become one of the main industries in Entre Ríos. Always ask for freshly squeezed orange juice, un exprimido, with your breakfast in Concordia. <h2 id="trip-notes">Trip notes</h2> <h3>Currency in Argentina</h3> Argentina’s currency is volatile, and you should always check the exchange rate when planning your trip. Be aware that there are two different exchange rates in Argentina: the bank rate and the cash rate. In January 2022, if I withdrew Argentine pesos from an ATM or used my credit card, I got about 100 pesos per US dollar. Many touristy places accepted cash USD at the rate of 200 pesos per dollar. I also exchanged USD for pesos in Buenos Aires on Calle Florida for 213 pesos per dollar. This is technically illegal, but very common and quite safe. The official bank rate is what you’ll see on any official exchange website. To know what the cash rate is, search for “Argentina dólar blue” and you’ll get the street rate for USD. <h3>Getting around</h3> I didn’t feel that I needed to rent a car to get around. The bus from Buenos Aires to Concordia costs between 5,000-3,500 pesos, depending on if you want the downstairs super-plush seats or the upstairs seats. Hitchhiking is relatively common, and I found that people frequently offered me rides. The Concordia city bus took me to all three of the hot springs I visited and goes to the most popular beaches. <h3>When to go</h3> One of the best things about the hot springs is that they are great any time of year. During austral summer, the days are long and warm, which is better for spotting wildlife. However, the warmth of the natural thermal waters can be more appealing during the shorter days in May, June, and July. The coldest month is July, though it rarely gets below 60°F (15°C).Heather Jasper 0 People relax at Punta Viracho hot spring on the banks of Salto Grande, Entre Rios, Argentina.

https://public-web-wn.uat.wng.me/explore/south-america/chile/exploring-chiles-route-of-parksChile’s Ruta de los Parques features some of the most diverse and spectacular scenery anywhere on the planet. Nomad Dave shares five captivating, lesser-visited, and easy-to-access spots along the route.. 2021-12-06T11:00:00Z https://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/south-america/chile/exploring-chiles-route-of-parkshttps://www.worldnomads.com<ul> <li><a href="#patagonia">Patagonia National Park: A memorial to Douglas Tompkins</a></li> <li><a href="#castillo">Cerro Castillo: the successor to Torres del Paine</a></li> <li><a href="#pumalin">Pumalin Douglas Tompkins National Park: all things Patagonia</a></li> <li><a href="#queulat">Queulat National Park: hanging glaciers, evergreen forests, and waterfalls</a></li> <li><a href="#laguna">Laguna San Rafael: glacier exploration and a visit to the Marble Cathedrals</a></li> <li><a href="#trip-notes">Trip notes</a></li> </ul> <h2 id="patagonia">Patagonia National Park: A memorial to Douglas Tompkins</h2> My wife and I stand in awe, taking a respite from our heavy packs and gazing out at the expansive Chacabuco River Valley. Around us, the only inhabitants are guanacos, herds of them by the hundreds, roaming wild in the restored grasslands of Patagonia National Park. It’s one of the latest natural sanctuaries added to the phenomenal Ruta de los Parques, or Route of Parks, a massive green space for Chile and the world, which comprises 17 national parks covering 1,700mi (2,735km) from Puerto Montt to Cape Horn in <a href="/explore/south-america/chile/cruising-the-southern-patagonia-ice-field">Chilean Patagonia</a>. This environmental project got its start via Douglas Tompkins, the former cofounder of The North Face outdoor equipment and clothing company. Tompkins and his wife Kris called Chile home, and as avid conservationists, they began buying millions of acres of over-grazed and overused ranch land in Patagonia, focusing on wildlife recovery and biodiversity protection. Years later, the Tompkins gave away all the land, which had made a full recovery, to the Chilean government, in what was the largest donation in history by a private person to a country. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/chile/route-of-parks/parque-patagonia.jpg" alt="Wild guanacos stand in the restored grasslands of Patagonia National Park, Chile." /> <figcaption>Wild guanacos in Patagonia National Park. Photo credit: Dave Stamboulis</figcaption></figure> While Doug Tompkins tragically passed away in a kayak accident in 2015, three years later his wife and the Chilean government finalized a deal for the protection of 28 million acres of land, incorporating them into 17 parks with a size about three times that of <a href="/explore/europe/switzerland/affordable-winter-adventures">Switzerland</a> or double the size of <a href="/explore/central-america/costa-rica/outdoor-adventures-in-costa-rica">Costa Rica</a>. Our visit to Parque Patagonia was just one in a series of overnight treks and day <a href="/travel-insurance/activities/hiking-travel-insurance">hikes</a> as we traveled the thin spine of Patagonia from south to north, checking out as many of the parks of “Las Rutas” as our time and the onset of winter would permit. Here are some of the most captivating, easy to access, and lesser-visited spots along this magical route, which took us through the heart of some of the most diverse and spectacular scenery anywhere on the planet. <h2 id="castillo">Cerro Castillo: the successor to Torres del Paine</h2> While Torres del Paine has long been a scenic icon and the best-known of all of Chile’s parks, its stunning spires and famed “W” circuit have seen <a href="/responsible-travel/make-a-difference/participation/how-to-avoid-the-masses-when-you-travel">an overload of visitors</a> in recent years. Trekkers now need to have all their campsites, lodges, and permits booked well in advance, and as each campsite or lodge is often run by a different concession, it’s both confusing and cumbersome to successfully navigate the hurdles to hike here. Further north in Patagonia’s Aysen Region, Cerro Castillo offers a fantastic alternative, where a four- to five-day circuit takes you around the breathtaking Cerro Castillo massif, trekking past turquoise lakes, beautiful lengua forests, hanging glaciers, and over dramatic passes, with far fewer crowds than its more famous southern neighbor. We braved an early autumn snowfall here to do the 35mi (56km) trek and were one of just two parties to cross Cerro Castillo Pass after it snowed, making it a far wilder experience than joining the masses in Torres del Paine. <h2 id="pumalin">Pumalin Douglas Tompkins National Park: all things Patagonia</h2> We feel like we’re getting all of Patagonia’s top highlights wrapped up in one at this wildly diverse spot. We spend two days hiking up and back on the Ventisquero Trail, where a stunning campsite sits at the edge of a glacier just under Michinmahuida, a crevasse-riddled snowbound volcano that towers up valley. Here we spot a pair of elusive pudu, the world’s smallest deer, before escaping a spell of bad weather for the nearby El Amarillo hot springs, where 100°F (38°C) pools soothe our weary muscles. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/chile/route-of-parks/pumalin.jpg" alt="The stark landscape of Chalten Volcano in Pumalin Douglas Tompkins National Park, Chile." /> <figcaption>Chalten Volcano in Pumalin. Image credit: Dave Stamboulis</figcaption></figure> The following day we make the trek up the Chalten Volcano, Pumalin’s highlight, as it’s a living geology lesson. The volcano violently blew its top in 2008, causing the mountain to rise, in what was a one-of-a-kind rhyolitic eruption. Not only does Pumalin offer volcanoes, glaciers, and hot springs, it’s home to gorgeous fjords and 25% of Chile’s remaining threatened Alerce trees, which live for 3000 years. <h2 id="queulat">Queulat National Park: hanging glaciers, evergreen forests, and waterfalls</h2> Raingear stays at the top of our packs in Queulat National Park, which is no surprise, given that queulat means “sound of waterfalls” in the local Chono people’s language. But the persistent wet doesn’t dampen our spirits – it just makes the day hike up to the Ventisquero Colgante glacier all the more riveting, as this emblematic glacier features crashing waterfalls that pour down from its base. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/chile/route-of-parks/queulat.jpg " alt="The Ventisquero Colgante hanging glacier, with waterfalls flowing from its base, in Queulat National Park, Chile." /> <figcaption>Ventisquero Colgante glacier. Image credit: Dave Stamboulis</figcaption></figure> Here we see the rare nalca, or giant rhubarb flower, in the temperate rainforest, and after trekking close to the glacier, come back down for a boat ride on the Los Témpanos lagoon, which gives a wider view of the impressive glacier above. Queulat also sits right near the Ventisquero Sound, home to the pristine Puyuhuapi fjord, featuring hot springs and stunning, remote lodges to rest up in. <h2 id="laguna">Laguna San Rafael: glacier exploration and a visit to the Marble Cathedrals</h2> Many of the Route’s top draws can be found along the Carretera Austral, an 800mi (1,287km), bumpy often-dirt road that runs the length of Patagonia and might just be the world’s greatest remaining <a href="/travel-insurance/activities/road-trip">road trip</a>. Travelers on the Carretera usually break up their journey in sleepy Puerto Río Tranquilo, set on the edge of Lago General Carrera, the largest lake in Chile, and home to two stunning must-visits. The Capillas de Marmol (Marble Chapels or Marble Cathedrals) are a series of wind-sculpted caves and pillars set on the edge of the lake which feature remarkable patterns and stunning colors, and can be visited by either tour boat or, as we opted for, by paddling ourselves in kayaks. This way, we could access the inner chambers of the grottoes and get intimate with the textured surfaces created by natural geologic process. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/chile/route-of-parks/san-rafael.jpg" alt="Kayakers explore the wind-sculpted Marble Chapels in Lake General Carrera, southern Chile." /> <figcaption>Kayaking through the Capillas de Marmol. Image credit: Dave Stamboulis</figcaption></figure> Río Tranquilo is also the jumping-off point for Laguna San Rafael National Park, which is home to the massive Exploradores Glacier on Patagonia’s vast Northern Icefield, where guides take modern-day explorers walking on the ice, or one can take a boat on the San Rafael Lagoon and watch the glaciers calve from out on the water. <h2 id="trip-notes">Trip notes</h2> Plan your Route of the Parks visit for the austral summer, which is the North American winter. Patagonia lies below the 40th parallel south and sees freezing winters with heavy snowfall and brutal winds from June to September. Additionally, most services shut down then. Even during high season (December to February), getting around can be challenging. You can fly from Santiago to Puerto Montt in the north, Balmaceda in Aysen (central), or Punta Arenas in the south. There’s an array of private bus services all the way from O’Higgins at the southern end of the Carretera Austral to Puerto Montt in the north, but space is limited, and you may need to reserve at least a few days (or more) in advance. It’s become a rite of passage for Chilean students to come to Patagonia in the summer months, so transport is often hard to come by. Note that hitchhiking is both common here and about as safe as anywhere in the world, and it’s normal to see loads of travelers with large backpacks lining up along the Carretera Austral as a viable alternative to buses. Also note that if you go to Torres del Paine, there’s no road linking this part of Chile with the rest of Chilean Patagonia. You’ll either have to go by road through Argentina and then cross back further north, or else cross into El Chalten in Argentina and combine a series of boats and a 14mi (22km) walk in order to reach O’Higgins at the southern end of the Carretera. Being flexible is a must in Patagonia. You’ll see snow, rain, wind, and every weather condition possible in all the parks here, so bring a <a href="/travel-wiser/practical/gear-for-your-next-camping-trip">waterproof tent and rain gear</a>, as well as gear that can stand up to strong winds. Chile’s CONAF (the national forest association) now manages all the national parks and each park has its own entry fees and rules (Torres del Paine and Cerro Castillo both have limits on numbers of visitors each day). For all the links to each park and information on the Route of Parks, check the informative <a href="https://www.rutadelosparques.org/en/ ">Rutas website</a> for the latest information.Dave Stamboulis 0 Dave Stamboulis A hiker stands dwarfed by Cerro Castillo, a snow-covered massif in Patagonian Chile.

