Finished writing this in Santiago , largest city in Chile. Hello everyone been a while since last posting! Forgot to add a map last blog to show the second half of GAP overland trip so added to this one, continuing from La Paz where the last map ended. Obviously the lines are as the crow flies not as the truck drives! From the google maps it says we have travelled around 5000 miles from start to finish but maybe actually more, also travelled many miles by plane, 4X4 and walking! Will have to tot the miles up properly some time. Will keep adding maps as the travels progress. Last time I left you we had finished the GAP tour and seen the sights of Rio De Janeiro. We (Mike, Sarah and me) moved to our surf ... read more

What another amazing week what with snorkelling in Bonito and Iguazu falls! Three days of trucking in between but worth it! Last blog we had been to the Pantanal and were about to head off to Iguazu falls (Great Water). On the way we stopped in Bonito a relatively small town but famous for its excellent freshwater snorkelling hidden away in the forests. We arrived around lunchtime chilled out for the afternoon and wrote my blog in an internet cafe. The drivers cooked us dinner as we were supposed to be camping for two days but Martin had managed to change so we were in the hotel. The next morning seven of us had signed up to go freshwater snorkelling, we were picked up around nine and taken 40 mins drive onto a farm where the ... read more

Hi all hope you all well, some of you I am sure are excited with IOW festival and Download looming! Anway what have i been up to this week? Well we left Le Paz after our two night stay, well i say all but Le Paz was the end of the trip for all but seven of us heading to Rio over the next 30 days. Phil the aussie left to do some volunteer work in Bolivia, Erren the same but in Guatemala, Matt and Natasha went home to England, Simon Daisy Jo Sean and Matt went on the Uyuni salt flats excursion seperate from Gap before heading home (except Simon who has more travels). Strange with so many faces gone but getting used to it! We have three new Gappers Kerry from Belfast and two ... read more

Been another amazing week! We left Arequipa around 0800 in the morning and set off towards Colca. En route we visited some Inca tombs set into the mountain side facing east, some small villages and some Llama farms. We also stocked up on coca leaves, coca cookies and coca sweets for helping prevent altitude sickness. Also bought a sun hat and a warm hat for the cold, see pickies! We travelled up to 4910m above sea level with great views of the volcanoes around us surrounding Arequipa stopping for some coca tea on the way. We stayed the night in a lodge in the middle of nowhere, the first place I have stayed in since travelling that had heating! Next day we drove to Colca Canyon, the canyon was formed over 7 million years ago by ... read more

The eight hour truck journey went quite quick, couple of movies, couple of stops and playing on iPhone etc We left Banos about nine in the morning couple of us making ham butties for a bus breakfast as we did not have brekkie arranged that day. We headed south west towards Cuenca (second largest city in Peru) some scary mountain roads on the way! We arrived at the hotel about five in the afternoon settled in then went out for dinner. The hotel was pretty amazing we had a five bed room for four of us with tv, massive room, wifi and a large balcony. The following morning Simon, Chris ( nicknamed chicken now, another story!) walked into the centre for some brekkie and then walked around some museums and churches. The group met for lunch, ... read more