Once again, apologies for the delay. Would you believe that I've written this blog twice before only to delete them?....gutted I was. So I was last in La Paz, Bolivia. La Paz has the usual hussle and bussle of any Capital City. This would be where Andy and I would say goodbye to the rest of our group. we had a quiet last night, going for dinner and thanking Jose for his services as our guide - I was tasked with giving the group speech. We went for some drinks and an early night was had by all. A few of the group went for a bike ride the following day, incorporating the 'World's deadliest Road', aptly named for the obvious reason. I would've joined them, however it was too risky as our flight was later that afternoon - probably a good thing in hindsight.

On our leaving day, Andy, Dan, Alicia, Lanie and I all went for lunch at the Ritz, which cost us all of.....three pound each; bargain. Following that, we had to say goodbye to our now good friends, Dan, Alicia and Lanie. I hope to visit Dan in Denmark sometime. What can I say about Alicia and Lanie: These girls are brilliant, I'll do well to find two nicer girls during the rest of my travels. Should either of you read this, thanks for am amazing time, we'll be seeing you when we get back.

So we arrived at the Airport in plenty of time, only to be told that the Airline Company that we were supposed to be flying with had gone bust. Why weren't we told about this by our travel company??? These things are sent to try us are they not? So we paid $250 to catch another flight to Lima, then as a result, we missed our connection flight to LA. It was the early hours of the morning and there were no other flights for us at that time. We had to go and find a hotel to stay in for the night. In the morning we went back to the Airport, whereby we managed to squeezed onto a flight that would be leaving to LA the following day. I think this was a blessing in disguise as we never had the chance to see Central Lima when we were there last, so this gave us a chance to take a look around the place. We also went to the busted Airline company's Head Office; that too had closed down.

So after feeling (and probably looking) like Tom Hanks in the film 'The Terminal', we caught our flight, which cost us another $200 for missing the connection. We arrived in LA mid morning, meaning I'd missed the FA Cup final...doh...! It was good catching up with Alex and Paul and exchanging our stories with them. We decided to go back to Hermosa to stay for a couple of nights before we left for our North America tour. To our suprise, the was a professional beach volleyball competition there and it was free to enter the Stadium to watch the games. The place was packed, mainly because the sports greatest ever player was playing his last professional game, I managed to squeeze in and watch his last game. Other than the obligatory Karaoke night, we just chilled out, getting to work on our tans.

So off to Anahiem, from where we'd be starting our three week tour. This group had forty-seven of us. I knew I wouldn't be able to get to know each individual person as I would have liked. Our Tour would take us to the following: San Diego - Tijuana - Sanora - Grand Canyon - Bass Lake/Yosemite - Las Vegas - San Francisco - Santa Barbara - LA.

San Diego:

Said to be America's finest City', and it's easy to see why. I loved this place. It's a young, modern and up-and-coming City with lots of attractions. San Diego used to be America's main Naval Port back in the day. We went for a Harbor cruise around the Bay which gave me a chance to mingle with some of the group. We went to San Diego Zoo, the biggest in the World (which pleased Paul, as he'd been going on about this Zoo for weeks). I've come to find that America has the biggest everything in the World (including egos), for no logical reason; just because they can!

Tijuana (TJ):

Mexico's most Northern City, is clearly catered towards the tourist industry. This was a day trip, where the best part of my time was spent watching the Champions League Final. I wasn't impressed with this place at all. None of our group had their passports looked at by boarder control, very sloppy. Every two minutes or so I was accosted by some fella or another trying to tempt me into a strip bar - in the middle of the day. I'll stop writing about this place as I've better things to write about; although I won't dismiss returning to see the real Mexico at some point.

Sanora:

A vast desert land which is home to some of the rarest plants in the World, mainly Cacti, which can live for up to two hundred years. Some of the group went on a jeep ride in the Dessert, however I'd already done a similar thing in Peru. This is the moment where I done something stupid. Whilst looking at Alex's photos, I was over confidently swinging his (new) camera around; well I dropped it. I thought I'd gotten away with this as it was working fine, however the following day it stopped working. I didn't tell him straight away, in the hope that he'd have it replaced under warranty when we returned to LA. We went on to stay in Pheonix Arizona, which is undoubtedly the hottest place I've ever been.

