Inspiring Travel Writing from Dominic Hamilton
Dominic Hamilton was born in London in 1972. He is the author of the first edition Traveler's Venezuela Companion, which won the Benjamin Franklin Award for Best Guidebook 2002. He is also the co-author of the Traveler's Ecuador Companion, and the forthcoming Traveler's Russia Companion.
He is Contributing Editor of South American Explorer magazine, and has published articles in BBC Wildlife, The Independent on Sunday, Geographical, Global Adventure and thisistravel.co.uk. He currently lives in Ecuador, and travels and works in South America. See www.nomadom.net for more on his work and travels.
He is Contributing Editor of South American Explorer magazine, and has published articles in BBC Wildlife, The Independent on Sunday, Geographical, Global Adventure and thisistravel.co.uk. He currently lives in Ecuador, and travels and works in South America. See www.nomadom.net for more on his work and travels.
Articles by Dominic Hamilton
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Country with a Green Heart
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Dominic Hamilton
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Belize
When Aldous Huxley breezed through Belize back in the 1930s, he remarked "If the end of the world had any ends, British Honduras would certainly be one of them." Belize is a bit of a backwater. The size of Wales, with a population about a third of...
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Baptism By Beat
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Dominic Hamilton
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Venezuela
Down by the sea, the drums call. The villages of Barlovento spring from their sleepy states for the Fiesta de San Juan Bautista (St John the Baptist) in late June. In Caruao, 40 kilometres from the nearest piece of asphalt, two bars frame the 100-...
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Market Mayhem
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Dominic Hamilton
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Ecuador
"Eight? You want eight for it?" "Si, señor, precio muy bueno. Precio especial." "Ten isn't 'especial'! How about two for ten, that's 'especial.'" "Dos por diez? No, no, no, no..." "Come on, ten for two. You're not going to sell anything at...
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Pumalin
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Dominic Hamilton
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Chile
In 1990, the West Coast millionaire Doug Tompkins landed his small plane in a remote fjord in the Palena region, at the northern edge of Chilean Patagonia. He had visited this 'quaint tail of the South American continent' ever since dropping out of...
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Angel Falls
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Dominic Hamilton
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Venezuela
Up the forest path we pant. Up and down and over and round, slowly climbing as the hill grows steeper. In the dim light, everything remains indistinct, merging into an amorphous mass which connives to trip me up. I can't climb quickly enough. Twenty...
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Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel
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Dominic Hamilton
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Peru
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Sacred Valley & Machu Picchu
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Cuzco & Machu Picchu
So you want to visit Machu Picchu? Experience possibly the Inca's greatest architectural and spriritual achievement? So you don't want to do it in a day-trip on the train from Cusco. Timing is everything when visiting the ruins. They are over-run (...
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Hostería Hacienda Pinsaquí
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Dominic Hamilton
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United Kingdom
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Northumbria
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Durham
Hostería Hacienda Pinsaquí lies to the north of Otavalo, and of Ecuador's northern haciendas perhaps feels the most lived in. The house has been in the hands of the Freile family for five generations. It only opened its doors to paying guests in...
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Hotel Cafe Cultura
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Dominic Hamilton
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Ecuador
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Quito Region
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Quito
The 26-room hotel occupies a beautiful colonial mansion, replete with three open fires, colourful murals and comfy leather sofas. The building, which once housed the French Cultural Center, is seeped in atmosphere, comfort and style. It's owned and...
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The Kamchatka Peninsula
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Dominic Hamilton
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Russia
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Kamtchatka
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Kuriles
Along with drinking vodka, a Russian's favourite pastime is to sit in a steamy room and be flogged by a bunch of birch branches. The banya, though it's lost its original essentially hygienic role with the advent of running water and water boilers,...
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The Republic of Tuva
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Dominic Hamilton
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Russia
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Siberia-Central
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Tuva
At the shaman centre in Kyzil, a house of stained planks trimmed and framed in blue paint, the seven shamans have their photos and specialities listed on printed paper on the wall of the reception room. In the back garden a pyre smoulders, and...