Whales and Dreams in Peru

5 days into Peru, I've already completed one of my biggest dreams. Ever since I can remember, I've wanted to see whales with my own eyes. From reading magazines to watching underwater National Geographic documentaries, I've been imagining whale watching since I was little.

I didn't know how to conceive of the biggest animals on Earth. How big were they really? Bigger than a school bus? Bigger than my bedroom? I had no sense of the relative size of a whale.

That was, until we were sitting at lunch with a view over the sea on my birthday, and someone pointed out to the horizon and showed us a big white splash. They said it was a whale, far out there, breaching in the deep seas. First one, then another. We just stared at the horizon as giant splashes appeared and disappeared in the distance. It was beautiful to see them, even from afar. I hadn't known that Mancora, Peru, was the best place to whale watch on the west coast of South America, nor did I realize that we were there in the right season. It was decided then and there that we would go whale watching the next day.

It was an early morning. Our boat, small and slow, brought us out to the wavy seas, and we waited with our cameras in hand.

Though I was optimistic, I remembered the time I tried to whale watch with my mom and sister in Cape Breton in 2006, and no whales surfaced for us. Part of me wondered whether the whales would come up for us that day.

It wasn't long before the whales were up too. As they surfaced for air, we pointed and loved each moment. Precious giants, sharing a breath with us.

Still dreaming of whales, my next dream is to see one under water when I scuba dive...

Have you ever seen whales, or do you want to?

Do you ever...

Do you ever click out of your life for a few days, just waking up, going along with the day, and falling back asleep?

Do you ever feel like sometimes you forget where you are, for want of the past, or dreams of the future?

Do you ever then, suddenly, click back into your life after feeling away for a few days, and look upon it with new eyes? With wonder, gratitude, and awe?

I feel like this right now, as I look back upon my photos from the past week.

Sometimes it's a simple case of becoming truly conscious of where you are which helps you appreciate it. There's nothing wrong with clicking in and out of life; it's how we manage to do our daily business without our hearts exploding over the miracles of language, breath, and memory.

I hope, for you, that you can take a moment today to feel conscious and grateful of where you are.

Ipiales, Colombia

Otavalo, Ecuador

Las Lajas Church, Ipiales, Colombia

Otavalo, Ecuador

Popayan, Colombia

Travels for the rest of the year

I'm in Otavalo, Ecuador, at the moment. We just arrived here yesterday after crossing the border from Colombia.

We have now spent 5 wondrous weeks in Colombia - exploring Cartagena, Santa Marta, Taganga, Tayrona National Park, Medellin, Guatape, Salento, Cali, Popayan, San Agustin, and Ipiales. Now that we've left Colombia, I can feel that the real "journey" part of this South American trip is beginning.

For our first day here in Otavalo, we visited the market to buy souvenirs and handicrafts, and left with armfuls of alpaca ponchos, necklaces, bags, tapestries, pillow cases, and rings. Our backpacks are getting heavier, but our hearts ever-happier too.

After Otavalo, we will go to Quito to catch a flight to the Galapagos Islands. The Galapagos Islands? Yes, the Galapagos Islands!! I never in my life thought I would be saying that...

After Galapagos, we're going to book it to Peru to get to the beach in Mancora to warm our feet in the sand before a long bus to Lima. I am going to try my best to visit the Language Cast Lima group while there. After Lima, there are a few small cities to visit before the mountains of Maccu Pichu.

By early October, we head into Bolivia via Lake Titicaca, stay in Cochabamba to volunteer with children for a few weeks, and after explore the mirrored salt flats of Uyuni.

After Peru it gets a bit blurry, as time and money will dictate where we can go, but the basic outline is to go to Chile to visit friends in Santiago, then over to Argentina to party the night away in Buenes Aires, and to Brazil to finish the trip in Rio by the end of November.

Are you in any of these places, or planning to travel through? If yes, let's meet up! I love the prospect of meeting new friends along the way of a long journey.

Post a comment here or on my Facebook page to make plans :)

No More Tea for Me

Colombia is the first country, in the world, where I can call myself a coffee drinker.

Don Elias Coffee Tour, Salento, Colombia

In every other country, if I ever have the choice between coffee or tea, I will almost always choose tea. I love the taste of coffee, but I find myself choosing tea when I am offered one of the two.

But as I am in the coffee region of Colombia, I cannot stop drinking the coffee here. Every morning I wake up and have a cup with breakfast. It is smooth, flavourful, fresh, and absolutely delicious. I even ordered a coffee after lunch today, without thinking much of it. Being here, coffee is making its way into my heart.

We had the recent joy of visiting a small coffee farm in Salento, Colombia yesterday. Our smiling guide took the four of us through the coffee fields, where they grow bananas, sugarcane, beans, limes, mandarin oranges, pineapples, and of course, coffee plants.

The farm has been growing coffee for 18 years, and our guide explained the whole process of coffee making, right from the plants.

On their farm, they grow three varieties of coffee beans, and rotate the crops after each season to ensure the right soil composition for the next round of coffee growing.

Our guide explained that when the buds turn red, they are ready for harvesting. He picked this one off a short plant and showed us the precious beans inside. They were an unfamiliar bright white, fresh off the vine, and not yet roasted brown.

The white beans are then left to dry for 3 days in the sun, and when totally ready, they are put in pans to be roasted over fire on the oven. He explained that they must be steadily stirred for an hour, and that even walking away for a minute would burn the beans.

The tour, all in Spanish, lasted around 45 minutes, and ended with our very own freshly roasted cups of organic farm-grown Colombian coffee, roasted the night before. It was so rich and aromatic, I bought two packs to give to family. Now my whole backpack smells like fresh roasted coffee.

