Few places have impacted me so profoundly as Chilean Patagonia. Even after spending many years living in and out of Buenos Aires and visiting Argentine Patagonia, there is something truly unique about this wilderness, the Patagonian steppes around the Torres del Paine National Park.
I went to write a story for House and Garden's Hotels By Design special just after Awasi had opened their lodge there in 2013. Serious hats off to Awasi's director Matias de Cristobal for the sensitivity he showed in opening up this unique part of the world while preserving and showcasing what makes it so special. I could tell you about the eco-sensitive design, architecture and remote natural beauty (and you can read about that in the PDF below ), but really, what i fell wildly, madly in love with were... the Gauchos.
This is one of the parts of South America where working Gauchos still dominate the landscape ( the only ones tough enough to weather the harsh winter conditions) Stay at Awasi and you can hang with them every day. I was with the brilliant photographer Helen Cathcart for this story, and we spent a lot of the time drinking mate in their huts and galloping across plains with our new friends, wild and free, and soaking in wood-fired hot tubs as the sun set at 11pm! You can read more about them in a piece i later wrote for Aston Martin Magazine here
One of my most memorable trips and one I would recommend to all for that once-in-a-lifetime magic.
Published 2015 and 2016
Fresh out of Oxford University and at a big loss with what to do with my life, I took a trip to Brazil and it changed everything. That first afternoon on Ipanema beach, marvelling at the colourful madness, i thought... "Whatever happens...I have to live here! This is where i belong!" Little did i know then that it was beginning of a life long love affair, 10 years living in Brazil's Cidade Maravilhosa, and the seedling of my life as a professional traveller. Big lesson. I followed my heart and it paid off, even though everyone thought i was totally crazy at the time.
However much I might have changed since that wide-eyed 24 year old, Ipanema's beach scene remains equally as captivating. Here I (try) to capture it in all it's glory for Vice's online luxury platform Amuse. It was a crazy (hungover) Sunday spent with one of my favourite photographers Tinko Czetwertynski, helping him find who to shoot and then conjuring up the words to work alongside.
Rio, you are always in my heart. Tom Jobim captures the eternal saudades in this samba.
Minha alma canta
Vejo o Rio de Janeiro
Estou morrendo de saudade
Rio teu mar, praias sem fim
Rio você foi feito pra mim
Cristo Redentor
Braços abertos sobre a Guanabara
Este samba é só porque
Rio eu gosto de você
A morena vai sambar
Seu corpo todo balançar
Rio de sol, de céu, de mar
Dentro de mais uns minutos
Estaremos no Galeão
Published 2015
One of the most magical places i was fortunate enough to spend a few days was on Sumba island, one of the most remote and uninhabited islands of Indonesia. There's only one real hotel here, Nihiwatu Surf Lodge, and it offers un-paralled access to a place that's otherwise hard to explore alone. There's just no tourism infrastructure and Mother Nature reigns supreme.
Walking on the beach at dawn, with not a soul in site, felt like Jurassic Park and I kept expecting a T-Rex to come roaring through the bushes. Dubbing itself a 'wildness lodge', Nihiwatu's 5 star luxury, private surf break and spectacular beauty won it the accolade of Travel & Leisure's number 1 hotel of 2017. I went to interview the hotel's owner, serial entrepreneur Chris Burch about turning his hand to hospitality for Elite Traveler. You can read about it here.
What struck me (and stays with me to this day) was the Sumbanese people and their way of life, still so primitive and connected to the Earth when compared to Indonesia's other islands. The other thing was the extent of the work that Nihiwatu does to have a positive impact on the local community, from establishing malaria and maternity clinics across the island to building wells and feeding school-children. It for sho, wasn't for show. Kudos to 5 star properties leveraging their power for serious impact. Hopefully a sign of times to come.
Published 2017
Of all the places to eat in Rio, these are my favourite. All located within a few blocks of each other (and my old apartment) in the lovely bucolic pocket neighbourhood of Horto, they are not to be missed should you visit Rio! Many a happy night spent here.