Honeymoon in Guyana | Travel Storyhttps://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/stories/connection/honeymoon-in-guyanaHoneymoon in Guyana | Travel StoryWed, 21 Jul 2021 18:44:04 GMThttps://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/stories/connection/honeymoon-in-guyanahttps://public-web-wn.uat.wng.me/explore/south-america/ecuador/visiting-ecuador-during-covid-19Ecuador is welcoming international travelers to enjoy its volcanoes, jungles, islands, and beaches – but how safe is it to visit during a pandemic? Cassandra Brooklyn shares her experience.2021-01-06T11:00:00Z https://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/south-america/ecuador/visiting-ecuador-during-covid-19https://www.worldnomads.comEcuador is currently accepting visitors from around the world, but with certain restrictions in place, including COVID-19 test requirements and possible mandatory quarantine, depending on where travelers are arriving from. <a href="/travel-safety/south-america/ecuador/travel-warnings-and-updates">Get more information here</a>. Ecuador may not be a very large country, but it’s jam-packed with outdoor activities. While no destination can be considered totally risk-free during a pandemic, if you do choose to travel, Ecuador is likely one of the safest places you can visit, considering the strength of its safety and hygiene protocols and its abundance of hiking, biking, kayaking, and fresh-air fun. Here’s what you need to know before booking your trip to Ecuador. <ul> <li><a href="#expect">What to expect when you arrive in Ecuador</a></li> <li><a href="#covid">COVID-19 health and safety precautions in Ecuador </a></li> <li><a href="#activities">Outdoor activities in Ecuador</a></li> <li><a href="#galapagos">Visiting Galapagos during COVID-19</a></li> <li><a href="#trip-notes">Trip notes</a></li> </ul> <h2 id="expect">What to expect when you arrive in Ecuador</h2> I visited Ecuador in December 2020, and at the time of writing all travelers were required to present a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken no more than 10 days before arrival and fill out a <a href="https://www.ecoventura.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Formulario_de_Salud_del_Viajero_MSP2020.pdf">Traveler Health Declaration</a> form. (Note: As of March 22, 2021, travelers who have had a complete COVID-19 vaccination can present the official vaccination certificate instead of a negative RT-PCR test result for entry to Ecuador. It appears a negative PCR test is still required for Galapagos.) Travelers who arrive without negative test results must self-quarantine at their own expense. As soon as you get off the plane, you’ll be taken to a room where health professionals will administer a survey, take your temperature, and test your blood oxygen level through a non-invasive finger sensor device. The entire process takes only five to 10 minutes and, assuming your vitals are healthy, you’ll proceed on to customs and arrivals. For more travel updates, see the <a href="https://ec.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information-ecu-2/">US Embassy in Ecuador website</a>. <h2 id="covid">COVID-19 health and safety precautions in Ecuador</h2> Masks are mandatory both indoors and outdoors, and the vast majority of Ecuadorians respect this rule. Sure, you’ll find some unmasked people at beaches and parks in uncrowded, small towns and rural areas, but in dense cities such as Quito, masks are mandatory outdoors, so you’ll even see runners and cyclists wearing them. I heard that residents of Guayaquil have been accused of not respecting mask mandates, so I avoided this city. Across the country, you’ll find hand sanitizer stations outside supermarkets, hotels, and pharmacies, in addition to foot-sanitizing mats, but it’s always smart to carry your own sanitizer with you. All hotel and restaurant workers wear masks and most also wear face shields; instead of paper menus or check-in forms, most businesses display QR codes for visitors to scan with their phones. Some high-end hotels will also have “ozone tunnels” to help decontaminate you, your clothes, and belongings before entering the hotel. <h2 id="activities">Outdoor activities in Ecuador</h2> Hiking, mountain biking, road cycling, kayaking, and many other outdoor activities are available all over Ecuador, but here’s what I did: <h3>Quito</h3> I flew into Quito and used it as a base to explore other areas. I spent one night in the capital city, then spent a week in the Galapagos, spent another two nights in Quito, then visited the Amazon, the cloud forest, and Cotopaxi before returning to spend my last night in Quito. Though the city does have great museums, I focused my time on outdoor activities like a walking tour of Old Town Quito and riding 30mi (48km) of the Sunday, car-free Ciclovia (cycleway). <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/ecuador/covid/ecuador-amazon-rafting-break.jpg" alt="A woman takes a break with her guide during a kayaking trip through the Ecuadorian Amazon." /> <figcaption>The author takes a break with her guide during her Amazon kayaking trip. Photo credit: Cassandra Brooklyn</figcaption></figure> <h3>The Amazon</h3> Ecuador is home to the most accessible section of the Amazon, which can be reached by a four-hour drive from Quito – no airplane required. My schedule was pretty tight and it was important to me to go kayaking in the Amazon, so I paid for a private taxi to get me to Tenas – a gateway city to many Amazonian activities – then paid for two slots on the kayaking trip because nobody else signed up during the four days I spent in the area. In total, I paid US $250 for the afternoon activity but, considering it was my absolute favorite experience during a three-week trip in Ecuador, I’d say that it was worth it. The category II and III rapids made the 22mi (35km) river trip thrilling, but I never felt like I was in danger. Next, I headed to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SinchiWarmis" rel="nofollow noopener">Sinchi Warmi</a>, a community tourism center run by Quechua women striving to preserve traditional practices while creating educational and professional opportunities for women. I pretty much did all the activities the rustic lodge offers, from river tubing and visiting a rainforest animal rescue to making jewelry out of plants I helped harvest and indulging in chocolate therapy (hand scrub and facial using locally harvested cacao). <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/ecuador/covid/sinchi-warmi-canoe.jpg" alt="A Quechua woman sits aboard a canoe on a river in the Ecuadorian Amazon." /> <figcaption>Riding in a canoe with one of the Quechua woman from the Sinchi Warmi center. Photo credit: Cassandra Brooklyn</figcaption></figure> Pro tip: do not leave food in your bag when you overnight in the Amazon! I forgot about a bag of cookies in my day bag and when I came back from dinner in the dining hall, I found a dozen cockroaches crawling all over my stuff. <h3>Cotopaxi</h3> Just 90 minutes from Quito is Cotopaxi National Park, named after its main attraction, a not-so-dormant volcano. The region has some incredible hiking (the best being multi-day backpacking trips) but I was there to bike. I stayed at dairy farm-turned-B&B, <a href="https://www.tierradelvolcan.com/hacienda-el-porvenir/">Hacienda El Porvenir</a>, which offers bike rentals and has all levels of mountain-biking trails on site (I opted for the super-beginner trails). Mountain biking within the national park was my favorite activity in the region, but a close second was hiking to several waterfalls at the nearby <a href="https://www.facebook.com/reservasantarita" rel="nofollow noopener">Santa Rita Ecological Reserve</a> (the B&B arranged my transportation). <h2 id="galapagos">Visiting Galapagos during COVID-19</h2> Although Ecuador requires a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken 10 days or less before arrival, travelers to Galapagos need to present a negative test taken no more than 96 hours (four days) before arriving in Galapagos. If you plan it right, you can use the same test. I took a rapid test on the second-to-last day of <a href="/explore/central-america/costa-rica/traveling-in-costa-rica-during-covid">my visit to Costa Rica</a>, flew to Ecuador and spent one full day in Quito, then flew to Galapagos exactly 96 hours after taking the test. If you want to visit Galapagos but don’t think you can get a rapid test in your home country, take the regular test in advance, then <a href="/travel-safety/worldwide/getting-a-covid-19-test-while-abroad">take another in Ecuador</a>. Your hotel or tour operator should be able to arrange the test at your hotel or can give you information on where to find a clinic. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/ecuador/covid/ecuador-boat-galapagos.jpg" alt="A naturalist guide wearing a face mask aboard a nature tour boat in the Galapagos." /> <figcaption>A naturalist guide and guests on a nature tour in the Galapagos Photo credit: Photo credit: Cassandra Brooklyn</figcaption></figure> Anyone visiting Galapagos must have a safe passage document (called a Salvoconducto) issued by the Ministry of Tourism. The tour operator or accommodation you’ll be working with in Galapagos is responsible for arranging this. When you check in for your flight to Galapagos (at either Quito or Guayaquil airport), you’ll present the Salvaconducto form, obtain a transit control card (US $20 cash), and show proof of travel insurance and medical coverage (I purchased World Nomads insurance and it was accepted). When you arrive at the Baltra airport in Galapagos, you’ll pay the Galapagos National Park entrance fee (US $100 cash). Though it’s still possible to visit Galapagos on your own, where you can book a hotel and take daytrips to nearby islands, COVID-19 has meant a slew of additional rules, regulations, and required forms have been introduced, so a solo trip would require quite a bit more planning and flexibility. I visited Galapagos with <a href="https://www.metropolitan-touring.com/" rel="nofollow noopener">Metropolitan Touring</a> (which is currently offering some of its yacht excursions for half price) and it arranged just about all the details of my Galapagos trip. I stayed a few extra days in Puerto Ayora and arranged my own scuba diving, hiking, and snorkeling trips, but Metropolitan Touring handled all the difficult logistics, connected me with a scuba dive operator, and arranged for the dive boat to pick me up from the ship on my last day so I didn’t have to make an unnecessary, multi-hour trip back to Puerto Ayora. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/ecuador/covid/ecuador-seals-galapagos.jpg" alt="A pair of seals on a sandy beach in Galapagos." /> <figcaption>Seals on a beach in Galapagos. Photo credit: Cassandra Brooklyn</figcaption></figure> <h2 id="trip-notes">Trip notes</h2> Though Ecuadorians have ramped up domestic travel to help keep the tourism industry alive, some restaurants and businesses remain closed and tour companies have reduced the number of activities they offer. Since most companies have a required minimum number of passengers to go out, you’ll either have to wait for enough people to join, pay for multiple slots on the trip (as I did with kayaking in the Amazon), or find another activity to do. As you would for any destinations, you’ll want to read up on general <a href="/explore/south-america/ecuador/5-things-i-wish-i-knew-before-going-to-ecuador">need-to-know tips</a> and <a href="/travel-safety/south-america/ecuador/travel-warnings-and-updates">travel safety warnings in Ecuador</a>. Still want more information? Check out the recent <a href="/explore/south-america/ecuador/the-world-nomads-podcast-travel-to-ecuador-during-covid-19">Ecuador episode</a> on the World Nomads Travel Podcast.Cassandra Brooklyn 0 Cassandra Brooklyn A woman stands with her mountain bike in front of the Cotopaxi volcano in Ecuador.

https://public-web-wn.uat.wng.me/explore/south-america/peru-what-travelers-can-expect-during-covid-19In this episode, what you need to know about traveling to Peru during COVID, including the new rules for visiting Machu Picchu.2020-10-28T11:00:00Z https://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/south-america/peru-what-travelers-can-expect-during-covid-19https://www.worldnomads.com<h2>The World Nomads Podcast: Traveling during COVID-19</h2> With COVID-19 still affecting the way we engage with the world, it’s important to plan wisely and travel responsibly, both for your own safety and that of the places you visit. But as we reengage with the world, you're likely planning vacations not far from home. World Nomads can help by providing travel safety tips, inspiring content, and travel insurance designed to protect you while traveling. Before you buy a travel insurance policy, check your government travel warnings and health advice – there may be no travel insurance cover for locations with a government travel ban or health advice against travel. <h2>What's in the episode</h2> 00:19 Where is Kim 03:58 Traveling to Peru during COVID 05:51 Having your gap year in Peru 10:07 Japanese festivals 12:25 Surfing secrets 16:20 Is Hawaii really the home of surfing? 19:30 Hiking the Inca Trail 26:00 Next week <h2>Quotes from the episode</h2> “…it's a beautiful place. I checked some fairly normal boxes, going down to Cusco. Did the Inca trail and stuff but they're popular for a reason?” Matt “We've been coming to and from Peru, we're from Canada, for about I don't know seven/eight years now. And surfing lots of different waves up and down the coast. And we really fell in love with Huanchaco. Partially because of this long old surfing tradition which is still very much alive. But because the wave is accessible to all levels of surfers.” – Amy “Vilcabamba is getting quite popular. On the way, you can see a mountain called Veronica 5,700 meters in front of you, snow-capped. You arrive at 4,300 meters, the highest point all the way down to the cloud forest to enjoy coffee, tea, chocolates, banana, mango, orange, mandarins.” - Efrain <h2>Who's on the show</h2> Actor Matt Lacey is also is known as Orlando from the YouTube comedy sketch Gap Yah. Amy Schwartz from <a href="https://www.unleashsurf.com/locations/huanchaco-peru/">Unleash Surf</a> - pack your laptop and work while you surf. <a href="http://efrain_perutrek@hotmail.com/">Efrain Valles Morales</a> is a guide who knows all the top spots to trek in Peru and those you may not have heard about. <h2>Resources & links</h2> <ul> <li>Get the World Nomads Insider's Guide to Peru by <a href="https://www.worldnomads.com/explore/guides/peru-insiders-guide">clicking this</a>, or by filling in the form on the right-hand side of this page.</li> <li>Orlando’s Gap Yah on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKFjWR7X5dU">YouTube</a></li> <li>Facebook live footage of Japan’s Hadaka Matsuri Festival also known as the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/worldnomads/videos/10154327224540994/">Naked Man Festival.</a></li> <li>Want to more about festivals in Japan, read our World Nomads <a href="https://www.worldnomads.com/explore/eastern-asia/japan/japanese-festivals">articles</a> or watch our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4Bz_kTFwPQ&index=2&list=PLpXPo3FsodmVR5KXS-7wvdSgvJcCD1KuI">video series</a>.</li> <li><a href="https://www.worldnomads.com/travel-safety/travel-alerts">Latest travel alerts and warnings</a>.</li> <li><a href="https://www.worldnomads.com/travel-safety/worldwide/worldwide-travel-alerts">Which countries have open borders</a>?</li> </ul> <h2>Help us spread the word</h2> We’d love it if you could please share #TheWorldNomadsTravelPodcast with your Twitter followers and head over to Facebook and join the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/worldnomadspodcast">World Nomads Travel Podcast group</a>. If you liked this episode please head to <a href="itms://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/the-world-nomads-podcast/id1297825851?mt=2">Apple Podcasts</a> and kindly leave us a rating, review, and of course, subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. We use the <a href="https://www.rode.com/rodecasterpro">Rodecaster Pro</a> to record our episodes and interviews when in the studio, made possible with the kind support of Rode. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/podcast/kim_storm.jpg" alt="woman driving" /> <figcaption> Kim trying to outrun the rain in Broken Hill, Australia</figcaption></figure> <div class="AccordionSection nst-component nst-is-collapsed"><button class="AccordionSection-title nst-toggle">Full Transcript of the Episode</button> <div class="nst-content"> <div class="AccordionSection-inner"> Phil: Hey it’s Phil and Kim and before we get into chatting about Peru, Kim is still on the road – where this time? Kim: I have left the outback for now and traded it for a seaside getaway on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. Known for its fishing, boating, surfing, swimming, camping, and bushwalking. We are in our van right by the beach, so doing some snorkeling and visiting the odd microbrewery.  