Wanderlust

We've been back home for almost a month now and in some ways it feels as though we never left as everything is so familiar and pretty much the same, which is kind of nice. The best thing though is that we did go and have some absolutely amazing memories which will hopefully never fade and if they do there is always the 4000 odd photos to look at!

So I thought I'd just do a little round up to finish off this mammoth diary of the last year of our lives but I'll try to keep it brief, I do realise I have written reams and reams, perhaps a little too much at times! To limit myself I am going to do it in question and answer format.

Favourite Places: (we couldn't pick just one)
The Philippines tops the list because the beaches were wonderful and the people exceptionally friendly. Burma was amazing and truly unlike anywhere else because it is so untouched by the outside world. Taipei is vibrant, modern but with a massive cultural twist which is so unlike the Western world. Northern Vietnam for scenery, our motorbike trip there was absolutely breathtaking and finally in South America, Bolivia because parts of it are like visiting another planet and traditional Andean culture is still very apparent.

Worst Places:
Well there aren't many places that spring to mind but I think a few people have noticed that we found India (parts of it) a little difficult. Some of this was to do with it being the very beginning of the trip but also because India is a hard country, full of an immense amount of poverty. There is a definite rich/poor divide and you become part of the day to day struggle with people trying to make as much money as possible, sometimes at your expense. Still we are both very glad we went and it was a wonderful experience.

Number of Countries visited:
We visited 20 countries in twelve months, on four continents.

Number of buses/trains/boats: (not including taxis and short trips)
214 - I wonder how many hours this all adds up to.

Number of flights:
17

Money spent:
Roughly £7000 but this doesn't include the round the world tickets.

Illnesses:
Apart from Adam's one morning in hospital and my knee troubles we did pretty well. Just the odd tummy upset and a few mild colds.

Scariest moment:
In Burma's new capital Naypyitaw, in the dark, when my motorbike broke down and Adam disappeared in to the distance. I seriously thought I was never going to see him again.

Stolen Items:
0!!

Lost Items:
Hmmm a few pieces of clothing went walkies or weren't returned after washing. I lost numerous hair bobbles, a necklace and we both misplaced a zillion sunglasses. Thankfully we can say that we did not lose anything that could not be replaced.

Highlights:
Walking around the streets of Mandalay at 5am surrounded by hundreds of monks queuing up to collect offerings.
Collecting shells and sunbathing on White Beach off Catarman in the Philippines, our own private, desert island.
Seeing Giant Panda's at Taipei zoo for only £3!
Building fires in beautiful forests and by deserted beaches in Western Australia.
Finishing the Torres Del Paine W Trek (even though we missed out the end bit - shhhhh)
Floating through the ice fields of Patagonia.
The other worldly landscape of South-West Bolivia.

Although it is a massive cliche, this has been the experience of a lifetime and I can't quite believe it happened or that it is over. I definitely have the travel bug now and I know Adam still does but I think we'll be keeping it to smaller trips from now on. Not that we can afford to do anything for a while anyway!

I want to thank all of you for reading the blog and hope I've entertained you a little bit over the last twelve months with our adventures. I know I'm pleased I've done it as it's going to be a great record when I need to remember what I got up to when I was younger!

In almost every country we took a photo of our feet as a little visual souvenir, so I've put them on below to act as a little timeline and a nice end to our photo record.

Right back to the job hunt!!

No More Soon,

Laura & Adam

P1020003

DSC00002

P1030004

P1030005

DSC00007

DSC00008

P1040009

DSC00010

DSC00011

DSC00014

DSC00012

DSC00013

DSC00015

DSC00016

DSC00017

DSC00018

DSC00019

DSC00020

Despite having to get up ridiculously early, our flight to Miami went very smoothly and we were making good, cheap progress on getting to our hotel. We flew into Fort Lauderdale so we then had to actually get to Miami itself which costs roughly $50 in a taxi. Obviously there was no way we were going to pay this so we’d looked at the public transport options. We found there was a train we could take which was $7.50 for the two of us and then we’d just need to get a taxi for the last bit, little did we know how difficult this would be.