Here i write them up for Conde Nast Traveller's Word of Mouth column.
One of the best bits about being a writer is getting to recommend the places i love for recognition on lists like Conde Nast Traveller's Gold List. Writing these edits always brings back memories of the amazing times i spent there, reconnecting me with the owners and channelling my memories into something more concrete!
For the 2018 Conde Nast Gold List, we have Baltra bar, a very clever cocktail den inspired by Darwin's theory of Evolution in Mexico City founded by some of the most hospitable Mexicans I've ever come across (and that's saying something!) Make sure you ask them where to go for late-night tacos - the dream :) Then there's Princesa, my go-to beach restaurant come summer set just outside of Lisbon, and finally Beach House, a surfer's hang-out in Nicaragua's San Juan del Sur where my friend Dickie, who owns Maderas Village, can often be found. As I write this wrapped up in the depths of winter, boy do these beach bars look appealing!
I first lived in Sao Paulo for a year in 2008, when the country was on the cusp of its commodity boom and the creative scene was just stirring. I was baffled by this monster metropolis and it took me a while to get under its skin. Writing this article on Shopping in Pinheiros almost a decade later, it was a joy to see how the city blossomed, epitomised for me by the strength of the creative community in up-and-coming Pinheiros. Think young, eco-conscious entrepreneurs who are really forging what Brand Brazil means today beyond the politics and economics. And that's incredible design, creativity and endless heart.
It was amazing to look back 10 years on at the girl who had arrived totally clueless in the midst of Sao Paulo's winter (guys, it gets COLD!) with just a few bikinis and laugh at all that had happened...if only i had known then. It was also in these few days researching and writing this piece that i found out my beloved adopted street dog and best friend Shiva, had a terrible form of cancer and I would have to put her to sleep not days later. So this story for me was filled with such a poignancy, one of the saddest times of my life, yet equally enveloped in such kindness from the people i met and interviewed as i raced to finish up and get home to Rio to be with her. With death so present, I marvelled at every tiny drop of beauty. There's always a story behind the story, and for this one, it was Shiva.
Published 2017
Rio will always be my great love and muse. Living there the best part of a decade, i experienced magic and madness on a daily basis, met some of my best friends in the world and genuinely wasn't bored for a second. That's how 10 years can pass by in a blink. Over those years, i wrote about Rio many, many times, from the city's underground party scene to an A-Z of who and what was shaking in the city. One of them, a feature for TTG, I even won an award for! That was written on a hellish Monday morning after a particularly wild Sunday funday dancing samba in Santa Teresa. It just goes to show....the pressure of a deadline!
Here are some of them:
Conde Nast Traveler US Rio Guide
What's hot in Rio in 2016 - CNT
Rio's Party Scene - CNT
Rio's Evolution - Belmond (full article below)
Beach and Beyond - TTG - (full article below)
I've been to the Uruguayan Riviera only twice in my life, and how i long for the third! The first time was during the height of the summer madness during Christmas and New Year, when the global glitterati touch down for two weeks of polo playing and insane parties amongst the dunes. My friend Romy and I were 22 year old students in Buenos Aires, but with all the bravado of youth, we chatted our way into every private event going, had a total ball and occasionally cat-napped in the only hostel you could find amidst the white-washed beach-pads.
The second time was to write this story for Elite Traveler. I went in August, which is super low season and most places are shut. There was hardly a soul to bump elbows with and it was complete bliss. My friend and owner of Brazilian Beach House, Steven Chew, drove me to all the secret local spots, including the charming village of Garzon, we ate almost every meal in the world's best beach kitchen Parador La Huella and barbecued up a feast with Francis Mallmann. Between them, they gave me the low-down on how to spend the ultimate weekend, one week and two weeks in Uruguay, as well as all the must-have addresses.
While both were special, my tip is to skip the scene and go off season when the tourists are gone and you get to hang with the locals who make this place so unique.
Hands down one of my coolest gigs as a travel writer so far was to update the Fodor's Guide book to Brazil for a few editions. Perhaps this was what travel writing were like long before the days of smart-phones, easyjet and the endless online copy monster. When, first and foremost, you were an adventurer with the time to go and get lost.
