And so, this is it!......The final destination of the dream year! A few hours on our final bus ride and we arrived back in Rio de Janeiro on the final day of Carnival. We checked in to our stupidly expensive hostel, where we were dumped our bags in the shoebox containing 5 beds (2 bunks, one of them 3 stories!)....this place was over twice the price of the lovely family home we'd just come from and was a little bit of jault back to the reality in which we'd become acustomed in the last year! Anyway, we weren't there for the room and so headed out to catch the last few celebrations. First stop was Ipanema beach a couple of blocks away - a writhing mass of half naked bodies, all fighting for a patch of ... read more

So this is it the LAST country, And as usual took the very hard BUT cheap way!! First we rose from much needed deep sleep (the first in ages) at 4.30am in order trek to the bus stop 2 km away to catch the local bus 35km to the international airport - The private shuttle cost 40 peso´s each and the local bus 2 peso´s!!!! Arrived in Sao Paulo after a four hour flight and then made our way straight to the bus station in the North of the city to try and get tickets direct to the small town of Arraila Do Cabo where we´ve decided to splash out - quite literally!!! But as luck would have it all the buses were full so the only option is to go via Rio in the dead ... read more

So this is it....probably the last major excursion of our trip, and possibly one of the most anticipated - We both had a pìcture of this magnificent natural wonder as our screensavers at work, and sat dreaming of when we´d finally be miles away around the world! We began the day early so as to avoid the crowds and in the final seconds before leaving the hostel I eventually managed to convince Dan that we might need our waterproofs - the sky looked a little overcast and it was rainy season at the end of the day....so we managed to squeeze them into a small space in the rucksack.... .....Phew, what a good job we did - Not only did it rain (I´ll get to that bit in a minute!) but the spray from the almighty ... read more

So weve broken our record and completed the longest journey yet.....Cusco to Lima by bus in 23hours...uurrrrrgggggghhhhhh, sore bums or what! The journey took us from being chilly at high altitiude through the mountains during the night and out onto drier desert mountains, where we passed the highest-known Sand dune in the world (2078m) and began to sweat! We planned to stop off at Nazca after 15hrs where we thought we´d break the journey, grab some lunch and waste a few hours before jumping onto another night bus. We also ummed and aahhed about whether to visit a lookout, from where you could see a few of the ancient "Nazca Lines" - Google it and see what I´m talking about!....We certainly couldn´t afford to take a flight to view them properly! and so in the end ... read more

Hello again! A 7hr bus ride and we've arrived in Cusco! An afternoon of boring logistics was in order and after booking bus tickets and spending an hour changing a flight (long winded or what!) we trapsed around trying to find somewhere to stay - the only trouble being that all we wanted was a cr**py standard room, and everywhere here is just too nice! Dan - So we're sitting there on the bus, and a small lady huffs and puffs up the stairs carrying a huge package on her back, she slams it on the side and shouts something out that I dont understand, but I smell food, and it gets my attention. I wonder what she is selling, but within seconds she wields a Meat cleaver and starts hacking at the carcus and soon ... read more