Essentially, I am 13 thousand 810 kilometers or over 8 and a half thousand miles from Cusco in Peru – a long way to swim! And that’s the only way I’d be able to get in because Australia has still banned non-essential international travel Phil: Yep, so depending on where you are from and what kind of travel is allowed international flights into Peru are running and all major sites around the Cusco area are currently open for free, hoping to spark national tourism. At the time of recording in October 2020, Machu Picchu is only open to locals but will home to international travelers next month. Once open, only 675 visitors will be permitted to enter the site per day, in groups of no more than 8 (including the guide). All the standard rules and regulations for COVID are in place and a negative molecular test, taken within 72 hours of arrival is still required to enter the country. Kim: So, we have recut our episode on Peru updating you with what you need to know traveling there (thanks Phil) but also to whet your appetite for travel to this incredible destination. Our first guest is Matt Lacey. Matt is a British actor and comedian and he's best known for his role as Ben in the BBC TV series Cuckoo. And Orlando in Gap Yar, it's a comedy sketch and it went viral around the world. In fact, his pronunciation of Peru became a global catchphrase. Let's just have a little listen in case you haven't heard it before Matt Lacey: That really reminds me of this time in my gap year. I was in South America in Peru, Peru. No Peru darling Peru. Peru, okay oh yeah Peru Peru yeah, wonderful country. You know beautiful people. Yeah. Yeah no we were trekking in the Andes and the sun was just rising and glinting off the snow creating this sort of ethereal haze. And I really got a sense of the awesome power of nature and the insignificance of man. You know then I just chundered everywhere. I was like all over the snow. I was like have that nature, one-nil. Kim: I do love that, Peru darling Peru. Matt thanks for being part of the show. That youtube clip by the way has had six million views. Matt Lacey: Wow is it six million? Phil: No pressure. Matt Lacey: It's funny hearing it back. I haven't heard it for a while. No, I didn't, and to be honest, I think if I had known I would have put it on my own YouTube channel and not the guys who filmed it. Kim: What was the motivation behind it? Matt Lacey: Oh it's all written from life. I met a lot of people at university that sort of spent the year vomiting all over the developing world. Was very keen to tell everyone about it. And I mean there's several that sort of sort of self-parody. I don't live in Fulham but I did actually go on a gap year. And I went to Peru, you can ask about that. Kim: So look at Peru, Peru darling. What did you think of Peru? Matt Lacey: Yeah it's a beautiful place. I checked some fairly normal boxes, going down to Cusco. Did the Inca trail and stuff but they're popular for a reason. Kim: Did you chunder anywhere? Matt Lacey: I don't think so. I managed to keep the deep-fried guinea pig down as far as I could remember. Phil: I couldn't go there, I tried that there. I couldn't go there. You didn't do you? Matt Lacey: Yeah I did. It's a cliché but it tasted like chicken. Sort of the brown meat of chicken. Kim: Where else have you been around the world? Matt Lacey: Lot's of different places. So after the gap year, I'd been broke. The Telegraph serialized my book. By the way that's still on sale. Look for that, the hardcore fans. And yeah after they serialized they sent me to South Africa to live on a lion preserve. I wrote a fantastic puff piece about it. So that was fun. Most recently I've been going to Europe a lot, just because it's quite easy. So most recently I've sort of ... My most interesting trips have been based around weird festivals. And in Europe, there is an absolute plethora. So I recently went to one in the Bath Country where they string a goose cadaver on a wire and then loaded boats go past it. And the locals try to jump onto the goose cadaver as it gets flipped up and down into the air. If they fall off they lose, but if they manage to hold on and thus decapitate the goose, they win. Generally is you scratch the surface in Spain and the Basque Country, every small town will have some sort of weird festival that you can go to. You know some of them to replace their goose with a rubber goose. I think for animal rights reasons. Phil: In the more ethically sound towns of the Basque country. Matt Lacey: Yeah. Phil: I reckon you should go to the one in Japan. We've got a film where we covered it at World Nomads. It's the naked man festival in Japan. Kim: Yeah it's on there. Phil: No men only. Matt Lacey: They go off to that island and all get naked. Phil: Yeah well there's- Matt Lacey: I think I read about that. Phil: Yeah there's this really strange ... And there are thousands of men just wearing loincloths basically inside this temple. And the priest lobs a stick into the crowd and then they all fight for it. And then the person who picks it up and puts it into a receptacle gets, I don't know good luck for a year. So it's like this thronging mass of you know a thousand fifteen hundred semi-naked blokes. It's amazing. Matt Lacey: When I went to Japan, I particularly remember the Onsen, the hot baths which are amazing. That some of them really don't have the capacity for the naked men that want to kill each other. I was nearly sort of, to put it bluntly, had bits slung against by an elderly Japanese man. Tried to get into the plunge pool. So I guess that's probably good training for the naked man festival. Kim: Thanks so much for having a chat. It's a real pleasure particularly as a fan of Orlando. Matt thank you very much. Phil:  Thanks, Matt. Matt Lacey: No worries. Kim: We'll have that clip in our show notes for you to see in full plus links to where you can buy Matt's book, The Gap Year Planner. Phil when you mentioned we were doing a podcast on Peru, and then you said "Hey I wanna follow up with a chat on surfing." I was thinking "Is he mad? Peru and surfing." But they go hand in hand. Phil: A massive coastline there as well. And nothing between Peru and Asia basically. Kim: I know but I just didn't think. And hence we got in touch with Amy and she's going to educate me and perhaps everyone else that's listening that wasn't aware of this fantastic surf culture in Peru. Hi, how are you going? Amy: Good how are you? Kim: Well I'm well but I'm feeling a little, not underwhelmed but undereducated. Phil's right you know there's a massive coastline. Tell us about this surfing culture. Amy: Sure. So it's one of these places that are not necessarily on every bodies kind of surfing travel journey map. But in terms of like South America or the kind of Western Hemisphere, it's probably like the Indonesia of Latin America or North and South America. Because it does have this long coastline and it's broken up by a fair number of point breaks. Which means that the swell comes in and kind of breaks gradually along with a point. Which for a surfer is generally kind of the ideal setup for a wave. Not all surfers will say that but most of us I think would. So Peru is really sort of well designed. Most of Peru gets waves literally every day of the year. It is a very very rare day when it's flat. So it's pretty special in that sense. Phil: And what sort of quality surf are we talking about? Are we talking about big waves that you get there or is it always smaller or varies? Amy: Yeah great question. Again it depends. It's usually ... I don't want to make it seem like the land of the perfect wave but it's often kind of the perfect size. So I'm not sure what you use in Australia but in Canada we usually use feet. So it's usually between like three and six feet on most days. And where we are right now, which is Huanchaco which is just eight hours North of Lima. So it's sort of in North Peru but not super North. It's got, it generally has like a good size swell that's good for almost any level of surfer from kind of beginner to intermediate. But then if it does get really big, there are other spots that you can go to that kind of hold a bigger swell. Huanchaco became a world surf reserve partially because of its history, which again has this kind of culture. Which is actually a fishing culture. So they build these big old boards out of what's called Totora reed. So it's just a reed that they cut in the swamp. And they use them kind of like a stand-up paddleboard. But they've been using them for at least 3500 years. So that's part of this kind of original or this very old ancient history. But several civilizations have used, kind of make it very significant around the world as the origin of surfing. So that was part of the reason why it was considered significant enough to become a world surf reserve. And it's got a real sort of alive surf culture in the sense that you had this traditional surfing or fishing craft that is considered the first surfboard or the original surfboard that you see going in and out of kind of the surf break every day. And then you have surfers surfing around this kind of very traditional ancient surfing craft. So it's a pretty special atmosphere. There's nowhere else I've even been that has this kind of living history along with kind of modern surfing. Phil: Alright amazing but I've got about a dozen questions to ask you then. I'm just gonna backtrack a long way, 3500-year-old surfboard. The history from that and what does a Peruvian surfboard, that's the reed thing that you're talking about. Is that right? Amy: Yup it's called Caballito de Totora. Which means basically like seahorse of the reed. So the reed is Totora. Phil: Peruvians claiming surfing, is that what you're saying? Amy: Yeah and it's interesting because there's a long ... I would say the modern history of surfing has really held onto this idea that you know modern surfing came from Hawaii. Which and don't quote me on this, but in the eighties when the first ISA World Champion Felipe Pomar, who now lives in Hawaii actually but he's Peruvian kind of brought evidence of this to Surfer Magazine and did a big article on it in Surfer Magazine. And stirred up the pot about where did surfing really originate? And if you have evidence of this civilization using this kind of a board 3500 years ago. Well, it definitely shows it's older than the Hawaiian tradition. Amy: We've been coming to and from Peru, we're from Canada, for about I don't know seven/eight years now. And surfing lots of different waves up and down the coast. And we really fell in love with this place I mentioned already, Huanchaco. Partially because of this long old surfing tradition which is still very much alive. But because the wave is really accessible to all levels of surfers. So two years ago we were here and my partner was working remotely. He has a web design business. And we were just kind of thinking about what's next in life and we were thinking about "We would love to take other people who can work remotely to a place like Huanchaco where you can have really great Wifi. You can surf literally every single day of the year. And if it gets too big here then you can take people to Chicama, which is the longest left in the world." It's about an hour from here so when it gets really big here it works really well there in Chicama. So you've got lots of options for waves in the region and we thought "Well-" ... And also the other thing about Huanchaco is you can walk to everything. So we were like "This is the perfect place to kind of just hanging out for a month, get your work done, but also every day before you work to go out and surf." And then at lunchtime, you can go out and surf and in the evening you can go and surf. You can surf your face off all day but still get your work done. So we decided that we would start a business where we basically take people who can work remotely but wanna have kind of a more wholesome surf lifestyle and bring them here. We set them up with everything that they need. So we get them a private apartment rather than kind of a hotel room. We want them to feel like they're really living here. So we get them a private apartment, surf lessons or surf coaching, Spanish lessons, yoga, and then we do either surf tours or other kinds of trips and tours on the weekends. And so we provide that for people either for two weeks or for a month. Or for two months or three months so that they can really basically live their dream surfing lifestyle. Phil the Inca trail is being overrun and there have to be some worthwhile tricks in the area that are an alternative. This guy apparently knows them. Now I'm hoping that I pronounce your first name correctly, it's Efrain? Efrain: Efrain Morales Phil: I knew we'd get it right. Kim: Us Australians are so bad at putting the, just that little twist to make everything sound sexy. Efrain: Ephie, you can call me Ephie, will be easy. But my name is Efrain Bardies. Kim: Okay so it's true the Inca Trail is getting overrun Ephie? Efrain: Actually yes, there are 500 people a day starting almost altogether. There are some ways to [inaudible 00:20:56] in, but most of the people they like to do the Inca trail in four days. So all of them start together, they camp in one place altogether. They walk almost altogether. Of course, the landscape is amazing, the biology, nature in that area is amazing but after four days of hiking with many people, it's like you were not really in the place that you were thinking you would be. We as a guide and myself as a guide, we are upset about it and we are trying to find some type of solution for this, or perhaps look at for options or alternatives. Phil: Well this is what we wanted to talk to you about because I had heard about Choquequirao, which is very similar to Machu Picchu and not that far away, is that right? Efrain: Choquequirao is very well known as the sacred sister of Machu Picchu. It was abandoned for quite a long time, the Government doesn't put attention much to that place. But recently the mayor from the different communities around, they are trying to talk and restore the area with the help of the Government. [inaudible 00:22:08] was also helping there. They are trying to build a cable car but it still is in a project. But the hike is amazing, the sight is an unbelievable place with a lot of [inaudible 00:22:19]. With amazing platforms, houses, temples, waterfalls. I really like more that place than Machu Picchu. Much is amazing, the land, the surrounding the mountains, of course, it's one of the new seven wonders. But it's the only place where I have seen a Condor, like three meters right in front of me. Right at the point of Choquequirao, right at the platform. Where else in the world you're gonna see the Condor three meters right in front of you? Phil: No absolutely. Kim: Not sure if I want to see the Condor three meters in front of me. So Ephie tell us then about some of those other worthwhile treks in the area that ideally have some of those amazing ruins at the end like Machu Picchu? Efrain: You can go to Choquequirao then you can connect to Vil Cabamba through Vitcos. Vil Cabamba was the last shelter, the last capital of the Inca empire. Fans were here in 1533. Phil: Can I just ask you about Choquequirao again. Kim: You just wanted to say it. Phil: I just wanted to say the word because I think I've got it right. So because ... I mean you're going up and down a fair height a few times there. So how many people, you say you've got 7,000 today at Machu Picchu. How many people are you getting at Choquequirao? Efrain: Okay I was there so many times and sometimes I was there along with my group. Kim: Wow. Efrain: Okay I found sometimes a couple of groups. Sometimes you can see fifty people. Sometimes sixty, but I don't think so more than that. I haven't seen never ever in that area more than sixty people in a day. Phil: Can I ask you two more questions alright? Just two more. One of them is the Inca trail to Machu Picchu. Some people do a two/three-day trek. How fast can you do it? What's the fastest you've ever done it? Efrain: Okay. You really wanna hear that? Phil: Yes. Efrain: Okay the first time, the four days Inca trail, you could now do in three days. Phil: Four days. Efrain: The rules are, you buy your tickets for four days or for five days. But the fastest I did, the first time was six hours with a runner from Scotland. The second time I did it was in three hours and forty fives minutes. Kim: Oh come on. Efrain: Sorry, sorry. Four hours and twenty minutes. But the record is three hours and forty-five minutes by professional runners. Phil: My final question for you Ephie- Efrain: No problem. Ask as much as you want. Phil: Machu Picchu, Choquequirao have you got another one? Is there another one you're not telling us about? Efrain: Vilcabamba. It's getting quite popular. On the way, you can see a mountain called Veronica 5,700 meters in front of you, snow-capped. You arrive to 4,300 meters, the highest point all the way down to the cloud forest to enjoy coffee, tea, chocolates, banana, mango, orange, mandarins. All the foods, pineapple, papayas, all the way down to the jungle where we produce Coca leaf as well. We produce all the fruits we have in Cusco come from that area. You see the landscapes also amazing. The rivers, you can do rocking, biking, lots of activities. Then you go to Vilcabamba, the last capital of the Inca Empire, the last shelter of the Inca Empire where the last Incan was killed. In a day you can see no one or somebody but not many groups, less than Choquequirao. Then we have another called Lares. Lares is an amazing hike, people who still speak Quechua our native language, Inca language. Who still live over 4,000 meters producing potatoes, Limas and Alpacas up in the mountains. Worked in extreme temperatures wearing typical clothes living without any money in the area. But they still do the sharing, "Give me corn, I'll give you potatoes. You give me this I'll give you that." The landscape, the mountains. And they wear typical clothes made by them, textiles. Beautiful, beautiful, the trek is called Lares. Kim: Thanks Efrain and if you would like him to be your guide trekking through Peru, we will show you where you can get hold of him in our show notes alongside travel alerts and detailed information on travel to Peru – do your OWN research. Phil: Get in touch and share your story at <a href="mailto:podcast@worldnomads.com">podcast@worldnomads.com</a> … also a reminder to rate share and subscribe from wherever you get your favorite pods. Kim: Next episode the women who have been traveling for either business or pleasure during COVID and the launch of a new app for solo female travelers. </div> </div> </div>Getty Images/Gonzalo Azumendi 0455188433 Train from Cuzco to Machu Picchu.