My lovely editor at Fodors would give me a chunk of $ to cover expenses and fees, a set target of listings and then leave me to it for a few months. I guess some writers saved the dollars and did a lot of updating from their living room, but I used to spend pretty much all of mine on the road. I lucked out by getting to cover Bahia, the North-East of Brazil and finally, the Amazon. (Access the guides in the links below)
I'd been in Brazil for 5 years at this stage and had yet to make it to the Amazon. I think, like many people, i was scared to get it wrong, that it would be more hassle than it was worth, that i'd get eaten alive by mosquitos. How wrong i was. Travelling through the Amazon for a month was once of the stand-out experience of my life. I got my pick of the best lodges and house-boats and see what really stood out - my tip... it's not always the expensive ones... Two places really stand out. Put them on the bucket-list and start planning NOW!
The first is the Uakari Lodge which is set on the Mamirura Reserve. Its a simple structure of 8 floating huts in the middle of one of the largest fresh water reserves in the world, and its one of the only examples of tourism integrated into a protected environment like this. First off, this means you wake up and the animals are everywhere! Pink river dolphins and alligators float by for their morning ritual, parrots swoop by to say hello, and we even stumble across a panther on one of our walks. Secondly, instead of run-of-the-mill tourist guides, there's only the local community and biologists, so you get to explore the most remote places while learning from the experts about the realities of conservation and how to help.
Once you've got you full taste of the jungle, head to Alter do Chao, which is like the Caribbean of the Amazon - all white sand beaches and crystal clear waterways where you can do stand-up paddle past giant lily-pads and take a house-boat out for days to be met with iridescent horizon and wild rain-forest dotted with communities of craftsman. When you get there, the only people you need to call are Adhara Luz and Daniel Govino, who own the inspirational agency AMZ Projects, and will ensure you have an amazing tip while at the same time, contribute to the preservation of the Amazon and its people. Top of my list for next year's New Year's Eve is to join their brigade of house-boats full of Brazil's artists and eco-warriors and glide you off-grid for a week, with ayahuasca ceremonies and tribal dance-offs with the communities on tropical sand-banks under the stars... not a bad idea hey?! You can read more about it in this article for Amuse on How to nail New Year's in South America.
For the full Fodor's Guides:
36 hours in Lima on route between Bolivia and Brazil is not the most amount of time to capture the bohemian neighbourhood of Barranco's creative and gourmet scene but...
Luckily I had the very best local experts on hand to give me the inside track. Big thanks to the inspirational designer Chiara Macchiavello (check out her amazing heritage brand Escudo) and the wonderful Marisol and her team at Aracari ( the travel specialist to go to if you need expert guidance and inside connections in Peru). You can read all about it in my story for design magazine Alto, but in a nutshell: Lima is unfailingly epic, Hotel B in Barranco is the bomb, and I could eat ceviche for breakfast everyday from La Mar.
In fact, when in Lima, eat ceviche everyday for breakfast. punto.
Published winter 2013
Very, very rarely in my work as a travel writer have I been asked to plan my dream trip and then write about it. This was that golden ticket. Chatting to my genius editor Pamela Goodman at House & Garden about a Brazil feature and as we tossed around endless ideas, she said "You've been there so long, you know it so well, where would you choose to go?"
So after 7 years travelling the length and breadth of Brazil, writing guidebooks and saving not a cent for the love of exploring, I planned my ultimate trip... and took along a friend I'd recently started dating. Needless to say, by the end, we were madly in love ;)
We started road-tripping from Rio to Reserva de Ibitipoca, set on a nature reserve in the middle of Minas Gerais, riding horses to waterfalls and eating an extravagant amount of pao de queijo. Then it was a few days of caipirinhas and candomblé in Salvador on route to my all-time favourite beach isle of Boipeba, where fishermen still rule and there's not a car in site. All was organised with the help of my friend Harry Hastings, who runs travel specialist Plan South America and is ever inspiring me with his unquenchable thirst for adventure.
