26 September, 2010
Peru, Chile & Bolivia Gallery
A gallery of some of my favourite in-camera images from Peru, Chile and Bolivia a few weeks ago. They’re not necessarily strong photos or selected as such – just photos I myself enjoy. I have more, but they either need tweaking (straightening horizons, etc) or some real work to bring out the best. I’ll post […]
11 September, 2010
A Better Type of Criminal
Arica is a relative crime free city, but as with anywhere it pays to be attentive. Most crime in Chile is opportunistic in nature, as opposed to the occassional strangle muggings and minor ATM kidnappings you have to be wary of in Bolivia and Peru. So I heard this story, of an eminent British archaelogist* […]
9 September, 2010
Border Crossings and Empty Airports
I’m sitting in the emptiest airport I’ve ever experienced. I suspect they only operate a couple of flights a day from Tacna. Consequently my only company appears to be a bored check-in attendant for a different airline and a barman who’s mopping the floor. And I’ve finished all my books. I have little else to […]
8 September, 2010
Extreme Landscapes
I’m now back in Arica following my trip to San Pedro de Atacama and Bolivia. I have a couple of things to deal with here before heading back to Lima for my flight home. I’ve been foiled by this computer in the hotel from getting a decent image gallery up from the last eight days […]
6 September, 2010
Laguna Colorada, Bolivia
We’re about 120km from the nearest town, so zero connectivity here. This will be posted on my return. We’re at around 4900m up in a small hostel near Laguna Colorada. By Bolivian standards it’s comfortable but the altitude is really hard work and I’ve learned to be careful not to stand up too quickly. It’s […]
1 September, 2010
F%@*!?g Hell
I’ve done Arica > San Pedro before, albeit with a change at Calama. Thing is, I just remembered one of the more annoying bits… Chile has concerns over various food pests and as a consequence you not only get checked for fruit, cheese etc on boarding the bus, there are also occassional checkpoints. So at […]
30 August, 2010
Un Techo Para Chile
I struggled to find somewhere to eat this evening, and in the end decided that some more bad food would have to do. I have at least found a source of decent fruit at the market, so I’m getting vitamins and fibre now. Woo! The smells of Telepizza were calling me in, and I succumbed. […]
29 August, 2010
Food!
Oh seriously, sometimes, when you travel the food is amazing. Sometimes, it looks like it might be a danger to your health…
28 August, 2010
Arrangements, part dos
Anyone who’s experienced the death of someone close to them will know that there is often a lot to do. No exceptions here, plus the added pressure of limited time. However, I’m not entirely unhappy about the time thing… makes me get things done. Cementaria Parque de Arica So, following the funeral I went yesterday […]
27 August, 2010
The Funeral
And so it came. In a way it’s weird… I always felt there were only two likely things to happen. First, I would find my father (or he would find me) and a period of reconciliation may take place. Closeness, perhaps never, but reconciliation would be fine. Second, I would never find him, and that […]
25 August, 2010
Arica – Day 1 – Arrangements
Phew… so what a day. It started off with a cold shower and a blandly unsatisfying breakfast of a cheese sandwich, juice and tea. But whilst eating a man came up to me and introduced himself as Joaquin Alvarez… the Honorary British Consul in Arica! It was an unexpected surprise… I thought I was meeting […]
Arica – Day 1
For no obvious reason I’ve woken up really early today. Maybe it’s something to do with the herd of elephants that evidently checked in around 1am. Or the, ahem, charmingly rustic plumbing that means the noise levels in here pick up markedly as the hotel awakes. But it’s not a bad hotel, the Hotel Amaru, […]
24 August, 2010
Chris Coveney…the Introduction
I’ve started writing this post in Amsterdam airport…I’m on my way to Arica in Chile where I’ll be (hopefully) burying my father, Chris, who died on the 19th of July. I say hopefully not because this is something I’m looking forward to but because I face a number of legal and monetary issues with the […]
5 August, 2010
Lima, again.
A smidge under five years ago I created my first blog post as I started preparations for travel to South America. Today I’m preparing to travel to more or less the same destinations…but for sadder reasons. Two weeks ago my father died. A week ago a police officer knocked on my door to tell me […]
3 April, 2008
Road to Bolivia
This photo is on the main road from North Chile to Bolivia as it heads through Chile’s Lauca National Park. This is the nice and easy part – it seems that once in Bolivia the road deteriorates significantly in quality and safety. Just a few weeks after I took this picture a minibus full of […]
2 April, 2008
Valle de la Luna
Ok, first shot to go up on the photoblog*. I’ve decided to leave it up even though it’s a relatively poor quality re-size. However, I feel it still illustrates the beauty and scale of this location. Here we are, perhaps 1000m above the valley floor below. Priscilla, who I’d just met on this part of […]