DSC00870

Once off the train we stood and waited for almost half an hour for a taxi but there just weren’t any so we ended up on a bus. This is when we realised how many crazies there are in Miami. There had already been a guy on the train loudly pretending to be Bill Clinton discussing his affair with Monica Lewinsky and then he did a small skit as Michael Jackson. While walking to the bus stop though things got worse when someone said to Adam, ‘Don’t look at me or I’ll kick your ass’ and then once we were moving everyone seemed to be muttering to themselves. Unfortunately we had to get two buses to our motel and were approached by another slightly unhinged person while we were waiting for the second. He was helpful about which bus we needed to take but in a slightly manic way.

We were truly thankful when we made it to Motel Blu which was on Biscayne Boulavard, in a slightly dodgy area but at least we could now be off the streets. I have to say we’d been hoping and expecting more from our room which stank of stale cigarettes. It was costing us £40 a night which is obviously significantly more than we’d paid anywhere else in the world, but clearly not enough to get you something nice in the western world. The bed was absolutely massive though and there was a big tv with enough channels to keep us entertained. After all the travel we were absolutely knackered so we simply popped across to the supermarket which was again like running the gauntlet with tension on a knife edge and we both felt like someone was going to snap at any moment. There were people openly insulting others in the check out queue and we were happy to be back in the room with subway in hand, the healthiest of all the fast food options that were on offer.

In the morning we decided we would head for a mall first and so we needed change for the bus as you can only pay with $1 bills. We tried to buy something from the petrol station in order to get the change we needed but the man informed us that he didn’t have any. So in the end we were forced to eat a 99c chicken burger each from Wendy’s, first morning in America and we were eating burgers for breakfast. I think that says something. After avoiding eye contact with more insane people on the bus we made it to Aventura Mall unscathed. We have seen a fair few malls on our trip but this was probably the biggest of them, well at the very least the walkways were. It was a lovely mall actually, very spacious and had some very lovely shops. We stayed there until after lunch and then we caught yet another bus to downtown Miami which took a lot longer than we’d expected and got packed full of people.

We got off at the Lincoln Road shopping mall which is basically a street full of shops ranging from posh boutiques to tacky souvenir shops. We mainly looked in the tacky ones in search of magnets and other bits n bobs and were a bit stung by the prices but I think we found some pretty good deals. After looking round the shops we walked down to South Beach which I have to say is really quite impressive. The sand is beautifully white and the sea is a mix of greens and blues. It was surprisingly busy for a Tuesday afternoon and we both wondered why all the kids weren’t in school. We walked along the beach for a little while but we both felt over dressed because it hadn’t been that warm when we’d got up.

DSC00871

After the beach we headed a little further down and found our way on to Ocean Drive which is where all the art deco buildings are. The majority of them are now hotels, restaurants or both and there was definitely a very lively atmosphere.

DSC00876

A lot of people were alfresco dining/drinking as the eateries spilled out on to the pavement and a large proportion of people had a massive glass (it looked more like a bowl) of cocktail in front of them. I dread to think how much it would have cost to eat at one of those places. Viewing from afar we wandered down Ocean Drive and Adam snapped a few pictures of the buildings which did look lovely if properly taken care of. We both discussed how art deco is an attractive architectural style but as soon as the paint work starts to look a bit shabby the whole building looks scruffy. A lot of them though were nicely maintained.

DSC00872

DSC00873

A little further down the road we saw people taking pictures outside a particular building and we realised it was one we’d seen in a picture on a magnet earlier that day. Not knowing the significance we took a photo and I have subsequently found out that it was built in the 1930’s by Alden Freeman who named it Casa Casuarina. Then in 1992 Gianni Versace bought it and he expanded and embellished it, adding gardens and a pool. Now it is owned by Barton G. Weiss, a restaurateur who reopened it in 2009 as The Villa by Barton G.