Whether you seek a romantic retreat, a Robinson crusoe hide-away or an unforgettable family adventure, Boipeba is the place. This is the Brazilian beach you dream of, yet often proves so elusive to find. You can book into my favourite island house here, but shhhh... don't tell anyone!
If you are planning a trip to Brazil, these boutique hideaways should definitely be on your radar. While I may have written this round-up back in 2014 for Conde Nast Traveller, they still remain amongst my favourite affordable places to stay in Brazil. Hit them all in one trip and you'll have cracked it!
For an updated (and considerably more expensive) selection, you can pursue my piece on Brazil's Top Suites featured in Elite Traveler.
Finally...If you seek independent, great value accommodation that's full of charm but often lacks the glossy images to get featured in the travel magazines, then i highly recommend you check out the wonderful website Hidden Pousadas - now you have it, my sourcing secret!
"Boipeba, a tiny tropical island off the coast of Bahia, is one of my favourite Brazilian secrets. There are no cars, just a local tractor service connecting fishing villages on a single dust-red road that runs through acres of virgin jungle; otherwise everyone hops about by boat or strolls the deserted beaches on foot. It's like slipping back in time; locals still call the shots, refusing tips with the widest of smiles.
Although under 100km from Bahia's capital of Salvador, getting to Boipeba has always involved jostling between bus, ferry and speedboat. Now you can hop on a little Cessna and be on the island in just 30 minutes, touching down among the coconut palms on what must be the world's most charming airstrip.
This sleek jungle retreat opened just over a year ago, adding a whole new level of luxury to this lovably rustic island. Balanced atop its highest point ('Céu' translates as 'heaven' in Portuguese), it has a wraparound terrace with astonishing views: an eruption of emerald green tumbling down to a half-moon bay; tranquil blue waters etched with white dashes formed by speedboats; white-sand beaches framed by sentinel palms.
The whole place has a homely, unpretentious vibe; more living, breathing beach-house than concept hotel. In the open-plan sitting room, tropical prints mingle with Balinese antiques inherited from the property's original owner, a Polish fashion designer. Weathered surfboards peep out from behind giant palms and there are low-slung coffee tables littered with cocktail shakers and boxes of tropical fruit.
In the evening, young travellers trek up here to watch the sun set and listen to lilting samba. It can turn into quite the party. But you can always beat a retreat to your suite, one of just seven, all with four-poster beds and sliding doors leading onto secluded terraces hung with hammocks.
Charming Andalucían host Jesus is always around to shake up fresh cacao caipirinhas, cook up Thai curries, source fresh aloe vera for sunburn and point guests in the direction of the island's best lobster shack. And while this crow's-nest perch may feel miles from anywhere, the island's delightful cobbled town is just 10 minutes' walk away, and down through the coconut plantations, miles of uninterrupted golden bays await.
KEYNOTE Boipeba is a total paradise, and this pad is the perfect place to take a break from the world and enjoy it
REVIEW BY LAUREN HOLMES
Published in 2016
Before i got into journalism, i worked as an in-house travel PR. Let me tell you, it's a tough gig, keeping these demanding travel writers happy ;)
One of my first big trips while working for South-American travel specialist Dehouche was taking the New York travel writer Andrew Sessa to Peru for a story in Departures Magazine. "Find the hippest restaurant in Lima that no-one has heard of", said my boss, "We need this scoop". It was a tough one, and i scrawled through Chilean food blogs for a good day or so before the answer became clear. Virgilio Martinez's creative kitchen Central was the word on every locals' lips yet hadn't hit the international press circuit yet.
So it was that Andrew, his partner and I came to sit on the little chef's table at this now world-famous restaurant in Lima (voted no.5 in the World in last year's 50 Best Restaurants in the World). It was a dream evening, as Virgillio and his now-wife chef Pia popped out of the kitchen with ingredients we had never seen before, opening our eyes to the diversity of Peruvian cuisine and the heritage he was fighting to preserve.