https://public-web-wn.uat.wng.me/explore/south-america/ecuador/the-world-nomads-podcast-travel-to-ecuador-during-covid-19In this episode, we revisit Ecuador sharing what you need to know for visiting this destination during COVID-19 including special rules for the Galapagos Islands.2020-09-20T10:00:00Z https://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/south-america/ecuador/the-world-nomads-podcast-travel-to-ecuador-during-covid-19https://www.worldnomads.com<h2>The World Nomads Podcast: Traveling during COVID-19</h2> With COVID-19 still affecting the way we engage with the world, it’s important to plan wisely and travel responsibly, both for your own safety and that of the places you visit. But as we reengage with the world, you're likely planning vacations not far from home. World Nomads can help by providing travel safety tips, inspiring content, and travel insurance designed to protect you while traveling. Before you buy a travel insurance policy, check your government travel warnings and health advice – there may be no travel insurance cover for locations with a government travel ban or health advice against travel. <h2>What’s in the episode</h2> 00:32 Flights to Ecuador are back on for US Citizens 03:11 Nicole explains the layout of Ecuador 06:50 Plastic rules for the Galapagos 11:46 Cam’s trek to Ecuador 15:26 Stranger to the guest to the family 21:06 Let’s meet Katie and Ben 25:30 Partying in Ecuador 30:19 What are the Two Wandering Souls up to <h2>Quotes from the episode</h2> “The people are really- they're very genuine but also like how the culture is built. It's very much based on sharing- having time for persons- if someone has one dollar, they will buy a beer and they will share it together”. Nicole “It's just an incredible country. It packs in a lot of stuff in a relatively small amount of space.” Cam “I didn't really have any expectations coming in (to Ecuador) but just after finding out everything that you can do within the whole country, it's so small but it has so many things to do that it just- it's really fun.” - Ben <h2>Who is in the episode</h2> Nicole Roodenburg is from <a href="http://cetravels.com/">Colourful Ecuador Travels</a>. They organize everything around Ecuador and the Galapagos and really believe in what the country has to offer <a href="https://www.worldnomads.com/explore/south-america/ecuador/talking%20about%20a%20couple%20of%20my%20favourite%20places%20for%20hiking%20there,%20namely%20Cajas%20National%20Park%20and%20the%20Volcan%20Cotopaxi">Cam Honan</a> loves to hike. In this episode, he reveals a couple of his favorite places for hiking in Ecuador, Cajas National Park and the Volcan Cotopaxi. Cam has also written a couple of books <a href="https://gestalten.com/products/the-hidden-tracks">The Hidden Tracks</a> published by Gestalten. As well as its predecessor, <a href="https://www.thehikinglife.com/2018/01/wanderlust-hiking-on-legendary-trails/">Wanderlust: Hiking on Legendary Trails</a>. You can find Cam on Instagram and Facebook. Katie and Ben, otherwise known as Two Wandering Soles, seek adrenaline rushes, good food, authentic experiences, and adventures off the typical tourist path. <a href="https://www.twowanderingsoles.com/">Follow along</a> for responsible & adventurous travel tips, and inspiration that'll get you packing. Since last chatting to us they have kitted out a van and joined the Vanlife community. Follow their journey on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/twowanderingsoles/">Instagram</a>.  <h2>Resources & links</h2> <a href="https://ec.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information-ecu-2/">US Embassy and Consulate in Ecuador</a>. <a href="https://www.worldnomads.com/travel-safety/south-america/ecuador/travel-warnings-and-updates#:~:text=Please%20read%20your%20policy%20wording,stones%20and%20vandalizing%20public%20buildings.">Travel alerts and safety news for Ecuador</a>. General <a href="https://www.worldnomads.com/travel-safety/worldwide/worldwide-travel-alerts">Travel safety alerts.</a> You can get in touch with us by emailing <a href="mailto:podcast@worldnomads.com">podcast@worldnomads.com</a>. <h2>Help us spread the word</h2> We’d love it if you could please share #TheWorldNomadsTravelPodcast with your twitter followers and head over to Facebook and join the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/worldnomadspodcast">World Nomads Travel Podcast group</a>. If you liked this episode please head to <a href="itms://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/the-world-nomads-podcast/id1297825851?mt=2">Apple Podcasts</a> and kindly leave us a rating (it really helps), review, and of course, subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. We use the <a href="https://www.rode.com/rodecasterpro">Rodecaster Pro</a> to record our episodes and interviews when in the studio, made possible with the kind support of Rode. <div class="AccordionSection nst-component nst-is-collapsed"><button class="AccordionSection-title nst-toggle">Full Transcript of the Episode</button> <div class="nst-content"> <div class="AccordionSection-inner"> Kim: Kim and Phil here. Thanks for tuning in to the World Nomads Travel Podcast, please rate, share and subscribe from wherever you get your favorite podcasts because there are plenty of travel stories to share and places to visit. Commercial flights to Ecuador resumed in June and is open to US Citizens, but what do they need to know Phil? Phil: So, at the time of recording, all travelers arriving in Ecuador should provide proof of a negative COVID PCR test taken no more than ten days before entering the country.  If you don’t present symptoms of COVID, you do not need to perform mandatory quarantine, but special rules apply for Galapagos Island. If you (regardless of nationality or residency status) wish to travel to the Galapagos, you must have taken a PCR test with a negative result within 96 hours of entry into Galapagos province. We will share more thorough info in show notes along with our email address to get in touch. Kim: We have edited a previous episode we launched featuring Ecuador reminding you of the stunning waterfalls and hikes and even tips for traveling light. We kicked off with Nicole from Colouful Ecuador who caught up with at a conference in Edinburgh asking her what is it that she loves most about Ecuador. Nicole: It's the people. The people are really- they're very genuine but also like how the culture is built. It's very much based on sharing- having time for persons- if someone has one dollar they will buy a beer and they will share it together. It's not about a very selfish culture, it's just about life, and like for me that is what makes me happy in life. Of being able to have the time to share of but not being busy now with what I'm actually going to be doing tomorrow, in a couple of hours. Also, to have this thing that you can basically do what you want to do at that moment. So for example, when we have a busy day in the office and we're just like, "Let's just go out the whole office for karaoke." Everybody can. Even if we say it's at 2 o'clock in the afternoon like a few phone calls are made to parents and grandparents and boyfriends and girlfriends and husbands and wives and at 5 o'clock we are all singing karaoke. That's a bit of how the spirit is. It's basically of living there and it's not the most efficient culture in the world and we might- like if we were working in Europe we would do with a lot fewer people but we have fun. There's a genuine happy vibe always, everywhere. Phil: And so, how is it one of those countries where the majority of the people live in the capital or is it spread out or... Nicole: It's quite spread out. The capital is Quitoso that has about 2 million people. Guayaquil's biggest city in Ecuador, it's one of the most productive cities. It's based on the coastal area so there it has about 2 and a half million people. So there's like the two main areas where people live, in total, we have 30 million people all living within Ecuador. A lot of more of Ecuadorians living outside of Ecuador. After Quito and Guayaquil, like the big city's Cuenca that's about 500,000 so it goes down. Phil: I heard you speaking here at WYSTC. I've heard you speaking the other day about there are four or five regions of the country. Just take us through that Nicole: Yeah, so we would divide the country into 4 regions. We have the sierra, we call it, it's the Indian region so it's everything to do with the mountains. We have a whole Indian spine going through the whole of Ecuador, basically from the border of Columbia to the border of Peru. We call it the Andes, it's the beautiful snow-capped volcano, villages, there are all the indigenous people living there as there. You've got colorful markets but also the capitals and the colonial centers. We have the Amazon, so it's the jungle area. It's the whole Amazon basin. We don't actually touch the Amazon, it's one of our biggest frustrations. They say that the Peruvians took it away, so that's a bit of neighbor ressentiment in that part. The Amazonian basin so that's everything that we call the jungle area. We have the coastal plains, that's the part mostly going up the coast, the whole Pacific coast, and then the Galapagos is a whole separate region for us as well. So that's the 4 ones, the Amazon... Phil: Let's start with the big one, the Galapagos. Now is it heavily protected? Nicole: It's heavily protected in a way that's it's not easy to move there. It's a part of Ecuador but it's considered complete- we have a special regiment that goes there. So there are special laws for the part of the Galapagos, there are special labor laws as well, in how much you pay people. For example, salaries in the Galapagos are 75% higher than the mainland, that's by law. So the minimum wage in Ecuador at the moment is 385 and in Galapagos, it's 575 so that's already a difference. You have to Galapagano to be able to live there. Becoming Galapagano can be born there or marry in. So that's the only way basically that you can get it and then as an Ecuadorian or as a foreigner that has a valid working visa, you're able to go and work there if you are allowed to by the government. So that means that basically as a Galapagos company, you can apply for it, you can say, "okay I've looked between all the Galapagonos that live there and there's none that fit my description I need- for example, a marine biologist with so many years of experience in researching turtles. I have this person." And then they tell you how much time they are authorized to do it. It's normally, maximum a year and you can extend it up until 5 times. So that's like the maximum. So that's one of the ways that trying to protect it because in the past, especially with the tourism industry growing a little bit there are people moving there and starting to work, especially as waiters and receptionists because also the guiding part is heavily protected. You can only become a Galapagos National Park guide if you are a Galapagano so that takes the level of the guide sometimes down quite a bit. So a lot, for example, the companies that want to have like a really good nature experience they send both a biologist and a Galapagos National Park guide to deal with the park regulations. Phil: And what about just as a visitor though? If you... Nicole: As a visitor, you are allowed to come for 60 days a year. That's the maximum you can stay there. So there, they put in some new laws that were put into place in May and they're actually going to be effective in November. So that changes the whole rules on plastic. There are no plastic straws allowed, there's no plastic, if you want, no plastic containers. So if you're going on a boat excursion you will get all- just normal plates and everything. There's nothing that can be thrown away and no plastic bags so you're not even allowed to bring your shoes in a plastic bag, nothing that is plastic that can only be used once. That's the biggest change and the law is going to be effective on the first of November and one of the other things that you can not go without an itinerary. So you already have to have a plan that you're staying in the legally approved hotels because of- other forms of accommodations also took a flight of people staying like in people's houses and that is not the idea. Like the idea is that the national park regulates all the hotels that are approved to be in the Galapagos National Park in the residential areas basically because only 3% of the Galapagos National Park is actually allowed to be lived at which are the four towns that we actually have and a couple of the highland parts where there's some farming allowed. That is controlled by how to do their waste management, how to do their water management. Also, to keep everything of low control, they have now installed that you can not travel there and just see what kind of hotel you're going to book when you're arriving. Phil: What's your favorite part outside of the Galapagos? Nicole: Actually, for me, there are places above the Galapagos within Ecuador. There are parts called, there are parts we call the paramo, which is above the three and half thousand meters. They have the most amazing landscapes. So if you drive, for example, from Quito to Tena, Tena is one of the easy, accessible jungles towns. You go from two thousand eight hundred meters up to four and half thousand more or less by the roads and that just gives you amazing landscapes with, we call it pahas, so it's like grass with lakes everywhere and then you go all the way down to the jungles. So like the nice thing around Ecuador just sits on a public bus or go and drive with someone in a car and just look out the window because it changes every 5 minutes you have a different view. So like the paramo would be one of it. You have near Cuenca, if you drive from Cuenca to Guayaquil you have El Cajas, it's a national park and it's actually one big lake and there's moss on top of it. You can walk on it... Phil: What? Nicole: It's there are meters wide moss so you walk on top of it and you walk through this forest and it's like a whole fairy tale that came to life. It will make beautiful lakes and little trees and you can see well the rabbits, the foxes, different things around it and you make beautiful hiking there. Phil: Wow Nicole: So that it is really, really great. There are some areas where you have just a waterfall after waterfall. There's also there are parts where you very turning, winding roads so every time you look like there's another turn in the road you see another five waterfalls coming down. So those are beautiful and of course the whales like every summer I do try to go because it's just one of those things that you're- I was there a couple of weeks ago and just from the beach you can see the whales jump. So they are so big. It's always an amazing thing, it doesn't matter how many times you've seen them, it's just this whole bus size animal coming out of the ocean. Yeah, it's wonderful. Phil: Tell us what it is you do. What your company does there and how people can get in contact with you. Nicole: Okay, well I work for Colorful Ecuador Travels. We're a company that's inbound tourism so we try- we organize everything around Ecuador and the Galapagos if you want to go anywhere else we'll refer you to other people because we really love what we do. So as a company we really believe in what the country has to offer so we organize the trips. We put together and connect both providers with the clients in general and we've started also operating different parts of hotels. So we have Casa Aliso, it's a small boutique hotel in Quito. We work together with Indicia, it's an educational hotel or it's an educational center actually and the hotel supports the whole part of the center in Guamota which is about four hours from Quito. We have Musa Galapagos, so we do Galapagos Island hopping in a different way. Also, connecting the local providers so that there are people like the real situations that their people living on the Galapagos Islands. So it's also nice to support the local businesses which is the way that we do with a part of the island hopping and we also volunteer work and have a Spanish school in Quito. Phil: So anything Ecuador, get on to it. So thanks so much for touring with [crosstalk 00:11:00] Nicole: You're very welcome. Kim: Yeah, Link's in Show notes. So Nicole painted a beautiful picture of Ecuador so let's start to pick it apart. We'll kick it off with Cam. He's written a couple of books including, "The Hidden Tracks" and as of 2018, he's hiked more than sixty thousand miles or ninety-six thousand, five hundred and sixty-one Ks in some 56 countries in 6 continents. Cam. How ya going? Phil: Are your feet sore? Cam: I think I'm a bit weary just hearing that actually. Kim: Well yeah, you've tired me out. That's a hell of a lot of trekking. So can you expand on hiking in Ecuador? Cam: Well it's been about- I spent about 5 or 6 weeks in Ecuador back in 2004 so it's been a while but the two things that really stand out for me in regards to Ecuador are the volcanos and the national park by El Cajas. That's spelled C-A-J-A-S. and in regards to the volcanos, Ecuador it's a pretty small country, I think it's a little bit bigger than Victoria in area wise... Phil: I've got to say though mate, most of our audience in America so I'll check it out but it's got to be about the size of Rhode Island hasn't? Cam: A little bit bigger than Rhode Island. But I think there's about [inaudible 00:12:23] volcanos and a bunch of them are active and probably the most- well definitely the most famous one and maybe the most beautiful is one called Cotopaxi. It's about, seeing most of your audience is in the States, almost 20,000 feet high, 5,800 meters give or take. It's got that beautiful symmetrical shape and there's a hike you can do around the base of it, you can circumnavigate the volcano. It's about 80KM long takes anywhere from 4 to 6 days and it's just an absolutely gorgeous hike and the whole you just get this series of views of the volcano and I think it's also one of the most active volcanos in the world. It's erupted more than 50 times over the last few centuries but maybe not in the last 100 years so it may be due. Kim: Cam, it would be a very quick 5 to 6 days then if you're trekking the base of an active volcano Cam: Yeah, you definitely have your skates on for a lot of it. I mean, if you see all these puffs come out you probably go a little bit quicker. So it's- well if you go through all these dense forests and high grass lands and broad valleys and go over these lava flows and yeah it's just gorgeous volcano pretty much like Mt. Fuji in Japan or Mt. Taranaki in New Zealand. It's a stunning hike. And the other place I think about when I think about Ecuador when it comes to hiking is the