DSC00875

After our little walk up and down Ocean Drive my knees were really sore and I knew that I was done for the day. All we had to do now was figure out how we were going to get back to the motel. A lady at a bus stop explained to us that there was no direct bus from here and we would have to change. This didn’t really appeal to either of us so we asked a cab but he said it would be about $20 which was too much. In the end we decided to take the two bus option and actually it wasn’t too bad as we didn’t have to wait long for the second bus. Once back at the motel we quickly went to buy a subway for dinner before heading back to the room for the night.

When we woke in the morning it was raining which kind of ruined our plans. We had wanted to visit Coral Gables fountain but it wouldn’t be much good in the rain. I still had a couple of things I wanted to buy like a present for my nephew so we decided to go to another mall. The one we wanted to visited was the other side of the airport so we thought it made sense to take our stuff, rather than leaving it at the hotel for the day and put it in a locker at the airport and this where our frustrating day began. We had to wait ages for the bus in to town, then we got off in the wrong place and there were no buses to the airport so we had to get a taxi which was expensive. At the airport they charged us by the bag to store our luggage which worked out to be expensive but we had no choice. With our luggage stored we went to ask at information about where we could catch the bus to the mall and I even gave her the bus number as I’d looked it up. The woman seemed a bit scatty and she said we should hurry out to bus stop three but she thought we’d just missed it. We went out and there was no bus but we presumed one would be coming soon. After about forty five minutes though Adam went in to check if she knew the timetable. There was now a different woman there who said that we had been waiting for the private shuttle bus which costs $10 each return and only comes once every three hours or something. The public buses go from down stairs and she said the 238 would get us there, which is the bus number I’d given the first lady.

Downstairs we’d just missed one and had to wait almost an hour for the next one. While waiting we looked at a timetable and realised it was going to take an hour to get to the mall even though it looked like it was only about 5 miles away. We didn’t have a choice now though and there was nothing else to do. It all meant though that when we finally got to the mall we only have just over an hour, so we had to rush down a burger king which made me feel sick and then run round the mall looking for what we needed. Then it was another hour and fifteen minutes back to the airport. I have to say that it wasn’t exactly the most enjoyable way to spend the last day of the trip but it pretty much rained all day so there wouldn’t have been a lot else that we could have done.

The rest of our time before the flight was just spent wandering around the airport shops which I have to say were disappointingly limited. I would have expected more from an American airport. Still I suppose it stopped us from spending too much money. Our flight was a tiny bit delayed but soon enough we began the check in process. We were seated right at the back which was good in some ways but our seats only reclined about an inch which was a tad frustrating. It was hard to settle because we were both quite excited and a bit nervous, I think we both only watched one film which I know I wasn’t really paying attention to.

Then finally after our twelve months away we touched down on British soil and we were home. Which was a seriously odd feeling. We made it through customs, then our bags were waiting for us and finally we were about to walk through the doors and see our parents. Adam said ‘I think I can see my parents and your mum!’ I think everyone had a tear or two in their eyes but nobody bawled which was good. The trip was over and it was hard to process that, but it was nice to be home!

More Soon, (just one more!)
Laura & Adam

We had come better prepared for the wintry temperatures on the bus but despite our efforts we were still absolutely freezing. For this reason it was bitter sweet when we arrived in Bogota at 4:30am. On the one hand it was nice to be somewhere a little bit warmer i.e. outside but on the other we didn't want to head into the centre in the dark, it just didn't seem safe. For this reason we sat in the terminal with hot drinks until the sun began to rise.

Once in the centre we went straight to the hotel we'd stayed at before, we did have a reservation but we were three days early, luckily for us though they had a room.

DSC00220

Once inside it we went to sleep for a couple of hours. The rest of that day we were pretty inactive, we just managed to make it to the cinema where we saw The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus, Heath Ledger's last movie which was ok. It was nice to see Heath in something, and I liked the fantasy behind it but some of the acting was a bit dodgy and the story flagged in places. Still it was a good way to spend a lazy afternoon.

