Category Archives: Travelogues

The 21-day tour began with a few days of sight-seeing in Beijing, and similar breaks in Ulan Baatar, Irkutsk (Lake Baikal) and Moscow, concluding with a couple of days in St Petersburg. Altogether, we would be spending six nights and … Continue reading →

As I mentioned in an earlier column, our only trouble in La Paz (Bolivia) was on account of a bad cook, not with conmen or pickpockets, the warnings in my travel book notwithstanding.  We were, however, to come very close … Continue reading →

It is hard to say which was the highpoint of my trip.  But probably the most exciting part was the trip to Ushuia, the world’s southern-most town, near the tip of the South American continent, “the end of the world” … Continue reading →

About two hundred kilometres south of the flight path of my plane, on the Argentinian side of the border with Chile, had occurred one of the most tragic air disasters and an amazing tale of human survival.  A chartered Uruguayan … Continue reading →

As our plane took off from Bolivia’s El Alto airport for Santiago, the capital of Chile, my excitement soared just like the plane did.  We were flying out of the world’s highest airport and over a fascinating land, the most … Continue reading →

In one splendid day-trip from La Paz, we were able to see landscape befitting the moon and scenery fit for the Himalayas, less than three hours’ drive apart from each other. To the south of the city is the “Valley … Continue reading →

Now, if you saw a map of Bolivia, you would notice that the country is land-locked with no access to the sea.  Why, on earth, would it need or have a navy?

Give them a hint of a job or the scent of a business prospect, and they will go anywhere, sometimes with the instinct of migratory birds, no questions asked, no maps required.

At its height the Inca Empire incorporated a large part of western South America, around the Andean mountain range. Centred in Peru, it included large parts of modern Ecuador and Bolivia, northwest Argentina, north and central Chile, and a small … Continue reading →

There are 67 indigenous tribes still living in Brazil who have had no contact with any outsider whatsoever, happily living in their own pristine – call it primitive if you like – little worlds, a few miles square!  Surely this … Continue reading →