From 2006 to 2007 I spent eight months travelling and expeditioning along the western edge of South America.
My travels to South America started with leading on the British Schools Exploring Society (BSES) Cordiallia Blanca Expedition 2006 ( www.bses.org.uk). The six week expedition was spent between trekking, mountaineering and scientific research.
After the expedition had departed I returned to the mountains to complete a solo climb of Nevado Pisco (5742m, alpine grade PD) which I completed in 5 days owing to a bout of D&V sapping my strength when I reached base camp at 4000m.
Having spent two months in the mountains I was ready for a break I decided that I would visit the beaches on the north of Peru. For doing so I needed to take the bus up to the border of Ecuador as the beaches are about 30 mins from there. Arriving at the border town it was quite overcast and not wanting to be hanging around at the beaches on cloudy days (picky!!) I decided to pop over the border.
In doing so I had to fend of con-artist taxi drivers and other such rogues who attempt to con/kidnap you. They are annoying but not too dangerous and so letting them blackmail me a little I made it to a bus terminal in Ecuador to be chased by yet another rogue who wanted some funding for “helping me”. A kind indiginous family at the bus station helped me out and expressed that I should give a little money to save him coming back with bigger bullies and afterwards invited
me to stay with them – in a little village called Peguche outside a town called Otavalo which is about 2 hrs north of Quito and 14hrs away from the Peruvian border.
After staying in Peguche for a month I moved through various other tourist towns until I reached Coca. Coca, a sweltering oil town in the Ecuadorian Amazon is at the end of the road as far as road transport is concerned, but where one form of transport ends another begins and in the Amazon its the rivers. This boat leaves Coca twice a week, conditions and holidays permitting making the journey to the border town of Novea Rocufuerte which can only be reached by boat. The rio napo, a tribuatory of the Amazon flows past this border town into Peru and hundreds of kilometres later empties into the Amazon. 
This is the path we shall take. But before it empties into the Amazon we will cut across to Iquitos, Peru – the largest city in the world with no road access.
It took a patient week of boat hopping between the various villages along the river to reach Iquitos. Accomodation was normally found by asking families if you can hang up your hammock on their porch and food was found by knocking on people’s doors and asking if they wouldn’t mind cooking.
After a week relaxing in Iquitos it was time to leave. I opted to take the boat out of Iquitos as opposed to flying and it took three sweltering days to reach the nearest town with roads. It took a further two days to get to a major transport hub before travelling became easier. I flew to Puerto Maldonado to reach a rainforest conservation lodge on the rio Madre de Dios where a friend was working where I stayed for two weeks. Without flying, it took 3 hours on a boat and 36 hours on top of a goods truck to get out of Puerto Maldonado starting at sea level and ascending up to 4000m before reaching Cusco.
I reached La Paz in December where I solo climbed Huayna Potosi (6,088m) a few days after my 25th Birthday (and just after my second bout of D&V!).
After my climb and racing down the UNESCO ‘most dangerous road in the world’ on a mountain bike I traversed the country south-eastwards through Sucre and Potosi and off the altiplano to spend Christmas in the small village, Samaipata. After xmas I ended up at a farm run by a young Israeli family in the hills between Samaipata and Santa Cruz.
There are somethings you never imagine yourself doing even whilst travelling, helping
to sew up a poor goat’s exploded ball sack was certainly one of them!
After New Years, the south beckoned and I continued on my journey southwards. Travelling so close to Aconcagua, the highest mountain in South America, 
I would have been foolish to pass up an opportunity to climb it. After three days of renting kit, buying food and permits and figuring out the route I set off on the climb. I met an Israeli guy, Denis, the day before I was going to set off who was also looking for a partner to climb with and so we climbed together. We acclimatised quickly and we had pushed on to attempt our summit day after only seven days on the mountain. Unfortunately I had to back down at 6500m (three hours from the summit) due to my fingers becoming too cold inside the poor rented gloves that I had.