The following day we first went to the tailors to check in on Adam's suit and were told to return in the afternoon. Our next stop was the leather area to pick up our jackets which were ready and waiting. First impressions were good although since then we have both found flaws, I'm not sure whether it's the jackets themselves or the fact that we're not completely comfortable wearing them. I think putting on something like that when you feel otherwise disgusting, wearing dirty clothes and in my case a pair of ripped trousers being held together with duct tape it is hard to not feel a little odd. I didn't really like the fact that mine had shoulder pads in it which Adam has since removed for me so I'm feeling a little happier but I am reserving my full judgement until I am slightly more polished human being. Either way they were great value for money. When we returned to the tailor he had an unfinished jacket for Adam to try on which turned out to be good because Adam could make more adjustments and have things move in the direction he wanted. It was now Monday and we were instructed to return again on Thursday afternoon.

The following day we caught the bus to another shopping mall in a really posh part of town and here we saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D which we both enjoyed. I thought the 3D was much better than in Avatar and it seemed to fit the story really well. I find it difficult to fault any film which combines Tim Burton and Johnny Depp so my review is not exactly fair but even with that said I think it is definitely worth seeing. After the film we walked around the mall which was very expensive, I tried on a £600 Diesel leather jacket just to see if I liked it better, I didn't. Then we headed back to our part of town and looked in some of the touristy artisan arcades where we bought the obligatory magnets. I seriously don't know what we're going to do with all of them but they're a nice keepsake.

Most of our time in Bogota this time round was spent shopping as we checked out different areas. One of these was San Andresito which seemed to sell absolutely everything but mainly trainers, there were a zillion of them and as we didn't want to buy trainers this was a bit annoying. Instead we looked at boots, belts, clothes and more, which all could have done with being a little cheaper but it was still good. My knees did not appreciate all this trudging around but as our trip was coming to an end we needed to make sure that we saw as much as we could in the time we had. As getting around town can become quite expensive if you take taxis we made sure that we took buses and got to grips with the TransMileno buses which in the end weren't so confusing.

On Thursday we returned for Adam's suit and it was much more finished but he still had the chance to make changes which was good because the tailor seemed to be erring on the large side. I think this may be normal though as you can make big smaller but not the other way round. Again we were told to return the next day. Finally on Friday afternoon after the morning at Unicentro one of the largest shopping centres in Bogota, Adam's suit was finished and it was great. The tailor had pulled it out of the bag in the end and everything was spot on. We're both interested to see how the Indian and Colombian suits compare when we get home.

Our final weekend in South America passed by in a blur as we tried to get everything we wanted before it was too late. We presumed Sunday would be pretty much a right off as far as shops were concerned and we had planned to visit various museums and art galleries instead. So wanting to make the most of our last day we got up early and walked down to Plaza Bolivar which seemed to be closed off.

DSC00217

After making it through the security check we realised that there was something official taking place and that's when we saw the voting booths. These congressional elections which were apparently the calmest in 25 years would put the kibosh on all our planned activities. We walked up to the Museo del Oro (Gold Museum) and we found army men, booths and a closed museum. We were both really disappointed as we'd really wanted to go in there. Next we tried our luck at the Modern Art Museum but that was also closed as was the National Museum. We were not having any luck. There were some markets and street stalls set up so we had a look round them and bought a couple of bits and bobs.

In the afternoon we tried to get the funicular train up a hill which looks out over Bogota but after a steep walk we were told that it was closed.

DSC00218

DSC00219

Not our day. Now resigned to the fact that our Sunday had been a bit of non starter we went to our regular, local chicken restaurant where our faces are known and had our last chicken dinner.

DSC00221

After our last supper we returned to the hotel to try and fit everything into our backpacks, which was quite a challenge. Then we attempted to go to sleep early as we had to be up at 3:20am, this was also a challenge!

More Soon,

Laura & Adam

Mompos was our chosen destination, it is a colonial town and a UNESCO world heritage site on the banks of the river Magdalena. To get there we had to take two buses, a boat and a finally a taxi. We thought the boat was going to take us all the way there and were a little bit disappointed when about 20 minutes into the trip we were told to get off. I fell asleep in the taxi though and so for me it didn't take too much longer to get there.