national park I referenced before called Cajas which is just actually just up the road from this beautiful old colonial town by the name of Cuenca and Cuenca is the Panama hat capital of the world. It's a really lovely little town and Cajas is this national park maybe 10, 15, 20 minutes drive from there. It's got over a couple hundred different lakes and glacial valleys and rocky peaks and cloud forests and really it's off the radar. Not a lot of people go hiking there and it's really wet there, think Scotland but without the pomps and the bopies. Phil: Ah Cam: Yeah, it's just an incredible country. It packs in a lot of stuff in a relatively small amount of space. Kim: So the book, "The Hidden Tracks," which I'm guessing is your latest book. It's great, which sounds so patronizing to say it's great by the way. Phil: It's got the Kim seal of approval. Cam: Yeah, you don't want to realize that it's crappy when you have me on for a podcast. Kim: No I enjoyed it because it's super inspirational and there's a lot of other things about the layout of the book that I really like too. But it kicks off with this concept of a stranger to guest to family. What do you mean by that? Cam: It's something I came up with probably about- I'm showing my age a bit here but probably about 25 years ago on a trip to the South Isle of New Zealand. It's basically what I call a natural progression which is something which is I guess it's a transformation that can take place when people spend a lot of time out in nature. A lot of folks first head out to the woods particularly if they haven't grown up in the country, they might feel a little bit like a fish out of water, a stranger in a strange land, the odd sounds at night they're not really used to or too hot or too cold or too muddy or too wet. Sometimes, for some people, the first time might prove to be the last but I think for those that preserve, and this is the key, in so doing really learn to accept Mother Nature on its own terms, a transformation this natural progression can take place and slowly but surely you become accustomed to those sort of conditions that have become the catalyst of those worries and fears. And as those experiences accumulate, worries begin to fade and instead of a stranger, you start to feel like a guest. A guest when you're out in the wilderness, a welcomed guest, and then in the third stage, the guest to family. Kim: I like it. Phil, you love that kind of stuff, don't you? Phil: Yeah, I love that stuff Kim: So what was your motivation then for getting off the beaten track and obviously, at 60,000 miles you're a pretty keen hiker. Cam: Yeah you could say that. Well, I think all the biggies like freedom and the challenge of it, the connection with nature but I think a lot of it for me is always come down to just simplicity. I think I realized that at a fairly young age that I was at my happiest when my life was at it's most simple and I was at most miserable when everything was complicated. I think spending time out in the woods when you got everything you need in the world on your back, it really hits home that you don't need a lot of stuff to be happy. I think that's always been a huge motivation for me for heading out into the wilderness Kim: So what have been some challenges then that- you've painted a pretty romantic picture. This concept of a stranger to a guest to the family. As we know, with families it can often be a rocky road. Cam: Alright, I'll give you the flip side. I'll give you the flip side. Back in the mid-90s, there was one time I was attacked by a rabid dog when I was hiking in the southeast Oasis in Egypt. Like actually, staying just outside of this oasis by the name of Siwa. There have been other times- there's this region in the north of Mexico called the Copper Canyon area. This incredible region, it's like four times bigger than the Grand Canyon. I've done about 5 trips there over the last 2 decades. But the very first trip up to it was the first bus ride I ever took when I came to Mexico, I was robbed by these masked bandits at like 2 or 3 am in the morning I had a gun held to my head. Kim: Phil loves these kinds of stories. This is great. What do you get to do then? In terms of tricks Phil: Yeah what have you- what do you want to do? Cam: There's still a few places out there that- I've never been to Kurdistan. I've always fancied going to Kurdistan. Actually, the Kimberlys in Australia, it's a part of- I've been to Western Australia but I've never been up to the Kimberlys so I'd like to spend a bit of time up there. There's parts of Ethiopia, the rift valley area in Africa that I'd love to get to. I think it's one of those things where, irrespective of how much hiking you've done, how many places you've been, there's always something else to do and there's always other places to explore. It's been something that I've done pretty much my whole life and something that I plan to continue to do or I hope I can continue to do for the next 60 years or so. Kim: Well, listen, it's been fabulous talking to you and I guess it would be great to finish on a single piece of advice for anyone that's thinking about doing a long haul trek. Cam: The big thing is preparation. Just do as much research as you can and getting fit as possible. And also, I think traveling lightly, traveling as lightly as you possibly can because it's tough to enjoy a long hike when you're carrying the kitchen sink on you back. That's a huge thing when I do talks and comps I'm often going on about traveling as lightly as possible and emphasizing necessity rather than surplus luxuries. 'Cause it all adds up and a lot of it gets back to the whole idea of simplicity, just not needing as much stuff. Kim: I think they're actually bamboo underpants you can buy where you don't have to take them off for a week. Phil: Bamboo fiber, I hope, and not just strapped from pieces of bamboo. I let my fingers do the walking while we're having a chat there, Ecuador is only very slightly smaller than Colorado. Kim: Beautiful. We've got you the U.S. reference in there. Cam, thanks so much. We all have links to not only your books but also your Instagram and a couple of other things in our show notes. Phil: Yeah, great talking to you Cam. Cam: Just one last thing in regards to the undies. Look, I know the bamboo probably sounds nice but really you've got to go commando. Kim: That's even better. Yes. Phil: Fair enough. Kim: That's even better. Links to where you can pick up "The Hidden Tracks" and more on Cam in show notes. Now, Katie and Ben are otherwise known as two wandering souls and they have been to a number of destinations including Ecuador which they say was unforgettable. We've got the guys on Skype now. Hey, Katie, Ben, two wandering souls. Katie: Hi Ben: Hey Kim: So what was so unforgettable about Ecuador? Katie: I think there are many things that we could say that were unforgettable but the things that kind of stick out about our trip to Ecuador were being about to experience and explore the nature and wildlife and do a lot of adventure activities. So that's what kind of sticks out. We also just had an amazing experience meeting other travelers and having a few local connections as well. Phil: Like what? What were some of the adventure activities that you got- that you got yourselves into? Ben: We did quite a bit. Like we went canyoneering, we went mountain biking, we went puenting which is like a swing jump. Katie: Kind of like bungee jumping without the bounce back Phil: Kim is looking very perplexed. Puenting, from a bridge. Kim: Yeah. Phil: So you jump off that and so you end up sort of swinging underneath the bridge, like a pendulum. Kim: Right. Yup, so you're off to the adrenaline rush there guys. Katie: Yeah, we got quite a few adrenaline rushes in Ecuador. We also went snorkeling in the Galapagos, where we saw sharks and penguins and sea turtles. Ben: Manta Rays Katie: Manta Rays, yeah. So we had quite an adventurous experience in Ecuador. Kim: Phil, I'm going to stop here and ask you. Phil: Yes. Kim: With these chats that we've done about Ecuador, is this the kind of country you thought it was? Phil: No. Not at all. No. I mean, I was amazed to find out about the waterfalls and the beautiful forest and what have you. And now we're finding out about the adrenaline activities as well. For a relatively small place, it packs a punch, doesn't it? Kim: It does. Ben, what did you think when you got there? Was it above your expectations? Ben: It really was. I mean, I didn't really have any expectations coming in but just after finding out everything that you can do within the whole country, it's so small but it has so many things to do that it just- it's really fun. Kim: Phil, you found out it was the size of what? Phil: It's the size of Colorado. Kim: There you go. Phil: There you go. Kim: It puts it into context for you. Now, Katie, you also, both of you spent time working on an organic farm. So you go from this adrenaline rush to this kind of peaceful, village life almost. Katie: Yeah, we- so we ended up signing up for this volunteer program through Work Away and the directions on the website were very, very simple. They were, take this local bus and have them drop you off on the side of the road where basically you're in the middle of nowhere and then the instructions say and hike up a hill for an hour and a half. We have our big backpacks and we're hiking, literally in mud that is up to our knees. So we have our boots on and we're hiking and we look at each other, the sun's going now and we're like, "Are we actually going to make it to this farm? This so-called farm that we don't even know exists?" Sure enough, we made it. Thank goodness. Because we were literally in the middle of nowhere, but we spent a week on this farm doing kind of all sorts of different chores around the homestead and it was a really, really incredible experience. Phil: What were they growing? What was the produce? Ben: They have a whole bunch of different vegetables and fruits that they were growing like corn, tomatoes, peanuts, just a whole variety of different things. They had different projects on the farm as well, like I installed a solar shower to help out other volunteers. Kim: I like the way you travel. I'm a massive adrenaline junkie. I like being in the water and snorkeling and that sort of thing but- Phil: But anything higher than a table [crosstalk 00:24:59] Kim: Yeah no, can't do it. But you're into the food, you're into the authentic experiences and adventures that are off the typical tourist path. But you're also young and you talk about partying on the beach in Ecuador. How do they party in Ecuador? Katie: Yeah well, this was the second country we visited after quitting our jobs and so we were kind of ready to let loose and Ben. Ben is a former engineer and he was very excited to have some freedom and we had heard all these stories about this beachside town of Mantaita and to be honest, it's mostly travelers there that are partying. We decided to spend a few days there and to be quite honest, it was not a cultural experience at all. It's not the most beautiful beach at all but what this town promise is an epic nightlife... Ben: Yeah, it was a pretty fun nightlife. We stayed at this hostel and got to know a lot of other travelers there. Played some drinking games of course, and we walked to the beach. It's the kind of place where you can just get a drink at a street stall and roam through the streets or roam to the beach and it was a fun night. Kim: So what made you quit your jobs? Obviously, we know why you quit your jobs and we speak to so many people that do it for a sense of adventure and just to really experience life. What were you doing Katie and Ben you were an engineer, so what you give it all up? Katie: So I was working in graphic design and advertising. And we both actually really liked our jobs and we had a comfortable life and we had a great apartment, great family and friends but we just kind of realized that we could see ourselves in that same spot in 40, 50 years and we decided that we wanted just a little bit of a chance to experience something different. Honestly, what was meant to be 3 months in South America ended up kind of snowballing and turning into something that has continued for the past 5 years. It was kind of an accidental quitting our jobs and staying that way but yeah. Phil: It seems to me that Americans have not really done that in the past. They've all been very career-oriented and I just get the feeling that more and more Americans are deciding to chuck it in for a while and go traveling. Ben: Yeah it's tough when you're working at a company and you only have two weeks vacation for the whole entire year and that's kind of what we saw and we wanted to have a little bit more time to travel and so. I guess a lot of Americans want to have more freedom and kind of get out of that type of... Katie: The everyday routine but I think just the ability now to work online and be able to make money remotely it will make it so much easier for people to pick up and quit their jobs and travel if that's what they want. Ben: Or create a new job online. Phil: Yeah, well a graphic designer Katie, that's easy for you to do remotely but it's probably not that easy to build roads or something Ben. Kim: I don't think he wants to. Phil: No Ben: Yeah it's been a little bit of a learning curve for me just to pick up more website development and design. Katie has taught me a lot too. I'm making it work, it's pretty good. Phil: We've been talking that lifestyle up but what's the worse thing about it? I mean, do you get homesick. Kim: Good question Phil: Yeah Katie: There's a lot of worse things actually. Yes, we do get homesick. We have missed out on a lot of events back home, a lot of weddings or births or just everyday kind of things that we feel like we're missing out on. But at the end of the day, it's- there's nothing that can really replace the freedom that we've been able to create. Kim: Well the world is a big backyard. Your blog we'll share in show notes with some great stories particularly or not particularly about Ecuador 'cause all the stories are great... Phil: All the stories are great. Kim: But there are things there about getting down and dirty on the farm. Also, border crossings from Ecuador to Peru which Katie's not a big fan of, Katie? Katie: Yes, we had a not so fun border experience and to be honest I think land crossings, like when you're crossing through a bus are never really fun experience. Ben: Especially when it's in the middle of the night Katie: Yes and especially when the bus is not the most comfortable. But it's all a part of the journey. Kim: Speaking of journey’s I have touched base with Ben and Kate who are currently living in Bend, Oregon, and converted a campervan which they have been traveling around in. Kate said they have listened to quite a bit of the WN podcast during the build because it was fun to hear about travel stories while being stuck in the USA.  Bye </div> </div> </div>Getty Images/Jay Dickman 0521438982 Getty Images Off Floreana Island a Galapagos sea turtle

Lessons From the Coronavirus Quarantine - Photo Essayhttps://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/stories/transformation/lessons-from-the-covid-19-quarantineLessons From the Coronavirus Quarantine - Photo EssayMon, 06 Jul 2020 21:31:31 GMThttps://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/stories/transformation/lessons-from-the-covid-19-quarantinehttps://public-web-wn.uat.wng.me/explore/south-america/chile/cruising-the-southern-patagonia-ice-fieldStephen Lioy finds himself continually wonderstruck as he explores the world's second-largest ice field outside the polar regions.2020-06-12T10:00:00Z https://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/south-america/chile/cruising-the-southern-patagonia-ice-fieldhttps://www.worldnomads.com<ul> <li><a href="#glacier">Awestruck by El Brujo Glacier</a></li> <li><a href="#fjords">Exploring the remote Chilean fjords</a></li> <li><a href="#trip-notes">Trip Notes</a></li> </ul> As the small jetty of Puerto Natales slips silently out of sight, the only sounds that break the evening quiet are the call of birds and the ship's bow cutting through the calm waters of Chile’s Admiral Montt Gulf. The first of three days aboard the small but rugged Skorpios III cruise ship give very little indication of the splendors that await us in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. Early the next morning, we arrive at the Amalia Glacier – one of the fastest-retreating in the region, having lost over 4.3mi (7km) since 1952 – and disembark on the ship's tenders for the day's first shore excursion. Hiking from a stony beach through scrubby stands of Magellanic subpolar forest, we gather at a rocky outcrop overlooking the glacier's tongue and the many miles of ice behind it that flow slowly down from the peak of the Reclus Volcano. The first of many such visits over these activity-filled days, it inspires a feeling of overwhelming awe in the face of nature that will repeat itself again and again. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/chile/ice-fields-ship.jpg" /><figcaption>The Skorpios III awaiting passengers during a shore excursion in the Montañas Fjord. Image credit: Stephen Lioy</figcaption></figure> <h2 id="glacier">Awestruck by El Brujo Glacier</h2> The highlight of the second day, perhaps the entire trip, repeats that same pattern: off the boat, onto the shore for an incredible <a href="/explore/north-america/greenland/kayaking-southern-greenland">glacier viewpoint</a>. The 0.6mi (1km) wide foot of the El Brujo Glacier towers above us. Vehicle-sized chunks of ice calve and splash in the water below, sending icy waves crashing towards our perch hundreds of yards away. Our guides detail the height, the history, and the breadth of the Ice Fields, the significance of national park namesake Bernardo O'Higgins; in truth, we barely hear them, so caught up are we in our own quiet murmurs, invoking both higher powers and the depths of disbelief at the beauty that surrounds us. Finally, having run out of words of admiration and with no more photos to possibly take, we return to our launches to navigate back between the floes of floating ice, board the ship, and continue further into the Ice Field and on to even more. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/chile/ice-fields-cormorant.jpg" /><figcaption>A lone Magellanic cormorant rests on an ice floe in the Calvo Fjord. Image credit: Stephen Lioy</figcaption></figure> <h2 id="fjords">Exploring the remote Chilean fjords</h2> Our most remote point, in the heart of the Calvo Fjord, is closer to the Argentinian tourist hub of El Calafate than to our starting point of Puerto Natales. El Calafate’s famous <a href="/explore/south-america/argentina/magical-patagonia">Perito Moreno Glacier</a> lies less than 12.5mi (20km) away from us, beyond the spine of the Cerro Pietrobelli ridge that defines the border. Stretching over 217mi (350km) along much of the southern stretch of Chile and <a href="/explore/south-america/argentina">Argentina</a>, the Southern Patagonian Ice Field is the world's second-largest outside the polar regions. To celebrate having reached this far, we share a toast of whiskey, poured over 1,000-year-old ice plucked straight from the waters through which we cruise. While Magellanic cormorants and Andean condors wheel through the frigid summer air, we slowly plot a course back towards the starting point of our journey. Shore excursions and wildlife-spotting trips begin to blur together. We begin a short forest hike to touch the very edges of the Bernal Glacier. Seemingly the very next moment, we disembark again for a wildlife-spotting trip in small speedboats, on the lookout for sea lion colonies and condor rookeries. All around, we continue through a shifting sea of landscapes, from forested rock islands to dramatic snow-capped peaks, until a grey mist descends. We finally raise the anchor one last time to return to Puerto Natales. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/chile/ice-fields-view.jpg" /><figcaption>Passengers admire the landscape as the ship travels to Puerto Natales. Image credit: Stephen Lioy</figcaption></figure> Disembarking to continue our travels in Patagonia – some to <a href="/explore/south-america/chile/top-places-to-go-in-southern-chile">Torres del Paine</a> for world-famous hikes, and others across the Argentine border for more glacier-spotting or to catch a ship bound for Antartica – the relative bustle of tiny Puerto Natales is now a jarring contrast to the quiet of the icy waters. Though the scenery of the Patagonia region will continue to amaze, very little will compare to the tranquility and wonder of traveling through the rarely visited waters of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. Alongside adventures like the Q circuit at Torres del Paine, Everest Base Camp in Nepal, or the remote Tien-Shan mountains of Central Asia, this experience remains a highlight of my travels to this day. The combination of pristine nature, diversity of landscapes, true remoteness, and surprisingly comfortable travel is one that has been rarely replicated since. <h2 id="trip-notes">Trip Notes</h2> The author traveled with Chilean cruise operator <a href="http://www.skorpios.cl/en/skorpios-cruises/kaweskar-route/">Cruceiros Skorpios</a> on the company's Kaweskar Route, which offers around 50 sailings each season from October to April. Other cruise operators that offer travel in the region include French-based Ponant and USA-based Seabourn, both of which include the region on longer South America itineraries.Stephen Lioy 0

Resistance in Brazil's Rupestrian Grasslands | Photoshttps://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/stories/discovery/resistance-in-the-rupestrian-grasslandsResistance in Brazil's Rupestrian Grasslands | PhotosWed, 29 Jan 2020 19:49:15 GMThttps://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/stories/discovery/resistance-in-the-rupestrian-grasslandsVideo: Fishing With Dolphins in Laguna, Brazil | Travelhttps://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/stories/discovery/fishing-with-dolphins-in-laguna-brazilVideo: Fishing With Dolphins in Laguna, Brazil | TravelWed, 23 Oct 2019 22:51:58 GMThttps://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/stories/discovery/fishing-with-dolphins-in-laguna-brazilhttps://public-web-wn.uat.wng.me/explore/south-america/suriname/the-world-nomads-podcast-surinameIn this episode, we explore Suriname, its cosmopolitan population and unspoiled nature. Plus, we discover what odd things people travel with.2019-10-15T11:00:00Z https://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/south-america/suriname/the-world-nomads-podcast-surinamehttps://www.worldnomads.com<h2>The World Nomads Podcast: Suriname</h2> Suriname is a relatively isolated destination, busy opening its doors to travelers to experience its unique and diverse ethnicities, life in the rainforest and Dutch colonial history. <h2>What’s in the episode</h2> 00:58 Suriname. Who has been there? 02:02 Author Diana Plater live in the studio 04:30 The history of the Maroons 09:37 Opening Suriname up to travelers 11:09 Why Suriname is unique 14:44 You could be in Africa 17:39 the odd things people travel with 22:30 How Diane ended up in Suriname 29:27 Why Milton Kam left his home country and what made him return 33:35 Ten years after leaving 39:10 Next week <h2>Quotes from the episode</h2> “Well, it's an amazin mix of people for one thing. There's the former Dutch, there's the Amerindians, who are the indigenous people of the country. There are the Maroons, who are the descendants of escaped slaves, African slaves. Then they brought Indonesian workers, mainly from Java, to work the plantations after slavery was abolished. And then there's all sorts of other mixes.” – Diana Plater “I think tourism is a big chance for us to preserve nature, to develop and enhance culture, to share art and to keep things sustainable.” – Sirano Zalman “We found just getting to know local people made a huge difference to our experience. and a really big difference to our understanding of what was happening around us. There's an authenticity to it, it's not dressed up for tourists.” – Diane Selkirk “You'll find such an amazing multicultural variety, that is phenomenal for a place in South America. But also, do go visit the beautiful Amazonian rainforest that we have. There is so much to see there.” – Milton Kam Who is in the episode Diana Plater an Australian journalist, author, and travel writer who loves getting off the beaten track. Her latest book is Whale Rock, which has been awarded Gold for Popular Literary Fiction in the 2019 Global eBook Awards. Captains of the Rainforest  <a href="https://www.worldnomads.com/explore/south-america/suriname/maroon-culture-in-suriname">Read Diana’s story on Maroon communities</a>.  After spending much of the past decade circumnavigating the globe with her husband, daughter and Charlie the boat cat aboard a 40’ sailboat, Diane Selkirk is now based in Vancouver, Canada. Her writing has appeared publications including BBC Travel, National Geographic Travel, Outside, Men’s Journal and The Guardian. Following a challenging trip to Suriname…  <a href="https://www.worldnomads.com/travel-safety/south-america/suriname/safety-tips-for-travelers-in-suriname">Diane Selkirk reveals her Top 5 tips for staying safe.</a> In 1993 Sirano Zalman started his travel company ‘Wild Coast Expeditions’; adventurous boat trips in pristine mangrove coastal areas. Since then the company has moved on as <a href="http://www.surinametravel.com/">'Access Suriname Travel'</a>, offering customers a wider range of tours and daring expeditions. Access Suriname Travel has become the leading tour operator and Suriname's first destination management company believing tourism should be well balanced in terms of people, planet and profit. Follow this<a href="http://www.surinametravel.com/#!nl&tours&cultuur-tours&danpaati&entry"> link</a> to the Danpaati River Lodge. <a href="https://www.miltonkam.com/about">Milton Kam</a> is a cinematographer born in Suriname. His work has taken him to almost every continent, shooting documentaries in Vietnam, Rwanda, Japan and Argentina; features in Great Britain, Sri Lanka, and Suriname; and television in New Zealand, Colombia, and the US. <a href="https://www.pointsofrecognition.com/">Points of Recognition: Suriname’s Indigenous Peoples in the 21st Century</a> is available to order. <h2>Resources & links</h2> Scholarships Newsletter: <a href="https://www.worldnomads.com/create">Sign up for scholarships news and see what opportunities are live here</a>. Want to know more about Suriname? Heleen Westerman lived in Suriname for several years, check out her <a href="https://kapelkatravel.com/over/">website</a> Kapelka Travel which is full of stories and great tips about Suriname. <a href="http://www.galibi-tours.com/en/index.html">Myrysji Tours Suriname</a> is one of the operators Milton suggested in the podcast. <h2>Want to republish this episode</h2>  <iframe src="https://webplayer.whooshkaa.com/episode/445898?theme=light" height="190" width="100%" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay"></iframe> Next Episode: Sustainable and Ethical Travel About World Nomads & the Podcast Explore your boundaries and discover your next adventure with The World Nomads Podcast. Hosted by Podcast Producer Kim Napier and World Nomads Phil Sylvester, each episode will take you around the world with insights into destinations from travelers and experts. They’ll share the latest in travel news, answer your travel questions and fill you in on what World Nomads is up to, including the latest scholarships and guides. <a href="https://www.worldnomads.com/%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank">World Nomads</a> is a fast-growing online travel company that provides inspiration, advice, safety tips and specialized travel insurance for independent, volunteer and student travelers traveling and studying most anywhere in the world. Our online global travel insurance covers travelers from more than 135 countries and allows you to buy and claim online, 24/7, even while already traveling. The World Nomads Podcast is not your usual travel Podcast. It’s everything for the adventurous, independent traveler. Don’t miss out. Subscribe today. You can get in touch with us by emailing <a href="mailto:podcast@worldnomads.com">podcast@worldnomads.com</a>. We use the <a href="https://www.rode.com/rodecasterpro">Rodecaster Pro</a> to record our episodes and interviews when in the studio, made possible with the kind support of Rode. <iframe width="600" height="450" style="border: 0;" src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d2985488.5482439217!2d-57.52473155214894!3d4.168576298526138!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x8d0836d5d9d3d551%3A0x1037e1c0712936b2!2sSuriname!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sau!4v1571025068334!5m2!1sen!2sau" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <div class="AccordionSection nst-component nst-is-collapsed"><button class="AccordionSection-title nst-toggle">Full Transcript of the Episode</button> <div class="nst-content"> <div class="AccordionSection-inner"> Phil: Don't hit skip. This episode of the World Nomads podcast is about Suriname. Kim, what's in it? Kim: Well, Milton Kam was born and raised in Suriname and explains why he left and went back. Sirano Zalman runs Access Suriname Travel and they're committed to ethical and sustainable travel. And Diane who ended up in Suriname unexpectedly. Speaker 3: Welcome to the World Nomads podcast delivered by World Nomads, the travel, lifestyle and insurance brand. It's not your usual travel podcast. It's everything for the adventurous, independent traveler. Kim: Open book here. This episode of the podcast almost did not happen. With all our contacts, writers, bloggers, experts, et cetera. I could not find anyone that had been to Suriname. I even said to you, "Why are we doing this episode?" But we persisted and we can now share this incredible sounding country with you. Phil: And the fact that you can't find anybody who's been there, it's encouragement, incentive for me to go. Kim: I know. Phil: [crosstalk 00:01:02] going to be fantastic. Kim: Well, once you've listened to it, you will want to go. Phil: Yeah, sure. Look, it's the smallest country in South America and it's also the least populous one. Between 1667 and 1954 it was a Dutch colony. Okay, so in a country which is split between Portuguese, Brazil and Spanish, here's a tiny little speck where they speak Dutch. It stopped being a colony in 1975 when they became an independent state. And it's the only territory outside Europe where Dutch is spoken by most of the people. Kim: So hashtag random? Phil: Totally. Kim: Well, despite Suriname's low population, it is extremely diverse, with people from various ethnicities. I knew I wouldn't be able to say that. I'll say it again. Various ethnicities and religions. And our first guest is Diana Plater, an Australian journalist, author and travel writer. Who loves getting off the beaten track, so this is a perfect destination. And she's here in the studio with us. Welcome. Diana Plater: Thanks very much. Kim: Why is it such a mysterious place? Diana Plater: I think partly because it's Dutch speaking. It's not really seen as... It is part of Latin America, but it's not. It's part of South America, it's the top part of South America, but it's not seen as one of the Latin countries because it's a former Dutch colony, that speaks Dutch. And so it's very well known in the Netherlands. There's lots and lots of tourists come direct from Amsterdam, or whatever to- Kim: So a direct flight? Diana Plater: There's direct flights, so that's one way of getting there, if you wanted to go there. Or you have to go through the States and go via Miami and through the Caribbean. And otherwise you can go over land from Brazil, I think. I mean, it's pretty tricky going over land. Kim: Okay. So it's hard to get there? Diana Plater: Yeah. Exactly. Kim: Yeah. And then is there- Phil: I'm liking the sound of that by the way. I like that it's hard to get to. Kim: Increasingly. Diana Plater: It's fabulous country. Yeah. It's just cool. Kim: Why? Diana Plater: Well, it's an amazing mix of people for one thing. There's the former Dutch, there's the Amerindians, who are the indigenous people of the country. There are the Maroons, who are the descendants of escaped slaves, African slaves. Then they brought Indonesian workers, mainly from Java, to work the plantations after slavery was abolished. And then there's all sorts of other mixes. So can you imagine what the music's like? Kim: Oh, you'd have an incredible music scene and does it? Diana Plater: Yeah, it does. Yeah. Yeah. From reggae to Caribbean music, to some African beats, all sorts of things. Yeah. And some really good jazz musicians have come out of there as well. Kim: You had an amazing experience though, which for me, it feels like almost a once in a lifetime opportunity, to meet the villages. On what river? Diana Plater: On the Upper Suriname River. So they're flood waters of the Amazon, and you're basically going into full-on jungle. So when you think of the Amazon, you think of jungle. If you fly over it, that's all you see for miles, and miles, and miles. But when you actually go there, you're going down in canoes with outboard motors. So you fit about 12 people. Phil: Like long boat ones? Diana Plater: Yeah, yeah. They finally built a road about 30 years ago, and that goes for about three hours from the capital. And then you get off and you get in one of those boats, one of the canoes. And then you sort of going down, down, down, and there's some points where you're shooting rapids and it's the most clearest, beautiful water, gorgeous to swim in. It's also got the kind of Rasta feel. Well, the villages we went to where those of the Maroons, or that's what they're known as generally, or Sura Markin's. Diana Plater: They were the slaves who escaped and rebelled in the 17th century, and made their way down the jungle, down the rivers, learned how to grow crops, and the main crop is cassava, from the Amerindians, and more or less displaced them took, over their villages in a way. The Ameridians moved further down, more and more into the Amazon. And then they just had this closed society for 300 years. And it was an oral society, an oracle oral culture. So their memories are incredible and they memorize, what they call the leaders or the chiefs of the villages are known as captains because they're thinking of the captains that were on the slave ships. And they memorize their names from the ones that first came, to the ones to 300 years later, to today. Kim: Tell me that story that you mentioned, where you thought this guy was affirmative listening basically. Diana Plater: Yeah. Yeah. I was with a group of Australian... Actually European travel agents, they weren't Australians. Who were invited there to talk about tourism possibilities, and how they can improve tourism in the country. So they invited us to a village meeting and while I'm there I could see this guy just sort of going, "Hmm, Hm, yeah, yeah." Nodding his head. And I'm going, "Who is that guy?" So I asked the guide at the end, "Who was he?" And he said, "Well, he's the secretary. He's the one who takes the notes in his head and remembers the whole meeting from beginning to end. And if there's any dispute or any problem, you go to him and you don't dispute him because he does have that memory. And he can tell you who said this and who said that and when it was said." Kim: That is remarkable really, isn't it? Diana Plater: It is. I love it. Phil: I think my wife's one of those. Kim: Really? Remembers everything? Phil: Five years ago you said. Kim: So you can see with a group of travel agents, you said to explore possibilities for tourism. This sounds worrying. Phil: We don't want mass tourism in a place like that. Kim: But who is it, is it the agents that want it or is that the Maroons? Diana Plater: They want it. They don't want the place to be destroyed, they want it controlled. So we stayed at lodges, which are either owned by Maroon communities or leased to others who run them for them. So the main one we stayed at was a place called Danpaati. And that had been set up. There was a shocking civil war in the 1980s, and after that they needed development help, and health help, and so on. And so it was set up as a way to try and raise some money to improve the conditions in the villages, and for example, improving the water situation, the health, a kindergarten because the women go out and work in the fields, it's somewhere for the kids to go to. Diana Plater: So things like that. So they just see it as a way of bringing in money that they wouldn't normally get. So yeah, they say, "Yeah, we want it. Just hurry up. You're too slow, get moving." Kim: Now you've mentioned the music there being so fantastic. What's the dancing like and art? Diana Plater: The dancing by the women is fabulous. And they wear these sorts of appliqued skirts called panis. It's a matriarchal society, actually, I'm talking about the Maroons. I'm talking about the Maroons here. So the women get handed down these skirts by them mothers and grandmothers, and then they're the ones that more or less choose the husband. And the husband has to show that he's got enough pots, and pans, and whatever to be a good husband and then they decide on it. Diana Plater: So they came and did this dancing for us, and you can imagine these