If coffee is the nectar of the gods, I must be in heaven.

Thoughts on Colombia

"I don't think you should go to Colombia,"

my sister texted me, just weeks before I set off on my trip through Central and South America,

"my friend is Colombian and she hasn't even been back there in 15 years."

There are two sides to every story, and that applies evermore to travel in Colombia. On one side, Colombia is a violent and dangerous country, ruled for decades by outlaw armed groups and later by billionaire cocaine smugglers. Of the same grain, a visit to the Canadian travel report on Colombia could easily scare you away from booking your ticket. Talking about your travel plans for Colombia can result in worried disapproving looks from friends and family. A quick Google search which turns up articles about young gangs hired by drug lords to kill the cops doesn't really help either.

But on the other side, the traveler's side, you hear a different story of Colombia entirely. Stories of magical lost cities, of colonial statues and salsa at night, of crystal clear beaches and breezy mountain villages, of cumbia bus rides and dancing in line at the ATM, of smiling handshakes and milkshakes of lulo... the kinds of stories that make a place alluring and fantastic. When recent travelers are asked about it, they all say the same thing:

"You will love Colombia"

The truth is, Colombia is a different place now than it was 15 years ago. The intense fear surrounding travel in this country is not without reason, but now with travelers to nearly all regions of the country, are we ready to re-think it?


I am in Medellin as I write this post, which at one point was the most murderous city in the world. You wouldn't know it now, though, as locals chat with us, offering advice for places to visit or giving directions.

The increased security of the last ten years makes Colombia much more accessible for travelers. On this journey through Colombia so far, I've met visitors from Ireland, England, Germany, Austria, Holland, France, Spain, Mexico, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Colombia and of course, fellow Canadians. The majority of travelers here seem enthralled by the culture and nature of this country, and many are adjusting travel plans to manage overstaying every place they visit. I'm no exception.


Starting with a booking for 3 nights in Cartagena and staying for a week was just the beginning. The old city left me breathless and dying to see more of the colourful buildings. It also gave me the sweetest taste of anticipation for what the rest of South America has to offer. After overstaying in Cartagena, I only imagined a few nights in Taganga. I ended up spending another week diving in the national park, among blowfish the size of my torso and some of the prettiest coral walls I've ever seen. The rumours are true:

"You will fall in love with Colombia"

I've already fallen in love with Colombia, evidenced by my extremely slow journey here. I went through the whole of Costa Rica in just over a week, and I've already spent two weeks just in the northern regions of Colombia. But that's me, and that's how I travel: when I like a place, I stay for a while. Lucky for me, my travel partner travels by the same rule.

So, why did I like Taganga, and why did I overstay my planned visit by a week? I went into a dive shop looking to do some fun dives, and I was greeted with the friendliest and warmest smiles. The dives were gorgeous too, but it was the people who took us on those dives who made me want to stay. People like our boat captain Oscar, a 60-something Colombian man who sings to himself while we prepare our tanks and put on our fins. Or the man selling empanadas on the beach who eyes us when he says 'cervezas', just in case we want another one. Or the simple welcome of an "hola chicas" as we return to our hostel after a day at sea. Or the 12-year old next to me on the plane who strikes up a conversation in Spanish and suggests spots to visit in his hometown of Cali. It's just like all the travelers said:

"You will meet the nicest people there"

Now 2 weeks into Colombia, I can only wonder if our upcoming destinations: Salento, Cali, Popayan, San Agustin, and Bogota will implore us to overstay as well. At this rate, hearing what the travelers coming north have to say, it'll be another month before we actually leave this country, at least. We plan for 2 more weeks before we get to Ecuador, but can we really see and do all that we want in just 2 weeks? Like everyone tells us:

"You will want more time everywhere in Colombia"

The only way I will be able to leave this country is to know that I'll be coming back. Already contemplating future teaching jobs and learning Spanish here, I know this first month in Colombia won't be my last.



Video: First days in Colombia

it's only our second day here in Cartagena, Colombia

we're both already in love with the beautiful old city, its graffiti, and its friendly faces

if today is any indication...

it seems Colombia will be living up to its reputation as one of

the best countries for travel in all of South America

Any Road

"If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there"

- George Harrison (from the song Any Road)

Just a day before we sail from Panama to Colombia, I can't help but feel madly excited about the upcoming continent and all the adventures we'll have. The lure of South America has always been in me; even as a little girl I dreamed of the Brazilian amazon. Now with hours until we sail, and just days until out feet find solid ground on the Cartagena beaches, I'm thrilled.

Our plans for Colombia - and the whole of South America - are pretty vague. We do have our general direction, and certain cities we won't miss. But when it comes to how long in what place, we are intentionally keeping our plans open.

The road is nothing if not unpredictable. Embracing the unpredictability of the road means being open to all people, and all places. It's easy to end up in a place you never intended to visit, simply upon the recommendation of another traveler. I learned that first-hand when in France in 2006, and I ended up unexpectedly doing the first three days of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela upon the recommendation of a friendly girl I met in the hostel. Destinations become fluid and so do the reasons for visiting.

The photo above is from Cahuita on the east coast of Costa Rica, after hearing that it was "beautiful" from a girl with whom we shared a short bus ride. We hadn't even heard of the city, and within 24 hours we were there.

The joy of motion, being en route, and just simply not knowing is a big part of what makes traveling so immediate and so rewarding. You find a place to go, and then you get there.

For us, right now that place is South America.