http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/laandal/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from laandal en-us Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:08:29 BST Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:08:29 BST Our last few weeks in South America were spent in Chile and Rio de Janeiro. We flew into Santiago and spent a few days checking out the sights beneath a layer of smog as it is apparently the 3rd most polluted city anywhere in the world. However it was a great city and we enjoyed getting lost in the side streets trying the food and seeing even more lovely Spanish Colonial buildings.From Santiago http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/blog-299616.html Crossing over from Bolivia into Brazil the differences we apparent immediately even with the taxi prices. A trip that would have cost US1 in Bolivia all of a sudden was ten times that and our wallets were not happy. But we went ahead with our plans to visit the Pantanal a giant wetland in the south of Brazil which is famous for its wildlife and we headed in for a three day trip. We stayed at a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/blog-287031.html Bolivia is a country of crazy extremes from the worlds highest capital city to the spectacular salt flats of Salar de Uyuni and the lush jungles and savannah lands there is a chance to see and do just about anything. We took this onboard when entering Bolivia and did a few things of questionable sanity in our quest to embrace Bolivia.We started our trip in La Paz after having taken a bus from P http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/blog-274856.html We started our exploration of Peru in the capital Lima which is a metropolis of almost 8 million people and like much of Latin America has the sharp contrasts between the rich and the poor. We settled in Miraflores a wealthy suburb full of restaurants shopping malls and a view over the Pacific Ocean from the exclusive shopping and restaurant area Larcomar and spent a few days seeing what Lima http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/blog-265721.html We arrived in Quito after a nightmare transfer through Miami. We had 3 hours between flights and the majority of that time was taken up clearing immigration picking up our bags clearing customs rechecking our bags and then reclearing security. It was not the quick and fun trip through Miami that we were expecting But we managed to arrive in Quito safely.We spent our first few days in Quito hav http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Quito/blog-260425.html After some serious confusion at the airport we had arrived two and a half hours early and were still checking in half an hour before our flight we made it to Galapagos And we were not disappointed We were impressed by the amount of wildlife from the very beginning after seeing so many crabs and birds on the way to our boat the Intrepid. Our first activity was to go and see Galapagos Giant T http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Galapagos-Islands/blog-260424.html As soon as we woke up in Managua we thought we should try and get a change of perspective on Nicaragua so jumped on a bus for Granada which is yet another Spanish colonial town. It is a lovely beautiful old town on the shores of Lago de Nicaragua the largest lake in Central America. We spent a few days wondering around and looking at the sites and once we had seen all the sites we decided we http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/blog-251717.html So we returned to Xela for the last time to await our credit cards and of course get another 2 weeks of much needed Spanish tuition as it seemed as though all the time spent travelling through English speaking places really took its toll Arriving back in Xela was really good it felt like returning to our home away from home. It was freezing much colder than before Christmas we had frost out http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/blog-247666.html School's out for the summer....or winter as it may well be and we are thrilled As much as we have enjoyed being in Xela and learning a lot about Guatemalan culture it was definitely time to stop learning see some sites and have some funWe headed to Antigua Guatemala early on a Saturday morning after graduating from school the day before. Antigua is a smallish very pretty Spanish Colonial to http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/blog-227362.html A quiet start to the second half of our Spanish studies with Lara having a cough and a minor earthquake Lara felt it but Al didnt We went to school for the week as usual....not much to report as we skipped most of the activities because wed done them all before.The weekend was spent at San Pedro with an Irish couple Ed and Yvonne where we got up to all sorts of mischief in between lying in http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Quetzaltenango/blog-223260.html After having woken up at 2.00am in Washington in order to make our early flight to Guatemala via Miami we arrived in Guatemala City completely disoriented and exhausted. It seemed as if the whole of Guatemala City was out to greet the planes and if we hadn't been met by someone we may have turned around and gone home right then We were taken back to a little bed and breakfast not too far from th http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Quetzaltenango/blog-218819.html Our second stop was to visit Laras aunt Jill who lives outside Washington DC. After a redeye flight from LA Jill picked us up very early in the morning and then we went out to see America. Our first stop was Harpers Ferry. An historic town known for its part in the abolition of slavery. It was absolutely pouring with rain and by the time we had gotten to the museum we were dripping We quickl http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/District-of-Columbia/Washington/blog-216867.html After frantically trying to pack up the house and pretty much only getting about twothirds through it we gave up and went to say our goodbyes... At least we managed to get so exhausted from packing we slept practically the whole plane trip leaving us relatively jetlag free for our brief stint in LA la land...Day 1 Balboa Island nestled in Orange County just like the TV show there were heaps http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/blog-216857.html