TravelBlog

WHATS ALL THIS THEN?

It is partly Ian's (Barfield) fault that Paddy and Seamus are not following the Gringo trail an ultimately heading off to the ruins of Vilcabamba in the Amazon basin instead of the usual Incr trail lark.

Seamus had always wanted to go to Vilcabamba, but didn't know where it was or even its' name. Ian filled in the missing pieces whilst on a map hunting trip to Stanfords in central London.

So, to thank him for putting us in danger, we are publishing Ians account of a trip to Peru that he made in 1996, in Blog form. Over the weeks, Ians adventure will unfold besides that of Seamus and Paddy.

ELSEWHERE ON THE SITE
		Playing in the streets 27 Sep 2004 Some kids decided that it was more fun to play hop-scotch than to sit at home all day. [ more ]

		Quillabamba Protest by-standers 27 Sep 2004 Not everyone was protesting against the Governments low pricing of Coca leave. Many were just stuck with nothing to do. No shops, business' or resturants opened during the day, so what else was there to pass the time than sit outside and watch the action pass by. [ more ]

		Quillabamba Protesters 27 Sep 2004 All through the day, protesters marched through the main square. Even though they marches were peacfull, I had this strange sense of forboding that everything could kick off and we would be in real trouble. Little did I know that on this day, protesters in Cuszco took 70+ tourists hostage (they were later release unharmed) [ more ]

		Quillabamba Protests 27 Sep 2004 We arrived in Quillabamba with no money. We were greeted each day with the banks blockaded by protesters. [ more ]

		Enroute, Cuzco to Quillabamba 26 Sep 2004 It was at this moment we made our mistake. Instead of turning around at the first roadblock, we decided to press-on and get to Quillambamba. [ more ]

IANS RETRO BLOG

Bright lights, big city
19 Sep 1996 | Ian Barfield
The last rays of sunlight splashed over a sea of dark grey clouds and were gone. We were approaching Lima International Airport. The light outside seemed to evaporate away so it was dark when we touched down. I gave it a LF of 6 and even though I felt nervous I was glad to get off the plane.

[ more ]

Mutiny on the Bounty
18 Sep 1996 | Ian Barfield
A pocket of turbulence rocked the plane and nudged me awake. We were descending towards Aruba. I hadn't a clue where Aruba was and I only found out when a map appeared on the Monitor. Aruba is one of the Dutch Caribbean islands. With a LF of 6 we arrived only to be told that all those going on to Lima, Peru where not to get off the plane.

[ more ]

The alarm went off at 5am. Pity I didn't hear it
17 Sep 1996 | Ian Barfield
I should have known at that point that I was in for an adventure. Thankfully Seamus , who I had talked into delivering me to the airport , bustled in bright and cheery fifteen minutes later. The beer I'd consumed the previous evening was a mistake and that's the great thing about hindsight - It's always too late to do anything about it. Still groggy from lack of sleep and the after-effects of too much alcohol I climbed out of bed.

[ more ]

Find everything you need for your next trip to unforgettable places like India and other destinations in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, as well as essential airline and car rental information.