Back then, contributing to Monocle magazine was a big dream, so it was a pleasure when i got to write about that night for one of their hospitality special editions a few years on. Virgilio then shared the secrets of his sourcing trips around Peru for an interview we did together for Amuse.
Published 2014
It’s almost sunset when we reach the end of the jungle trail. Through the trees comes the roar of a hundred phantom armies, while golden mists gallop through the valley, playing hide-and-seek with a panorama of tumbling cascades – 275 in total - that flow into the Iguassu river. Below, a flashing patchwork of platinum races along the banks that bridge Brazil and Argentina’s natural frontier. One of the world’s ‘Seven Natural Wonders’, witnessing Iguassu Falls’ immensity cannot be overestimated, but experiencing it all alone, drenched in spray and on a sliver of walkway that hangs alongside the ‘Devil’s Throat’, where Iguassu’s steepest and most dramatic of falls leaps into the abyss, is a sensation that borders on transcendental. As the fiery sky paints a silhouette of the tallest palms, birdcalls echo through the valley and a tumult of swifts swoop and dive above in celebration. It’s total rejuvenation for the soul. Cathartic, hypnotic, therapeutic, to stand in the midst of such a mighty tumult of water is a pure bolt of energy. If you have sins to atone for, then this is the place to do it.
The first time I came to the Iguassu, I made two mistakes: the first was to approach it like a race — how quickly could that box be ticked? 36 hours, a breakneck trip around each side of the falls and then I was gone, onto the next leg of a Latin American tour. My second error was to stay outside the park, joining the crowds for the first 9am bus to tread trails in what felt like one long queue. Surrounded by so many people, nature took a back seat.
This time it’s different...
Published in 2016 for Belmond Magazine
What first convinced me to go to Sri Lanka wasn’t its ancient culture, over-layered by technicolor natural beauty, the elephant-rich national parks, nascent surf scene or even the fact you will be fed world-class curry for breakfast, but a concussion and two broken teeth.
After an unfortunate encounter with a curb, a chain of referrals led me to the Wimpole Street office of Sri Lankan osteopath and healer Sam Kankanamge. As Sam set to calming my bruised head and befuddled nervous system, he spoke about the wellness sanctuary he was opening on a nature reserve along Sri Lanka’s secluded southern coast, set across from the most spectacular beach, pristine and protected thanks to the green, leatherback and hawksbill turtles who have laid their eggs there for centuries. His plan was to create a place of deep healing, where everyone from burnt-out creatives to sleepless entrepreneurs could go to reset through a unique program of western osteopathy, Kundalini yoga and ancient Ayurveda treatments.
Eight months later, life had thrown me a series of curve balls that had defeated me. Surviving life rather than winning, I set off to see if the solution lay in the healing beauty and wellness wisdom of Sri Lanka....
To find out what happened next....read on
Published 2016
Late on our last afternoon, we take one of the wooden boats out into the heart of the lake, iridescent at sunset as swallows swoop to the horizon. Totally timeless, it’s like landing in a fairytale.
I almost feel guilty to even tell you i went to this place. It was a last minute trip as the magazine had a story drop out and they asked me to come up with something for a feature. I had recently heard about Ballyfin, an Irish country manor, but never dreamt I would get to go so soon. So it was, we went to Ireland for a rainy weekend in March and stayed in the most magnificent manor house, draped with incredible antiques and the most charming of staff who fed us champagne and tea in silver pots around roaring fires and the most amazing Irish soda bread. I ate so much of that bread that they even gave me some to take home as a gift! The owners are American billionaires who painstakingly hunt down original pieces that would have belonged to the house in its heyday. Its truly like stepping back in time. A fairytale i long to repeat, if only that fairy would wave her wand again!
Published 2016
When Radiohead's Thom York set about writing his second solo album, he holed up here, in a restored woodcutter's cottage overlooking a waterfall in rural Brazil. With no phone signal or Wi-Fi, or any other interruptions save for birdsong and a babbling brook, this is a true artist's haven.
Albeit one with the full, five-star service of Fazenda Catucaba, an extraordinary eco-retreat two hours' drive from São Paulo, behind it.
