Katy Shorthouse

What places and activities do you specialize in?

"Authentic cultural encounter in Peru, especially Cusco and Lake Titicaca. We also specialise in family and MTB trips."

How did you get involved in travel?

"I studied journalism unenthusiastically and without distinction, so my career in communications didn't exactly set the world on fire. In my late twenties I found myself writing junk mail about tax and accounting software for a job (for good money, I might add). I suddenly looked around in horror and thought "this can't be my life!" A few months later I became a hiking guide, and I've never looked back! "

Please share a unique travel experience you will never forget.

"My first time in Bolivia, in 1996, my friend and travelled through the rainforest with a large bundle that held her stilts. Whenever anyone asked, we claimed in our minimal Spanish that the mysterious bundle was the bones of her grandmother. Even though I guess nobody really believed this, the pair of us were a pretty big sensation in the tiny villages where we'd stop, and usually a crowd gathered, at which point we'd whip out the stilts and do a really mediocre circus show. (She would wobble around on the stilts, and I was learning to juggle). The idea was to collect money for our travels. Nobody ever gave us any, but usually somebody would take pity and let us sleep at their place. "