The finale to our Gap year is a 10 day cruise around the volcanic Islands of the Galapagos. Islands visited with our Naturalist Guide, Walter, were Santa Cruz, Floreana, Espanola, Seymour, South Plaza and Bartolome, to name a few from our lovely 16 berth boat called Pelicano. There were a great mixed bunch of fellow passengers from Canada, Australia, Germany, Ireland, U.S and Denmark. This was truly a once in a lifetime experience that we would thoroughly reco...

After leaving Lima, we (our two guides Adam and Robby the surfer dude and driver Dan) travelled up the coast of northern Peru. First stop was Cabo Blanco where there was a famous fishing club in the 1950´s. It is now derelict and abandoned, but fascinating to look around and imagine what it was like in its hey day, when celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Bob Hope and Jimmy Stewart were able to holiday there and fish for marlin from their boats. Earnest Hemingwa...

First stop after Cusco was a small town called Chivay, passing through our highest point of the trip at 4910m. From here we had an early start to visit Colca Canyon which is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon at 3500m. This is the place to see the largest flying birds in the world; condors. We waited all morning and just as we were about to give up, one appeared and flew along the ridge in front of us. What was more eventful, was the journey up to the canyon. Due ...

Our last few days in La Paz were interesting, as the street outside our hotel had a fiesta. Music and dancing until 5am, including the day that we had to leave at 8am! They sure do know how to party around here. From La Paz we took a boat on Lake Titicaca to our homestay. We stayed with Hilda and Moses and their daughter Marie Vanessa on the island of Amantani. In the evening we put on traditional dress and went dancing in the local community hall. At 3820m abov...

Our first stop was La Serena, a popular Chilean holiday spot, unfortunately it was a little too cold to make use of the beautiful beach. We took an excursion up into the mountains to an observatory one evening. Chile has very clear skies and a lot of countries have observatories in the mountains here, they have very exciting names like; EELT which means European Extra Large Telescope and USELT (US extremely large telescope). It was fabulous to be able to see the ...