Grand Canyon:

One of the World's seven natural wonders, and it's easy to see why. The Canyon is about one mile deep and ten miles wide in places. I'd already seen the deepest Canyon in the World (Colca Canyon in Peru), now I've seen the widest; the later being much more impressive. Due to it's vast size, both the sunrise and sunset can be seen from either side. There were several excursion options available to view the Canyon, I chose the most expensive - a once in a lifetime opportunity right? My excursion encompassed a two-way helicopter ride to the base of the Canyon, landing on land owed by Indians, who first took homage there over two hundred years ago. I had a day to spend there, viewing and swimming in the waterfalls. There were three waterfalls, all spectacular in their own way. This was by far the best day of my travels up to that point. I find it hard explaining the sheer size of the Canyon. Looking from the Colorado river upwards, the rock formations, formed over millions of years, are a pleasure to see. Alex and I woke up early the following morning to watch the sunrise. We found our own little spot (very romantic), just managing to avoid giving each other a hug (which he wanted, not me).

Bass Lake/Yosemite:

A film called 'The Great Outdoors' was filmed here. I haven't seen it myself, if you have then it'll give you an idea of what this place is all about. Bass Lake is huge and is entirely surrounded by high tree-topped mountians. The water is renowned for being still and clear. Andy, Alex and I decided to take out a kayak and two person canoe between us. Andy and Alex deliberatly capsized themselves near to one of the shores. When alex and I were in the canoe, we were right in the middle of the lake, with no shore to rescue us. Andy deliberalty headed for us, in a Jaws-like fashion, and rammed us, causing us to overturn - I wasn't best pleased, although Andy burst into a fit of laughter. Have you tried turning a two person canoe over in the middle of a huge lake? I could see no way out of this hole, when two elderly ladies came along in their small boat and kindly offered to help us. Andy couldn't keep a straight face and I was still livid. The two old ladies dragged our canoe to shore, then came back for us. I can see the funny side now; definatly something not to tell the grandkids.

Yosemite is a large forest area which has many valleys, waterfalls (including the tallest waterfall in North America) and Lakes. One of the Lakes is called mirror lake, as when you look at it, you can see perfectly the backdrop of the mountian in the distance. I was a little dissapointed not to see a bear though.

Las Vegas (Sin City):

I had soooo much fun at this place, which is slap bang in the middle of the Nevada Dessert. I went to a convenience store, there was a slot machine. I went to a reasturant, there was a slot machine. I went to a restroom.......I think you understand my point. The evening we arrived, we had a guided tour of Vegas. You''l be aware that Vegas is renowned for small chapel weddings. Our guide had suggested that we enter one to see what they looked like. I wasn't too interested and wanted to stay on the bus; he insisted that I go with the rest of the group; which I thought was a little unusual of him. Whilst inside, a man dressed as Elvis came into the chapel and started to perform a mock wedding ceremony. He had everyone up singing elvis songs and provided good entertainment. I thought we'd have to give him a tip and was about to do so when our guide said not to. It turns out this was the suprise he'd organised for the group; it was a good one at that. Following this, we went to see the biggest light show in the world, which had 12 million lights spread accorss seven hotels; I'll never see anything like it again. In the evening we went to the Casino in one of the large hotels (Mandalay Bay). I lost $50 that night (my limit), although my old flat mate Pete helped my hang on in there for a little while (Red 27 Pete - cheers buddy). We all ended up going to some over decorated club. The following day, the four of us (Andy, Alex, Paul and I) went to see the strip in the daytime to do some shopping. That evening, Alex, Steve (an Aussie lad) and I decided to go to a Casino. Two out of three of us ended up on top, with me winning $200. That made me $150 up during my stay in Vegas. That should go someway to the $200 I'll have to give Alex for breaking his new camera. In fairness to Alex, being the nice chap that he is, he wasn't willing to take the full amount he'd paid for it - I insisted, it's the least I could do.

To celebrate, a few of us took a Limo to a bar we were going to. This bar had the biggest guitar in the World, I'd later see the biggest thermometer - I mean why would you buld such a thing?. We had a good last night in Vegas, it was a shame that we had to leave, but we left in style. Definately a place I'd like to return to.

