Yes, this is another stretch. But I’d love to ride along in one of the rally cars of the annual Dakar Rally. It doesn’t have to be in the desert on a heavy sand dune. Heck, it doesn’t even have to be with one of the rally drivers. It could be with the maintenance on the way to Lima or Riyadh. I don’t care. The Dakar Rally used to be organized in Africa, known as the Paris–Dakar Rally. The route used to travel overland from France to Spain, Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali, and Senegal’s capital Dakar, though sometimes theContinue reading
peru
6 Stories from Hosts + Guests in Lockdown: Hospitality in the Time of Corona
Our world has shrunk a great deal since the globe went on lockdown for the coronavirus. Blindsided by the sudden changes, travelers had to make some tough decisions mid-adventure. Amidst the chaos, I knew there would be some people out there who remained kind and trusting of virtual strangers. People who would keep their doors open when they were told to keep it shut. I’d been thinking about the people showing or experiencing hospitality under such extraordinary circumstances. So I asked around looking for stories from both hosts and guests to share their experiences. Many people responded with their stories,Continue reading
Iquitos, Perú to El Coca, Ecuador by Riverboat!
If you came to this article from YouTube and just want to know the price to travel this route by riverboat, scroll down or elegantly click here. The “downside” of traveling to a jungle city only reachable by riverboat, is that you know you’ll also have to leave it by riverboat! Our journey to and stay in Iquitos had been quite the experience. Last week I had to leave Perú. My 90 days stamp would expire on the 17th of May and I don’t like the idea of overstaying my welcome in a foreign country. I had spent about 10Continue reading
Atacama, Andes & Amazon: Lima to Pucallpa
OK, maybe Lima’s desert is not called the Atacama, but the “Peruvian Coastal Desert“, but this was the more poetic choice for obvious reasons. On the 20th of April, I left Perú’s capital Lima for a city named Pucallpa, a journey of 789 kilometers, four nights and five days. A map for reference: I wanted to hitchhike, dammit. I had just spent five weeks exploring the enormous capital of this country for the sake of writing the next Digital Nomads Guide. It was fun again to really get to know a city, but I really needed to go back toContinue reading
How to Become a Ninja of the Lima City Bus
Public transportation isn’t my expertise at all, but over the last few weeks in Lima (writing a new Digital Nomads Guide!) I had to learn and master the art of navigating the Lima City Bus system. A big thanks to Marian Knittler for letting me use his photos for this article. Check out his photography on Flickr. A little background information: Lima is Perú’s capital city and the metropolitan area is home to about 9 million people. That’s almost one third of the country’s population. Enormous! The city has a very primal and basic metro system that doesn’t really do anythingContinue reading
Mudslides and Floods on the Road to Lima, Perú
A Natural Disaster Always wanted to drink soda first thing in the morning? Before breakfast? I never had that ambition, but here I am in Lima – the capital of Perú – and there’s no running water. Nothing from the tap and all bottled water in units of less than 20 liters is sold out. This is supposedly everywhere in the city. For reference, Lima is a place beside the Pacific Ocean that hosts almost 9 million people. I first heard the news about the floods in a hostel in Paracas, a small beach town with a rad bird reserve andContinue reading
71 Reasons to Visit South America in 2017
Whether you’re a hitchhiker, a digital nomad, or a holidaymaker, South America is absolutely phenomenal. Let’s not hold off on that long-desired trip to the southern hemisphere any longer! Without further ado, here’s your randomly ordered justification to go ahead and get south the coming year: 1. Firstly, pick up fifty shades of Spanish! As a result of colonialism, South America is quite homogeneous language-wise, with Spanish and Portuguese being the most spoken. Or mix ’em up and you get “Portuñol“. Learn just enough Portuguese to make your trip to Brazil easy-peasy with Duolingo or Memrise. So instead you want toContinue reading
Perú to Chile by Hitchhiking (Tacna – Arica Border Crossing)
Goodbye Perú and hello Chile! I hitchhiked from Perú to Chile by starting at Tacna’s airport. Then I caught a ride to the border with Chile and onward to the beach city of Arica. Besides the heat, it was fairly easy to stop a ride. But I can’t complain as I had a nice palm tree to provide me shadow. This is where I stood in coordinates: -18.049486297999366, -70.27823982373954 I’ve been adding all kinds of information to HitchWiki.org recently as there are not a whole bunch of articles on South America. And I’m currently here anyway 😉 What can I sayContinue reading
Boca del Río Lighthouse: Freecamping in Perú
Last night I went freecamping in Perú. I picked a spot close to the coast on a hill where both a lighthouse and a Jesus statue were located. Boca del Río (“river mouth”) is located close to the city of Tacna. I hitchhiked from Boca del Río to Tacna in a single ride with a lovely old lady going to a big church here. I plan to stick around here for the next few days before crossing to Arica, Chile. Arica formerly belonged to Perú. It’s also where the Atacama desert begins, which is the driest place on earth exceptContinue reading