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So here it is, the final ever Tom and Beth ¨Experiencing South America¨ blog entry. I don´t think we have ever gone so long without doing a blog, its because so much has happened. Its going to be a bit brief, but thats because our friend Mark is cooking Chilli wraps for dinner and its going to be good. But now lets take a trip down memory lane...
Since our last blog entry from central Peru, we went to the Peruvian coast for some sun and sand before travelling for too many hours to Baños in Ecuador. There we met up with two friends from school and had lots of fun, doing quad biking and finishing a night out at 4am with a trip to the hot springs, an experience shared with many Ecuadorians. But we couldn´t hang around in Baños for too long, we had to move on to Quito (the capital) to meet our friend Saahd, who flew all the way from England to come and say hi. The first day Saahd arrived the three of us went to the equator, which was a fun experience, doing strange experiments where Beth was the only one who could balance an egg on the end of a nail. Quito isn´t a particularly South American place, so we were itching to show Saahd the way we had been living and the things we had been seeing. So we went for a few days into the Andean villages of Ecuador, where the people are all farmers and they ook at you as if you´re from Mars. But thats what Beth and I have always loved about travelling, when people look at you as if to say ¨your life must be so different.¨ And it was also nice as it was the last time Beth and I would see the South American Andes and that way of life. Near one of these villages is a huge crater lake where the three of us went kayaking with an Australian couple.
It had now been months since Beth and I sat on a picture perfect beach enjoying the sun, (you know how it is), so we decided it was about time. After a days travel from Quito we crossed the boarder into Colombia. Crossing into Colombia it felt exciting, a part of us was thinking perhaps we shouldn´t be here. But we had heard so many good things about Colombia from other travellers that we just knew it would be worth it. And it has been. Another days travel from the boarder and a flight to the north an we finally arrived in Cartagena on the Caribbean coast. The moment we stepped off the plane the humidity hit us, and it was late in the evening, (but none of us were complaining). The three of us loved Cartagena. The historical centre, built within city walls, is packed with beautiful colonial buildings with balconies covered in flowers (all the work of the Spanish). For a few days we were living like rich Colombians, eating in the same places as them and staying in some really nice hotels. But a few days later the three of us were sleeping in a tent on a perfect beach, doing nothing all day but relaxing. And then each night we would make a fire and sit around talking.
Taganga was our next stop, a small fishing town that turned quite touristy amongst backpackers. Scuba Diving was the next thing on our lists, so we found a dive centre and began our Open Water PADI course. It took four days to complete, and it was a combination of 6 dives and a whole text book to be tested on. Although its cliche, its true that under the sea is like another world. It was beautiful. On one particular dive we came to a ledge where the sea bed plunges down forming a huge drop (called a wall dive). Swimming off the edge of the drop it was the first time we couldn´t see the bottom, it was thrilling. We all passed the examination at the end, there isn´t any need to say who got the highest score (I did)! So now we are all qualified Scuba Divers and all want to do more.
Next we were on a 6 day hike to La Ciudad Perdida (The Lost City). It is a 500 year old settlement that was discovered in the 1970s. So the set up to it was very different to the Inca Trail, especially in terms of the number of people hiking. The first day was the hardest, mainly because I couldn´t drink water without being sick and I had to walk up and down hills in the intense heat. But the next day I was feeling brilliant and three other people in our group felt like I did the day before! The third day we reached the Lost City itself, which was at the top of a 2000 step climb. There are lots of military there since a tour group was kidnapped by guerillas in 2003. After the 6 day hike we stocked up and went to the National Park Tayrona, the three of us and a couple we met on the Lost City trek. This National Park has some of Colombia´s best beaches. Our days were spent eating wild coconuts and mangos and swinging in our hammocks. On Saahd´s last night Beth, Saahd and I camped on a deserted beach, we woke up with the entire beach all to ourselves. Then it was time to say bye to Saahd. We didn´t know where the time had gone. The following day the four of us, Beth, myself, Mark and Jo (couple from Lost City trek), went back to Taganga where we planned to spend a few days watching the football and eating nice food. Mark has some Marmite which we couldn´t resist after 7 months! So this is where we are now, hence the Chilli wraps being cooked. Tomorrow Beth and I are heading to Caracas and Mark and Jo are staying here a bit longer. From Caracas we are hopefully going to fly on the same day we arrive there to Los Roques islands off the coast. We have been looking forward to these caribbean islands ever since we left a cold and wet England back in November 2007. They are supposed to be amazing. Best of all you can camp for free, you have to take all your own food and water as some of the islands have nobody on them! Then we fly back to the mainland the same day we fly home to England, hopefully with sand still between our toes.
So thats it, our adventure is almost over. We´ve travelled eight different countries, been to the southern most city in the world, stood on the equator, sand boarded in the driest desert in the world, stood in the largest salt flat in the world, slept on the highest lake in the world, visited the largest rainforest in the world. We have gone from 18 metres below sea level to 5740 metres above sea level. We have scuba dived, snow boarded, sand boarded, surfed, mountain biked, ice climbed, kayaked, white water rafted, quad biked, hiked (alot), crocodile searched in a dug-out canoe, and even fished for pirhanas. We have met people from all over the world and that is one of the main things that makes up an adventure. You think back to people you have met and places you have seen that although have all been in the last 7 months, they seem like a lifetime ago. We have seen so many different landscapes, cultures and types of people that I think we now both see the world very differently. South America is the ideal place to travel, its diversity has given us the experience of a lifetime. Its just a shame that soon it will all just be memories!
Now we´re going to go and live like castaways for a week before coming home.
Tom and Beth XXXXX
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