We'd read and heard that Mompos was meant to be really, really beautiful. Lily for one had gone on about how pretty it was, so we were a bit confused when we arrived. However this is one of those times when you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Once we'd found a room in a cheap hotel we went out to explore. It is a little rough around the edges, the white buildings aren't bedazzling and it does feel slightly run down but this is really part of its charm. To us it felt real. We went down to the river and walked along it for a while which was very peaceful and pretty.

DSC00212

On our way there I bought a pair of hand made silver earrings, which were very intricate in their design. Being a silver or goldsmith is a very traditional profession which still survives in Mompos today.

DSC00213

Simon Bolivar the Liberator spent a large amount of time in Mompos and said 'If I owe my life to Caracas, then to Mompos I owe my glory.'

DSC00214

DSC00215

It is quite a small place so it didn't take too long to walk around and by the time we had finished we were absolutely starving. We found a nice restaurant to eat in and the people were extremely friendly. While we were eating we began to discuss what we were going to do the following day. We wanted to get to Bogota but we had to figure out what the cheapest way was. Our choices were to go through either Medellin or Bucaramanga (the way we'd come). As we looked in to it more and more we came to the decision that it would be cheaper to go back through Bucaramanga which would mean missing Medellin but neither of really had the energy for another city. How to begin our journey was a little confusing though as it seemed the only buses out of Mompos departed at around 5am and if you didn't get a bus you could get a jeep but you had to book in advance. We looked on the internet and also tried to ask the people at the hotel but in the end just decided we'd get up very early, go out on to the street and hope it would all become clear.

Which of course it did, we tend to stick out with our massive backpacks on and sure enough the few people out and about asked us where we were trying to get to. So by 5:30am we were on a bus heading for El Banco and then just outside this town we got off and climbed on to another bus bound for Bucaramanga. This leg of our long day of travelling took about seven hours but it seemed to pass quite quickly. Once in Bucaramanga we booked our bus to Bogota for that evening at 8pm, and as it was now only 2pm we had 6 hours to kill. With this in mind we headed into the town to have lunch and a bit of a walk around. It unfortunately wasn't very attractive and there wasn't a lot to do. My knees were painful so we couldn't do too much walking, we tried to locate a cinema but none of the films were on at the right times so in the end we were on the way back to the bus station. We ended up killing quite a lot of time on the bus though as we missed our stop and were taken on a little tour which went through some nicer parts of the city. In the end our waiting time seemed to go by quite quickly, I think we've become experts at time wasting time and lengths of time seemed to have taken on a completely different meaning. Still as always it was nice to be on the bus, the last long haul bus of the entire trip which was an odd thing to realise.

DSC00216

More Soon,

Laura & Adam

Although we were sold one ticket each from Santa Marta to Cartagena we had to change in Barranquilla which thankfully was quick and painless. We still hadn't quite made our mind up about whether we were going to stay the night in Cartagena or continue on to Covenas, our next beach destination. Once we arrived though we came to the decision that we were too tired to continue and it would be a shame to miss a supposedly vibrant, Caribbean city. So after a twenty minute taxi ride, and a quick walk around we'd found a cheap place to stay in a pretty good location and they owned a parrott.

DSC00187

We decided we would get up early in the morning to have a proper look round the town and just went out for an early dinner.

In the morning we got up about 7:30am and walked straight down to the historic quarter of Cartagena and I was really quite pleasantly surprised. It was very pretty with brightly painted buildings complete with wooden balconies, which lined narrow streets leading to palm tree filled plazas.

DSC00188

At this time it was very quiet and we wondered round without being bothered. We had read that one of the major negatives of Cartagena was that tourists were continually harassed by touts but it appeared we had caught them napping.

DSC00189

The only thing that followed us around was a little street dog which we named Lester.

DSC00190

He followed us all along the historical city walls and then a little way through the streets as we made our way back to the hostel. I didn't want him to follow us too far because it would be too sad, so when he got distracted by a bucket full of water we picked up the pace a little.