San Francisco:

San Fran wasn't all I expected it to be. There's alot of poverty and the place is a little ran down. The four of us went to Alcatraz for a night tour, I'd say this was the highlight of this stop-over. On one of the nights, about six of us decided to have a crazy night out. We went to some real dodgy bars and ended up in some gruby nightclub; it turned out to be a cracking night though. The best known peir in San Fran is Pier 33. There's a particular food dish called Clam Chowder that everyone seems to try - great stuff. To one side of the Pier, there are hundreds of Sealions fighting for prime position on the floats. Tons of people gather to watch the smelly things going at it. It was in San Fran that I realised our flight to Rarotonga (Cook Islands) had been out back by a few days by our tour operator (without telling us). We decided that we'd leave the tour early to catch an earlier flight, rather that haging around LA for another week.

Santa Barbara:

We didn't realy get to see much of this place as we had to organise transport to LA via the train. Santa Barbara is one of America's wealthier city's. this is where we'd have to so goodbye to the group. I've come to find that the worse thing about travelling is I'm constantly having to say my farewell's to people I've only just gotten to know; whilst mindful that I'll never see them again. It's a real shame - but that's life. So that brings me to the end of my North American adventure. I had a fantastic time and can understand why Americas rarely travel outside their Country. On to Rarotonga.

Rarotonga is the largest of the Cook Islands. We arrived during the early hours and decided to take some pedal bikes out for the day. I didn't realise just how small the Island was. We managde to cycle around the entire Island in four hours (twenty-two mile circumfrence). Alex on the other hand is a different story. Paul had told me that alex couldn't ride a bike - I thought he was joking. It turn's out he couldn't, so I had to hold onot the rear of his seat and guide him along - they didn't have any stabilizers for him to borrow. We had to leave him to it and let him learn himself.

We stayed in some acciomadation which was right on the main lagoon on the Island. I'd never seen a lagoon prior to then and so had to make good use of it. Most days I would either kayak or go snorkling with two alds we met from Guildford (Graham & John); they knew loads about fish and coral, so were interesting to be with. It was probably at that point that it sunk in to me that I was travelling. I would get up in the morning, think about what I wanted to to, then just do it. No worries in the World - I'm very grateful to have been given the chance to do this. That night before our last evening, John, Graham and the four of us went out for some quiet drink in a local bar. The bar had some locals doing some traditional Rarotongan dances, telling us about their history. As we left, there was a nasty scooter accident outside the bar; I think a couple of the lads were a little disturbed by what they had seen. In total, we were due to spend two weeks in Rarotonga. this was too long for us and so we decided to bring our flight to Fiji forward by about nine days. Five days provided plenty of time to see this beautiful and under visited Country. My funniest memory about Rarotongo will have to be when I gave Alex and unforgivably bad haircut.

Now Fiji. We arrived on the Island late at night, naturally tired. We booked into our accomadation (our intention was to only stay for one night), and stayed for three. We thought we'd have some 'Fiji time' and chill out for a couple of days - what's the rush ey? Paul and I were lucky enough to be invited into a local Fijian's house to take part in a 'Cava' ceremony. Cava is a traditional drink which the Fijian's have drunk for hundred's of years. It's a narcotic of some kind, which stems from the roots of a particular pepper tree only found in Fiji. Peter allowed us to sit with his family and take part, drinking cup after cup of the mud tasting stuff. Soo enough our younges felt numb, them our cheeks and face. Peter gave us some to take home, although I doubt we'll leave Fiji with it; I was humbled and honoured by his invitation.

From Nadi, we travelled to the other side of the Island to a town called Korolevu. In Korolevu, there's a resort called the Beach House. this is where Celebrity Love Island was filmed. I didn't watch the program, however I'm told that the layout appears untouched. The Beach House is a popular place for the English. I thought the Beach House was a great place. The staff (all Fijian) were more than freindly and appeared to remember everyone's name; a small thing that makes a big difference. Alex and I went on a jungle trek to the waterfall, Paul and I went horseridding and most days were spent either doing sporty things, such as beach volleyball etc... or visiting the local towns nearby. I could often be found making coconut jewelery, but that isn't to me mention again - by anyone - ever.

We left The Beach House having made many more friends, too many to name individually. So as I write I'm back in Nadi, as we leave early in the morning to go Island Hopping in the Yasawa Islands. Ill be on the Islands for about seven days, again with no access to the internet. As you can see, I've done sooooo much in just two months. I've shot myself in the foot by not completing this blog sooner as I know I've forgotten some things I shouldn't have. On the plus side, the three lads I'm with will help fill the gaps in time to come.

Thanks for taking your time to read my blog(s), your interest is greatly appreciated. Please excuse any spelling errors, I can't be bothered to go through all of this and correct myself.