gorgeous, strong African bodies, and they're very feisty, and quite cheeky and rude. And apparently in the days when the rebellions were going on, when they were fighting against the Dutch, the women would be dancing for the Dutch and the men would be escaping. So the women would be helping them get out and get off the plantations. Because the thing about Suriname also, is that it was considered the worst place for a slave to be sent to. So if you were a bit rebellious or trouble in the Caribbean or somewhere else, you got sent to Suriname. So it was really, really cruel. Kim: Just incredible. It's whet my appetite to know more about this place. Suriname. Diana Plater: Thank you [crosstalk 00:09:00]. Kim: Thank you Diana. And her latest book by the way, is Whale Rock, which has been awarded gold for popular literary fiction in the 2019 global ebook awards, so congrats for that. Now we did feature details on the book in our Facebook page, which we'd love you to join, just search for the World Nomads podcast, join in the conversation about travel, get some behind the scene stuff and even give aways. Phil: Yeah, we're working on even more of those. Diana mentioned the Danpaati River Lodge, so let's find out more about it from Sirano Zalman, who runs Access Suriname Travel. and is one of the driving forces behind the push to open Suriname up to travelers as a destination, as he explains why. Sirano Zalman: Yeah, I think we realize now that Suriname has a huge amount of unspoiled nature. We are one of the few countries in the world with 92% tropical rain forest coverage, which is fairly unique in the world. An undiscovered gem. Phil: Well, you could say that again. Kim: We can't find anyone that's been there. Its been very difficult. Sirano Zalman: Even if I go through Miami, which is fairly close. And I was with sports competition with my daughter in Wisconsin, in the US. People didn't know where Suriname was. So it's really unknown in the world. Kim: But it's so culturally rich because you've got so many indigenous groups and then there's also a Jewish community. So walk us through that. Sirano Zalman: Yes, there are many countries and cities that are multicultural. I mean if you look at New York, I think New York has 52 ethnic groups or nationalities. Suriname is less, but the strong point of Suriname is every group is equal. So the experience that you're in a multicultural country, that everybody is very warm and everybody is very proud, and everyone is equal. All these groups, the Japanese, the Chinese, the East Indian people, the European people, the black people, the indigenous red Indian, the Amerindian people, they all feel alike, Suriname, Suriname people. And that makes it unique and enhances the experience that you're in a multicultural country. Sirano Zalman: Another thing is that due to history, all of these groups, they live together very well. Suriname is the only country in the world we are a mosque is standing besides the synagogue. And where the groups use each other’s parking lot, when the ones parking is full, fully parked. So that that is unique. And we ass Suriname people, we didn't realize this because we've grown up like this. And now with some people, and the tourism is starting, all these people saying, "Wow, it's so nice that everybody marries everybody. That Pakistani marries Japanese, that black people marry Chinese. How is this possible?" While it is. Sirano Zalman: And now together with the awareness on the ecological value that we have, with this amazing Amazon forest that we have. In which we have several traditional tribes living. Of which the Maroons, who our descendants from the slaves. They are living in this Amazon forest for 300 years now, still the way they left Africa. I mean the tradition that you have, the African tradition that you have in our Amazon forest, is long forgotten in Africa because the development there went, it developed, and here they stayed in the forest. Sirano Zalman: So Suriname has many different worlds. We have the part where we have this lodge, Frederiksdorp, which is in the old plantation region. And you won't believe me, but in this area it's approximately 400 square kilometers. It's an island in the coastal area, there are only Asian people living. I mean there is no other ethnic group than Asian. And everybody at the same time feels very Surinamese. And that is the strange twist in Suriname. Yeah, it's a special country. Kim: Well it sounds like a utopia- Phil: It sounds like utopia. Kim: Yeah. Why would you want to open that up? Keep it a secret. Sirano Zalman: Oh, I don't know. We like to share it because when people come, they love Suriname. So it's a small only country, but the experience of the tourists that come, the few that come, they are not much, they love it. They give very high ratings. So I think tourism is a big chance for us to preserve nature, to develop and enhance culture, to share art and to keep things sustainable. Kim: You believe that tourism should be well balanced in terms of people, planet and profit. So how are you hoping to achieve that? Sirano Zalman: We have the resort, Danpaati River Lodge, and it's in the region of the maroon people. When you're in the region, you think you're in Africa. You'd swear you were in Africa. I mean there is nothing that is not African there. The people, the way they live, they're traditions, everything. 25,000 people in the region in the Amazon. What we do with these people, we took over the lodge. We have a huge project for 12 villages surrounding the lodge. Doing educational things for the youths, we do health care for the elderly people, and we have this lodge totally managed by local people. Sirano Zalman: I mean from the cook, the person that makes the bread, the guides, the hospitality crew, the manager, everybody on location is locally trained and they do a fantastic job. What do we do with preserving nature is we try an awareness among the villages that we work with, these 12 villages, on waste management. Everything is shipped back to Paramaribo. We do reuse of everything. Plastics, only reusable things, or we do buy everything from the local people, everything. So in every aspect that we can maintain nature and strengthen the local people, we do it. Kim: Well, fingers crossed that you can balance both. Opening it up to travelers, tourists, but remaining so unique. And would you welcome us Sirano? Phil: Can we come and do a podcast from there? Kim: Yeah, we'd like to do a podcast from the Danpaati Lodge. Sirano Zalman: Yeah. You are more than welcome. More than welcome. As soon as you get here, you're our guests. Kim: Just be very careful because that's on tape. Kim: You may laugh Sirano, you may laugh and great to hear they embrace, support and encourage ecotourism. By the way, we have a special episode, Phil, coming up on sustainable and ethical travel, so make sure you subscribe to the World Nomads podcast from wherever you get your favorite podcasts, so you don't miss that. But what's news? Phil: Okay. Dust off your cameras and start shooting. The next World Nomads photography scholarship is about to be launched. This is at the time when we recorded this in mid-October. Visit worldnomads.com/create for details. Last year's winner won a photography trip to Morocco. Where will it be this year? Kim: Ooh, the anticipation. Phil: Okay. Do you take anything odd are unusual with you when you travel Kim? Kim: Personality. Phil: Several of them. Kim: Yeah. Phil: I'll ask you this because I heard from somebody who's a freelance writer for the Washington Post, and they were preparing a piece to submit to the Post. We're a travel company, so I thought it's a good thing to get a collection of responses from the people in the business. And also that's one of the things we did on the World Nomads Facebook group as well. So here are a few that we got. Emily, who's a boss here, she takes a sketchpad with her because she likes to do some drawing. Kim: She's arty. Phil: She's very arty. This is an oldie but a goodie from World Nomads. Take a doorstop because if you're staying in a hostel, sometimes they've got really dodgy locks on them, so doorstops stops people breaking in. Kate says she packs a smoke detector for the same reason. Dodgy hotels and hostels where they don't have their own fire detectors. Kim: That's a ripper one really. Phil: I don't stay places like that. Kim: Oh, I did. Phil: Well, I have. With rats running over the place as well. That was a terrible night's sleep. But that is one of the things that you look at and you go, "There's actually no smoke detectors in here. What sort of place am I staying at? Am I got a better option somewhere?" Kim: Yeah, well I booked a place in Canterbury recently, and it was the first thing I checked for. And they had one, but they didn't have things like a mattress protector on the bed. Phil: Ew. Kim: I know, I just chose to have a few drinks and forget about that. Phil: Well, that was one of the other things that I spotted... The results from asking people this is still rolling in. And somebody said that they always take a sleeping bag liner. Kim: Yeah, good idea. Phil: For exactly that reason, which is a good one. Kim: And they're silk and honestly they just fold up to nothing. Phil: Yep. Totally. Matthew says he carries four pegs because he needs a lot of darkness at night to sleep. So he uses the pegs to shut the gap that always shows up in the curtains. Kim: Sensational idea. Phil: I actually was staying in Helsinki in mid summer, so of course it never gets properly dark there. And sometimes when you've been at the vodka ice bar, you need a dark room. So I actually went out and bought bulldog clips. I actually had to find a stationary office or a newsagent and buy bulldog clips when I was in Helsinki. Kim: Well, I was surprised in Japan because the land of the rising sun, does rise at about three in the morning. Phil: Is that right? Kim: Yeah, it was crazy. It was crazy. So I spent a lot of time awake in Japan. Phil: Christina in our Oakland office takes chopsticks because they hold down blankets and sarongs, for on the beach, for lying on them, and rig that up for a privacy curtain in your hostel using those. And you can use them as clean utensils when you're doing street food, which is really nice. Christy McCarthy packs gaffer type. She says she's repaired ripped backpacks in Southeast Asia, and helped bind bits of her four wheel drive back together, after it's fallen apart after thousands of Ks of travel on corrugated roads. Phil: A few years ago a friend who's a good Catholic gave Natalia, one of our Facebook friends, a Saint Christopher medal and told her to keep it in a suitcase. Of course Saint Christopher is the patron saint of travelers, and she says it's been in her suitcase ever since and she's still traveling, so it must be working. Kim: Yeah. Nice gift. Anything else to wrap up travel news? Phil: Yeah, look, can I just say, I've just read this as well. And you know train street that goes through Hanoi? Kim: Yes. Phil: The vendors have to move all the food off while the train comes through everyday. Just recently there's been a number of illegal cafes have been opening up, and they've been advertising, "Come and sit here and have a drink and wait for the train to come through. You can get really good photos of it." But people taking selfies haven't been getting out of the way of the train and it's had to slam on the emergency brakes a couple of times. So they're shutting down some of the cafes. Kim: Why do it? We've mentioned it quite a few times in travel news in the podcast. People are crazy, go to crazy lengths to get the perfect photo, don't they? Phil: Yeah, I know. And We were just talking about, you should get a message that comes up that says, "Objects behind you may be closer than they appear." Like you get on mirrors. Kim: I like that. I like that. Phil: That'll do me. Kim: Cheers for that. Back to Suriname and still to come Milton Kam. By the way, Milton's a bit of a get. He works as a cinematographer, including over 20 feature films. And his television credits include Amazon Prime's American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story, Netflix's Roman Empire: Reign of blood, Nat Geo's American Genius, and the History Channel's Kingpin. From Suriname, from Suriname sorry. But it's his story of growing up, leaving the country and returning that we'll hear about. But let's get to Diane's story first. Where she kind of ended up in Suriname by default. Diane: It was actually a somewhat mostly conscious decision. We were actually sailing across the Atlantic Ocean. So we had come from Saint Helena and then Ascension Island. It was my husband, my daughter, and our pussy cat on our own boat. And we were trying to choose our landfall. Just Suriname seemed the most interesting of the countries we had to choose from out of The Guianas. Kim: So what was interesting about it? Diane: I tend to be intrigued by off the beaten path places and places that I can't find any information about. So we all know about the Amazon and that's sort of well known. But I was intrigued to be on another sort of jungle river in the jungle. Kim: What's it like on the ground? Does it feel like a melting pot of cultures? Diane: It really does. It's probably one of the more uniquely diverse countries that we spent time in, in that everybody looked like they could be from anywhere else in the world, but most people were very distinctly Surinamese. I'm not actually sure what you call somebody who was native to the area. So it's very colorful in that the people wear really colorful clothing, but not the same colorful clothing. There'll be people who will look African, and people who look Caribbean, and people who look Central American. And they're all speaking a language that was difficult. There was some Dutch in there, but it's definitely its own language. But a lot of people also speak English. So it felt like kind of a celebratory culture, and a melting pot. It just kind of has a very, very warm feel to it. When you walk down the streets and people are quite friendly. Kim: So at this point you're loving your Suriname experience, and then what happens with your husband? Diane: We are a loving our Suriname experience. At this point we've made our way up the river to a small town called Domburg, which is right on the river and it's sort of the access point if you want to go deeper into the jungle. And we were working with some local people to plan this deeper excursion. And he actually was alone on the boat, I was at shore. There's lots of little restaurants that are quite friendly. They're kind of some ex-pats, but they just kind of go hang out. And I was there using their wifi and got a call from the boat, that he was not well. And he actually thought he was having some sort of heart attack. He's not old enough for a heart attack, but he was having chest pain. Diane: So locals helped me get him. Ambulance service is not something that you rely on there. So he was loaded up into a local's pickup truck, and taken to the hospital, and taken to the emergency ward, where we joined the line with everybody else. And when he was seen, they did feel that there was something going on with his heart. So he was admitted to the cardiac care unit. And at this point, we discovered that... We had known that there was a deep recession happening, but we didn't realize to the degree that currency crisis affected your ability to do things that cost a lot of money. So at the hospital they were requiring everything to be paid in US dollars in advance, which meant visiting a number of banks and trying to do that. And knowing he was in the hospital needing care. Diane: So we did that and had a number of people who helped out to sort of bring the pile of cash up to what was required for the deposit. And he was thoroughly checked out, and ended up having some heart issues that they managed to stabilize. And the care there was not pretty, in that the hospitals are run down, but the doctors were all trained in the Netherlands, and they all spoke English and Dutch, and it was very comfortable care, in that they were able to reassure about what was going on and explain everything, and all the machinery was what you would expect in a hospital. He recovered there, but it was four days in the hospital there. Kim: Did you continue on your Suriname journey or head back to the boat? Diane: We didn't want to go too far from medical care, so we just sort of immersed in our local community a little bit more, rather than going way up the river. We went to local celebrations, we went to the songbird competitions, which are a fascinating Caribbean cultural thing, that I'd never heard of before. Where the songbirds, they see how long they can sing for uninterrupted and it's quite neat and everybody seems to carry their birds around. And Juneteenth occurred while we were there. So that's kind of a recognition as well as the celebration of the end of slavery. So that that was a pretty moving experience. Kim: What would your advice be to somebody thinking of traveling to Suriname? And I'm sensing, I don't want to answer the question for you, but the longer you're there, the better to really immerse yourself in what seems to be a whole lot of different cultures. Diane: I think so. And I think because there's just not that much known or written about it. To do trips into the jungle, which is what we'd really hoped to do. And we have friends who did go on and do so. Those aren't through great big companies and that kind of thing. So doing that kind of trip is really about sort of spending time in a community, and finding out who does those kind of trips, and feeling comfortable with the person you're going with because the interior of the country is definitely not a place that they recommend you go wander on your own. It's encouraged to go with somebody who has a good sense of it. Diane: We found just getting to know local people made a huge difference to our experience. and a really big difference to our understanding of what was happening around us. There's an authenticity to it, it's not dressed up for tourists. There's some neat museums, and there's some beautiful heritage buildings to see. But for the most part, what you're there for is just to sort of immerse in a culture that's really doing its own thing. It's not trying to be anything other than what it is. Kim: And it does sound pretty spectacular. Thank you for that Diane. In 1997 Milton Kam lest Suriname. Only to find his way back home with a camera taking photos for his books or for his book actually, Points of Recognition: Suriname's Indigenous Peoples in the 21st Century, which we've heard so much about on this podcast. So I think we'll just let Milton pick up the story. Milton Kam: Well, I was born and raised in Suriname. I went to school there. I