It's a challenge to find, this remote retreat; you have to snake down rust-red roads and through country villages, all cobbled streets and horse-and-carts. When you arrive through the woods that surround it, Catuçaba's main house, a restored 1840 colonial casona, gleams brilliant white in the dusk, framed by stately imperial palms.
Set in 450 acres of tropical rainforest, working farmland and rolling hills, this is the passion project of French banker-turned-hotelier Manu Renegade. It opened in 2010 as a 10-bedroom rural idyll for stressed-out Brazilian executives, and has evolved into a hub for creative thinkers and eco-warriors, with Renegade hosting think-tanks on how we can all live more sustainably.
There's a serious design aesthetic at play here, thanks to a carousel of visiting artists and designers invited to use the estate as a blank canvas, including a spectacular bamboo cathedral designed by the famous Campana Brothers for meditation ceremonies and a 100-percent-sustainable modernist villa from architect Marcio Kogan, an Oca hut built by the Amazonian Xingu tribe, and sculptures by artist Pasha Radeski.
The guests are an eclectic bunch of free-thinkers, creatives and smart-set Brazilians, and you never know who you might end up chatting to on the casona's porch while sipping earthy-rich organic coffee over homemade pão de queijo and jabuticaba jam. Across the courtyard, 10 bedrooms line up like ducks along the bank, indulgent yet simple, with rich wooden floors, standalone tubs and fireplaces.
Whether you choose to sleep here or in one of the estate's gloriously private cottages, everyone meets at the casona at some point, snuggled up on butter-soft leather sofas by the roaring log-fire over Caipirinhas shaken from Catucaba's own artisanal cachaça before feasting on honest, farm-to-table food cooked by warm-hearted locals.
Thankfully there's endless exploring to justify any over-indulgence: dreamy days on chestnut mares trotting through rolling pastures; trekking to waterfalls through Mata-Atlántica rainforest and swimming in silk-smooth lakes. Sunset is always an occasion, witnessed from spectacular view-points where staff set up impromptu picnics of ruby red Malbec and home-made goat's cheese, while back at base, bonfires and guitar strumming await under the stars.
KEYNOTE While it's utter bliss to relax in such natural simplicity, Catuçaba stands out as an eco-pioneer in constant evolution, all executed with a serious dollop of style.
REVIEW BY LAUREN HOLMES
Fazenda Catuçaba, S/N Bairro do Pinga, 12240 Catuçaba, Sao Luiz do Paraitinga, Brazil (+55 11 2495 1586; catucaba.com). Doubles from US$470
Before we begin, I have a confession: while the Galápagos may be on the bucket list for most, it was never on mine. As a traveller who thrives on high-intensity adventure – culture woven into human chaos and being pushed out of my comfort zone – I had held a secret apprehension that I would get bored. Instead, I found something I needed more than excitement: peace. Sheer, utter, blissful peace.
The pristine wonders and abundant wildlife of the Galápagos need little introduction. One of the world’s most biodiverse natural habitats, the unique conditions scattered across the 16 volcanic islands enabled Darwin to develop his theory on evolution by natural selection, and remains a living laboratory for the world’s leading scientists.
Read the full feature at here on Elite Traveler
Don't judge me but... when I was 16 i read Jilly Cooper's legendary novel Polo and decided I was going to marry a polo player. "How to do it?", I thought long and hard...I'd need to speak Spanish of course. So I started to hit those vocab books, strategically chose my A-Levels and even ended up doing it as my degree. Year Three of Oxford... the time had come and I moved to Buenos Aires, the most captivating of cities.... full of polo players. By the time I left 6 months later, i realised that my 16 year old self may have been misguided, but the world of polo remained as intoxicating as ever.
Here I got to make something productive from my mis-spent youth on the side-lines and produced a film for the Argentine Tourism board on Polo. You can watch it here.
This short-film tells the tale of Cidade Matarazzo, one of Brazil's most inspirational recent art projects that galvanized the country's leading creative talents to bring to life an abandoned hospital in São Paulo, led by the vision of French entrepreneur, Alex Allarde
