Category: South America

I hired a bike today, which is almost always the day I enjoy most in a city. So it proved: Rio only has one cycle route, but it’s a cracker. It follows the shore for about 15km alongside the great beaches of Ipanema (pic), Copacabana and Flamengo. It shows the best of the city –…

I’m now in Paraty, a picture-postcard colonial beach village (pic) between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. So it’s full of damn tourists. Not even proper British ones speaking English in loud middle-class accents, but Brazilians, talking Portuguese very fast and even louder. The town’s pretty cobbled streets are closed off to cars, which means…

I spent the morning in the São Paulo Cultural Centre – a place rather like London’s Barbican, combining library, art galleries, concert venues, free wifi public space and exhibition areas, one of which featured this fine array of wrecked cars (pic). At least I think it was an exhibit. It might have been the overflow…

I’ve signed up for a four-day ‘jungle trek’ to Machu Picchu, which involves a variety of methods of getting from Cuzco to the famous lost Inca city: hiking, zipwiring, and – today, the first day – biking. A minibus whisked our group up into the mountains via the pleasant Inca town of Ollantaytambo (pic). There’s…

I’m enjoying my few days in Baños, particularly the famous hot springs and baths. I expect my fellow hostellers are pleased about it, too. But today I struck out into the countryside for a spin on a hire bike. For $7 I got a surprise – an MTB that was actually big enough for me….

I hired a bike in Otavalo today, to explore the surrounding scenery and indigenous villages. I know two things from experience: if in doubt, hiring a bike is always the right thing to do; and it’ll always be too small for my 33″ inside leg. Both proved true again, as I cycled a few kilometres…

Every Sunday, from 7am-2pm, Bogotá cordons off (pic) long stretches of city-centre streets from motor traffic, opening them up for cyclists, walkers, skaters and joggers. It’s called Ciclovía meaning ‘cycleway’, loosely translated as ‘open streets’, and has been running for over 30 years. I hired a bike (pic) to take part. I chose it to…