didn't finish my high school because at the time there was some struggles in the country, political struggles, that amounted to a guerrilla war. Suriname had been independent for about five years, from 1975 to 1980. And in 1980 a military takeover introduced a dictatorship period that lasted for, I believe anywhere between, depending on who you speak to, anywhere between eight to 10, 12 years. And at the time that I was about to finish high school, the war between the military and rebels was intensifying. And for me it became clear that I was going to possibly be drafted into the army and therefore having to fight a war that I was not inclined to take part in. And I decided pretty early on when the signs came that I was going to leave Suriname. Milton Kam: And the choice to me was to either go to the Netherlands, which I think would be the very obvious thing for most of Surinamese people to do, would leave the country. Or I had the choice also of going to New York, which I much preferred because I felt that to me, New York was much more a bigger world than the Netherlands, where I felt that if I were to go to the Netherlands, I would just go into a small Surinamese community and probably never leave. That was my thought at the moment. So I went to New York instead. And I left Suriname in 1987, went to school in New York, did fine arts and film. And eventually became a US citizen. But as a friend had told me once, every seven or eight years, a person is going to find themselves getting quite homesick or missing something of their past. Milton Kam: And that sort of happened to me as well in a way, because after seven, or eight years I began to think about Suriname and about going back there. But I didn't really have the means to go back and visit because I was still struggling, trying to make it work, trying to pay the bills, trying to get through school. So that episode kind of passed. It was about 20 years after arriving for the first time in New York, that I really began to feel like I was missing Suriname quite heavily. And I think it came partially with having at that time already a career in cinematography. I was shooting narratives, documentaries, things like that. Milton Kam: And there was one documentary that I was in involved with, which took me all the way to New Mexico, to film pow wow of Native Americans, which is where Native American dancers from many different tribes in the US, as well as in Canada, would come together to celebrate their culture, that I was so moved by that event because it's the first time I actually really saw, and met, and heard Americans, real Americans, not Americans who are from a past in Europe or elsewhere, but Americans who were native to the country. And that really moved me. Milton Kam: And while seeing this event and filming it, I began to really think about Suriname. And about how I would have liked to have had a similar experience in Suriname, which I never had. So the idea of going back to Suriname began to take a real form during that event. So the urge to go back really did take a hold of me, and I decided to go back that same year, in 2007. Not knowing what kind of impact that would have had on me. When I flew back from New York to Suriname, as many Surinamese will tell you when they come back to the country after a long absence, the moment the airplane opens, the door opens and you go out on the tarmac, you smell the warm, moist air of the rainforest around and the concrete of the tarmac, of the airport. And that smell really just comes right back at you and really fills you with a sense of I've arrived. Milton Kam: So for me that was the same thing. And coming back to Suriname in 2007, to the city of Paramaribo, where I grew up, was akin to being I guess you could say in love. And being a kid in a toy store, seeing things that are very familiar, but at the same time still very fresh because I was coming back after 20 years, not having seen anything of Suriname in this period of time. Kim: So at this point then, tell us about the project that led to the book, and the beautiful photographs that you took. Milton Kam: I took a camera back with me to Suriname, a proper camera. And I really indulged in taking pictures of everything I could. Records in the city, getting reintroduced to the mosaic of different ethnic and cultural groups that you'll find there, as well as the rainforest, the beautiful expansive rainforest that Suriname has. And I was taking pictures of everything and anything, whether it was the rain, or whether it was funerals, or events that are happening among the different cultures. I really wanted to explore Suriname through my camera. And that kind of brought me to the idea of perhaps doing a series of photo books, each of which would detail one of the five or more ethnic groups in Suriname. Milton Kam: And it was obvious for me that I needed to start with the, the group that was there the longest, which are the indigenous people of Suriname. So I decided to come back the next year, in 2008, and began work on that. And the first thing I did to start my investigation of this little known population group, is to go and meet with the organization that represents them. In this case, it's the foremost organization I can think of in Suriname, the Association of Indigenous Chiefs in Suriname. And this organization represents all the indigenous chiefs, of all the different on villages in Suriname. And with their guidance I began to. Milton Kam: The work involved to start with, really getting to know the lay of the land, knowing what tribes are where, how these communities have persisted and existed for as long as they have, but also to understand what indigenous people who are now part of the city fabric, how have they live their lives. People in Paramaribo. And there's a whole range of experiences from the traditional lifestyle in the rainforest, to urban life in Suriname's capital. Kim: You must be so thrilled and pleased with yourself that you've reconnected? Milton Kam: Yes, and I should be clear that the work I've done for my book has been so far with the indigenous people, not with the Maroons, that's a whole different chapter so to speak. That would require a lot more time and attention I feel. Kim: If you were to say to somebody, "Yes, go to Suriname." How would you fill in the dots? "Go to Suriname, but..." Milton Kam: I would say go to Suriname, explore both what is available in the city of Paramaribo, which is a really amazing multicultural mosaic. People from of  Creole and Maroon descent. People of African.... As well as people from Indian and Indonesian and, Chinese heritage. You'll find even some Lebanese shops in Suriname that sell textile, or you'll find a little Brazil, so to speak. Brazilians who have come to Suriname, especially for the gold mining, who have now got their own neighborhoods. You'll find such an amazing multicultural variety, that is phenomenal for a place in South America. But also, do go visit the beautiful Amazonian rainforest that we have. There is so much to see there. Milton Kam: Not just the Maroon, but also the indigenous villages that are open to visitors. Indigenous operators who can take you to indigenous villages that are available to stay in for several days. And you can go and see them on the coast, which is where you'll find sea turtles nesting at certain times of the year. Or you can go way into the south, in the rainforest, where you'll find aspects of culture among the indigenous that still exists. Whether it's planting, and fishing, and hunting or other aspects. Kim: Fabulous Milton. And he has given us stacks of links to Suriname and his book, which we'll share in show notes, along with ways to get in touch with us for story ideas or even feedback on the podcast. Phil: Next week, our special episode on sustainable and ethical travel. See you then. Kim: I'm off to Suriname. Bye. Phil: Bye.   </div> </div> </div>Getty Images/ BartCo 1182667388 Suriname, preparing food.

https://public-web-wn.uat.wng.me/explore/south-america/suriname/maroon-culture-in-surinameDeep in the Surinamese interior, Maroon communities descended from African slaves are exploring the potential of ecotourism. 2019-09-24T10:00:00Z https://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/south-america/suriname/maroon-culture-in-surinamehttps://www.worldnomads.com<ul> <li><a href="#maroon">Maroon communities in Suriname</a></li> <li><a href="#captain">Meeting the “captains” of the village</a></li> <li><a href="#eco">The potential of eco-tourism in Suriname</a></li> <li><a href="#trip-notes">Trip Notes</a></li> <li><a href="#podcast">Listen to our Suriname podcast</a></li> </ul> I’m in what is known as “the interior” of little-known Suriname, the former Dutch colony, in the northeast corner of South America. We’ve driven three hours on the only road south from the capital, Paramaribo, to the river crossing at Atjoni. And then, we’ve whooshed through rapids down the Upper Suriname River in a dug-out canoe powered by an outboard motor, passing Saamaka villages and eco-lodges, dodging huge, flat rocks as we wave to children splashing in natural Jacuzzis, and women washing their clothes. Independent since 1975, Suriname is bordered to the west by Guyana and the east by French Guiana. Once known as the Guianas, they lie on the geological zone known as the Guiana Shield, where one of the world’s last remaining tracts of relatively undisturbed tropical rainforest meets the Amazon Basin. The region has one of the highest levels of biodiversity on the planet. I’d traveled all through Latin America, and even lived in Nicaragua for a while, but I’d never visited the Guyanas, and I was intrigued by Suriname. While around 60,000 Dutch visit annually, it’s still hardly known to the rest of the world. In UNESCO World-Heritage-listed Paramaribo, I stroll around the Waterkant (Waterfront) filled with stately, white Dutch-colonial buildings. I shop at the Witch's Market (also known as the Maroon Market) which sells herbs, bones, shells, and mysterious concoctions for any ailment, including sunburn and insect bites. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/maroons/suriname-paramaribo.jpg" /><figcaption>The waterfront in Paramaribo. Image credit: Getty Images / David Forman</figcaption></figure> But now I’m on the more adventurous part of the trip, staying at eco-lodges along the river. My last destination is the rustic and comfortable Danpaati River Lodge, where I’m welcomed by local staff singing, dancing, and beating drums. They are Saamaka, one of six Maroon groups in this part of the world, all descended from African slaves. <h2 id="maroon">Maroon communities in Suriname</h2> In the mid-1600s, British, and then Dutch, colonists imported African slaves to work the sugar plantations. Conditions were brutal, and many slaves escaped into the jungle. (The term “maroon,” used throughout the New World, is said to come from cimarrón, a Spanish term for runaway slaves.) Indigenous Amerindians showed the Maroons how to grow and harvest their staple crop, cassava, and the use of medicinal plants. The Maroons formed their own communities and gradually displaced the Amerindians, who moved further upriver. When slavery was abolished in 1863, Javanese and Indian contract laborers were brought in to work the plantations. As a result, Suriname is now one of the most ethnically diverse societies in South America, with Maroons, Creoles, East Indians, Indonesians, Chinese, Europeans, and Amerindians living together harmoniously. Danpaati River Lodge was built provide development opportunities for 12 local Maroon villages. The lodge is working towards a 100% local Saamaka team, including all managers. The profits go to the health care center, elderly home care, and a kindergarten for children, whose mothers are often away for days at a time working in the fields. Travelers can visit the local villages, with a guide, to meet the villagers and learn about Maroon culture. Or they can swim, canoe, fish, do yoga, laze in hammocks, have a traditional massage, don a lifejacket and float down the river, or visit Sentiadam waterfall, a three-day expedition upstream into the rainforest. It’s one of the most relaxing places I’ve ever been. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/maroons/suriname-maroon-woman.jpg" /><figcaption>A Maroon woman preparing a regional dish in the village of Dan. Image credit: Diana Plater</figcaption></figure> <h2 id="captain">Meeting the “captains” of the village</h2> Elder Maroon leaders are known as kapiteins (captains), in reference to the slave ships their ancestors arrived on. They’re taught to memorize the whole history of the village from the village master. Their phenomenal memory was an essential asset as they formed a new oral culture – and in this region, their own language: Saramaccan, a Portuguese and English-inspired Creole, which they intersperse with the country’s official Dutch. There can be women captains, too. In fact, Maroon society is matrilineal, and when a woman comes of age, an aunt will present her with her first adult pangi, or appliqued cotton skirt. She will have her own house, and a prospective husband must present her with pots and pans. <h2 id="eco">The potential of eco-tourism in Suriname</h2> For 300 years, the Maroons remained almost frozen in time, with few outsiders. But starting 30 years ago, when the main road was built, the communities have seen the potential of tourism, starting eco-lodges or leasing land so that others could run them. It’s unusual for the average traveler to attend a village council meeting – or krutu – but we are privileged to be invited to attend one in Dan. They’re meeting to discuss the value of further tourism, which brings in badly-needed foreign exchange. Four captains are sitting in a row in the meeting house, representing the major families in the village. Next to them sits a man who is affirming everything that is said here. I learn later he is the secretary, or basja, who keeps the minutes deep in his head rather than on paper. If there’s ever a disagreement about what took place at a krutu, he’s the go-to man. I ask the captains if they’re concerned about how tourism could change their traditional way of life. “Only if you break the rules,” Captain Maloni says. By this, he means the rules of the village. They are protecting the environment in the context of being sustainable farmers. “In the beginning, when tourism came, there was one answer for it, it was yes. And we still say yes.” But they are emphatic that tourism must be controlled and sustainable – individual visitors, or small groups, who must have a guide with them to enter the villages or do jungle treks. In this way, the Maroons hope to keep both the rainforest and their distinctive culture intact. <h2 id="trip-notes">Trip Notes</h2> <h3>Getting there</h3> KLM offers direct flights from Amsterdam. Caribbean Airlines flies to Paramaribo from Miami or New York via either Barbados or Port of Spain. The airport is around 90 minutes from downtown Paramaribo. <h2 id="podcast">Listen to the World Nomads Travel Podcast - Suriname</h2> Hear more from Diana about her visit with the Maroons, and find out about Suriname's amazing multicultural variety. <iframe width="100%" height="190" src="https://webplayer.whooshkaa.com/episode/445898?theme=light" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay"></iframe>Getty Images / BartCo 1471244689 Getty Images / BartCo A villager pilots a dugout canoe on a river in Suriname.

Video: The People of Coquihttps://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/stories/connection/video-the-people-of-coqui-colombiaVideo: The People of CoquiFri, 20 Sep 2019 23:15:54 GMThttps://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/stories/connection/video-the-people-of-coqui-colombia“I Don’t Care” | Argentina Travel Storyhttps://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/stories/transformation/i-dont-care“I Don’t Care” | Argentina Travel StoryWed, 07 Aug 2019 00:21:41 GMThttps://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/stories/transformation/i-dont-carehttps://public-web-wn.uat.wng.me/explore/south-america/ecuador/kayaking-the-amazonErika Bergman gets back to nature on a sea kayaking adventure, discovering the biodiversity in the waterways of the Ecuadorian Amazon.2019-04-04T11:00:00Z https://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/south-america/ecuador/kayaking-the-amazonhttps://www.worldnomads.comFrom windy channels to calm and tranquil lagoons, sea kayaking offers a unique experience no matter what your fitness level. Join Erika as she paddles in the Ecuadorian sea, past pelican-filled mangroves, discovering the South American country from a whole new perspective. <h2 id="podcast">Listen to the World Nomads Travel Podcast: Top 5 Places to Visit in 2020</h2> Find out why Ecuador made our list. <iframe width="100%" height="190" src="https://webplayer.whooshkaa.com/episode/540142?theme=light" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay"></iframe>World Nomads 0

https://public-web-wn.uat.wng.me/explore/south-america/ecuador/galapagos-islands-divingErika Bergman goes on a scuba diving adventure and discovers an astonishing array of sea life that thrives in the Galápagos Islands.2019-04-04T11:00:00Z https://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/south-america/ecuador/galapagos-islands-divinghttps://www.worldnomads.comWatch as Erika swims amongst aquatic animals including playful sea lions, turtles, sharks, sea horses and eels, experiencing a completely magical underwater world. With excellent visibility and stunning surrounds, the Galápagos is the perfect spot to strap on a scuba tank and take the plunge for a truly unique experience. <h2 id="podcast">Listen to the World Nomads Travel Podcast: Top 5 Places to Visit in 2020</h2> Find out why Ecuador made our list. <iframe width="100%" height="190" src="https://webplayer.whooshkaa.com/episode/540142?theme=light" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay"></iframe>World Nomads 0

https://public-web-wn.uat.wng.me/explore/south-america/brazil/the-heart-of-carnavalJoin Chris Noble in Brazil as he travels to the party capital of the world, Rio De Janeiro, looking to capture the essence of Carnaval.2019-03-27T11:00:00Z https://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/south-america/brazil/the-heart-of-carnavalhttps://www.worldnomads.comWatch as Chris goes to the world-famous parade and checks out the many <g class="gr_ gr_7 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="7" data-gr-id="7">blocos</g> (street parties) in Rio’s colorful neighborhoods. With everybody gearing up in their crazy costumes and the unbelievable effort that goes into the parade competition, join Chris as he experiences the passion and energy of the Rio Carnaval.World Nomads 0