We left La Fortuna at 8am on Saturday morning, and caught a bus to the nearby lake. From there we caught a small boat across the Lake for an hour, which was a rally nice trip, and then another connecting bus waiting for us st the other side of the lake, all exclusively for us. Then it was a couple of hours drive to the town of Monteverde. We arrived at 1.30pm, so I went for lunch in a restaurant that has a tree in the middle of it, and then went back to the hotel for a well deserved Siesta! [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday 1st March, already, and the last day in San Jose. Not much really to do here, so just had another look around town, and spent the rest of the day watching International football in the hotel! Then got ready to go out that evening, and had a meal in Cafe Mundo, a pretty cool restaurant close to the hotel. It was also the first time I met the next group of people I was travelling with, 12 in total. The next day was up at 7am, and checked out of the hotel and met the group who were staying in [View Full Entry]

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My flight from Lima landed in San Jose around 1.30pm. Costa Rica is 6 hours behind GMT time. At the airport I was supposed to be met by somebody for a transfer to the hotel, who-ever that was and where-ever the hotel was!! The transfer person did not show up, and the airport was manic with taxi drivers and hoteliers acosting you. This made it worse that my guy didn't show, especially as I had no idea where I was staying. One taxi driver wouldn't leave me alone, and in the end was a help. I had no money to phone [View Full Entry]

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I said a final farewell to my room mates who I had shared with for the tour, and got a taxi from the hotel at 7am to the International Airport. It was a horrible feeling to leave Rio and my friends, especially as I was missing out on the Sambadrome that night, but I had to move on. The flight over the city was again a breathtaking sight, and it didn't take much time at all to reach Sao Paolo, under an hour. I watched some English football highlights in the airport, then put my bags in Lockers, and decided to [View Full Entry]

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After a bit of a lay in after a big night at the Red and Black ball, me and a friend got up and dragged ourselves to the beach. Not just any beach, but one of the most famous in the world, Copacabana!!! It was great weather and the beach was busy. I had a quick swim, and we just chilled out and people watched. We were just outside the Copacbana Palace Hotel, where the Rolling Stones and Madonna reportedly stayed just the week before. Again its like you are in a postcard, unreal!! We left the beach and made our [View Full Entry]

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First point of call today was to Corcovodo, Christ the Redeemer, the magnificent statue and symbol that overlooks Rio. We left the hotel at 9am. To see the sights you negotiate with a taxi driver, who will take you to each main site for a set price, so 100 Reals was agreed. We drove across the City, and made the ascent up the hill towards the statue. At the top of the hill, the taxi pulled up, and we walked the rest of the way. The sight over the City is now amazing, and its a glorius day, blue skies and [View Full Entry]

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Saturday the 18th. We packed up and left Iguassu, and today was a long 11 hour drive to Curitiba. Had had a great night out the night before seeing a performance of local dancing with a live band, and then clubbing in Iguassu, so just slept most of the long journey on the bus. We arrived at our campsite and it was now night. It started raining, and the campsite was wet and muddy. I was feeling pretty tired too, and after camping almost a week, I persuaded my tent mate that we should go for luxury and stay the night [View Full Entry]

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The drive in to Rio was exciting with anticipation. We had come such a long way across the vast continent of South America, and done and seen so many things along the way, and here we were, finally heading to our last group destination. As we drive in to topwn, we spotted Corcovodo ( the Christ statue ) in the horizon. Our tour leader played 'Time of Your life' by Green Day, as a send off for our last time together on our Bus, who is called Frank! We pulled up at our hotel, The Granada at 2pm, and checked in [View Full Entry]

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It was a long drive once again from Asuncion, to cross the border and on to Brazil. It was very hot and stuffy on our bus too. But the time soon passed. The border was manic, many people cross from Brazil to buy duty free goods on the Paraguay side of the border. It was then a short drive in to the town of Foz, home of the amazing Iguassu Falls. We pitched up our tents at the campsite which has a pool, cooked dinner and had a swim, and celebrated a birthday of a girl on our trip. There are [View Full Entry]

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We left the tranquility of the beautiful National Park, and made the 3 hour journey to Asuncion. Once again the heat was turned up, baking hot. We arrived at the Asuncion Palace hotel, which is nice and comfortable, and a welcome break from camping for the last week. Dumped all the laundry off, and had a look around the CIty. The City is very different from what I expected. Quieter, and very relaxed during the day. There are nice shops, and typically some Spanish colonial type buildings in the main Plaza. In the evening we gathered for our usual meal together, [View Full Entry]

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