After a very average Iberian flight and still recovering from our hangovers from our huge night in Rio we finally arrived in Europe. We were definitely sad to say goodbye to South America and our carefree days - but did our best to embrace our week in Spain and all the new adventures ahead! Lara's Mum booked us into some nice hotels as her birthday present, and we stayed right on the main drag in Madrid. We spent the days exploring the city, visiting museums and we were lucky enough to see Spain win the soccer European Championships in Madrid with thousands of Spanish supporters. We took the Renfe Train to Barcelona topping 300km an hour and spent the next few days enjoying the lovely warm weather, strolling down La Rambla, and seeing all the amazing ... read more

Brazil - Argentina - Paraguay Brazil Crossing over from Bolivia into Brazil the differences were apparent immediately starting with the taxi prices. A trip that would have cost US$1 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 lodge on the banks of a river and as soon as we arrived we were told to get into our swimmers and we went inner-tubing down the river. We later saw plenty of caimans and caught many a pirana in the same part of the river we were swimming in, but at ... read more

We started our exploration of Peru in the capital Lima, a metropolis of almost 8 million people, and like much of Latin America has obvious and sharp contrasts between the rich and poor. We settled in Miraflores, a wealthy suburb full of restaurants, shopping malls with a view over the Pacific Ocean from the exclusive shopping and restaurant area Larcomar, and spent a few days seeing what Lima has to offer. We visited the Unesco World Heritage centre of Lima which houses the traditional Plaza de Armas, the Catedral de Lima and the Presidential Palace, all on a much grander scale than the Central Parks we had seen in Central America. We walked to the Plaza San Martin to see a large statue of San Martin. A smaller figurine included on the statue is Madre Patria ... read more

We knew prior to leaving Australia that we wanted to go to the Galapagos Islands. Al was even lugging around a copy of Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species until it got to heavy and he couldn't deal with carrying it anymore! We also knew that it would be expensive, and that we would be blowing a few months budget in 8 days worth of sailing. What we didn't know was whether or not it would be worth it - whether we would see all the animals we had been promised, or whether it would be 'ruined' by all the tourism. But we can safely say Galapagos exceeded our extremely high expectations and if you are thinking about going - GO! After some serious confusion at the airport (we had arrived two and a half hours ... read more

Guatemala and El Salvador 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 outside our window a few times which was a bit of a shock considering we were in the tropics! We returned to school to see barely any familiar faces which felt a little strange, but we settled in quickly both at school and at the same host family we had previously stayed with. Staying with the same family was ... read more