Ella's Adventures Blog

The islands built to disappear

Here's the Lake Titicaca story that I think about every time reed boats come up. Around 500 years ago, as the Inca empire expanded rapidly and began swallowing up smaller...

The islands built to disappear

Here's the Lake Titicaca story that I think about every time reed boats come up. Around 500 years ago, as the Inca empire expanded rapidly and began swallowing up smaller...

The drawings nobody saw for 2,000 years

Here's the Nazca Lines fact that I find genuinely hard to get my head around. Between 500 BCE and 500 CE, a culture on Peru's southern coast created over 800...

The drawings nobody saw for 2,000 years

Here's the Nazca Lines fact that I find genuinely hard to get my head around. Between 500 BCE and 500 CE, a culture on Peru's southern coast created over 800...

The most biodiverse place on the planet

Here's the Manu fact that puts everything else into perspective. This one park, running from lowland Amazon rainforest up to high Andean grassland over more than 6,600 square miles, is...

The most biodiverse place on the planet

Here's the Manu fact that puts everything else into perspective. This one park, running from lowland Amazon rainforest up to high Andean grassland over more than 6,600 square miles, is...

The lost city that wasn't really lost

The Machu Picchu is always described as a lost city, rediscovered against the odds in 1911. The truth is a fair bit messier and, honestly, more interesting. The Incas abandoned...

The lost city that wasn't really lost

The Machu Picchu is always described as a lost city, rediscovered against the odds in 1911. The truth is a fair bit messier and, honestly, more interesting. The Incas abandoned...

The city shaped like a puma

Here's the Cusco fact that still gets me every time I picture it from above. The Inca emperor Pachacutec didn't just build a capital, he designed one in the shape...

The city shaped like a puma

Here's the Cusco fact that still gets me every time I picture it from above. The Inca emperor Pachacutec didn't just build a capital, he designed one in the shape...

The walled city Arequipa couldn't see

Here's the Santa Catalina fact that changed how I picture Arequipa. For 390 years, right in the middle of the city, there was an entire walled town that almost nobody...

The walled city Arequipa couldn't see

Here's the Santa Catalina fact that changed how I picture Arequipa. For 390 years, right in the middle of the city, there was an entire walled town that almost nobody...