DSC00191

We couldn't help looking back a couple of minutes later and we spotted him down the street, he saw us too but he may have wandered out of his patch because other dogs started barking at him and he didn't come any further.

Once back at the hostel we literally picked up our bags and jumped on a bus to the terminal. Here we were directed to get off at a junction and were asked where we wanted to go. When we said Tolu we were rushed on to another bus and I was a bit concerned it wasn't actually going where we wanted. In the end though it worked out perfectly, in fact it took us all the way to the small place called Covenas where we wanted to stay, which is about 20kim west of Tolu. Covenas doesn't really have a centre, or not one that we found anyway, instead it is strung out along the Caribbean coast line and we had to walk along it for quite some time to find the hotel Adam had read about on the internet when doing some research about quiet beach side spots. Covenas is not really mentioned in our guidebook and hasn't really been discovered by foreigners, it is just for Colombians at the weekend and during holidays. We arrived on a non-holiday Monday and therefore it was pretty much deserted.

We stayed at the Los Corales Hotel which is owned by a Swiss man in his senior years, he's been in Colombia for over twenty years and he said running the hotel was his hobby. Nice hobby!

DSC00193

Covenas beach is lovely, definitely the best we found along the main land coast. On the first day we were there we just relaxed on the beach.

DSC00192

The hotel had a couple of deck chairs and a little shelter so we plonked ourselves down and did a bit of sunbathing. We also spent quite a bit of time in the sea which was lovely and warm. We did get a little bother from some touts but they generally took no for an answer and I didn't always say no, some of them had some nice things. Adam got talking to one of the touts called Orvil who had been learning English for a couple of years, he was from Cartagena and was down in Covenas for a month or so. Tough gig, wandering up and down a fairly deserted beach, we felt bad for them. Later in the afternoon Adam began to dig a big hole and during this process was joined by a energetic Labrador who tried to molester him a number of times, it was quite funny to watch.

DSC00194

Eating cheaply wasn't really an option, we'd bought a bit of food with us but for main meals we ate at the hotels restaurant which was really lovely but a tad more expensive

Our next day in Covenas we went into Tolu to have a look around the town and also find out about trips to the San Sebastian Islands which from the pictures we'd seen looked lovely. Tolu was nice enough bu nothing special, I was glad we were staying in Covenas. Although I'm sure it would be much more lively in holiday season. We easily found somewhere offering tours to the islands and we booked to go the following day for £17 each including lunch and entry to an aquarium. Of course as soon as we'd booked it we had concerns about whether this tour was going to actually live up to the description. We had our fingers firmly crossed. After a little bit of shopping in Tolu we returned to Covenas where we spent the afternoon on the beach and Adam built a sandcastle.

DSC00195

In the morning we got an early bus back to Tolu where we had a quick breakfast before boarding the boat. It was packed full of what I presumed to be Colombian's tourists, and when the boat picked up speed (it went really fast) they all started whooping and stuff. Given that most of them were over fifty it was quite funny.

DSC00196

It took about thirty to forty five minutes to reach the first island where the aquarium was situated. As it was including in our ticket we were of course going in but the rest had to choose whether or not to pay the entrance. One of those people was an Australian guy called Robert who had been cycling through South America for 17 months. We had a brief chat to him before going in, he decided not to as did most of the other people so it was quite a small group of us who entered. It actually wasn't only an aquarium but also an ecological park and first of all we walked along to see some turtles swimming about in natural pools built in the ocean. I've never seen a turtle that close up and it was really quite special. They were so graceful and surprisingly inquisitive.

DSC00197

After the turtles we walked through the interior of the island and saw loads of red squirrels, a few rabbits, a big bull, monkeys and lots of birds.

DSC00198

DSC00200

The guide was chatting away in Spanish so obviously we didn't pick up too much but it was good nonetheless. There were a few fake skulls scattered about, perhaps in reference to the old tribes which lived on the islands, and one of the “Colombian” tourists, an old guy kept pointing them out to us which we thought was sweet.

DSC00199

There was then a little nautical themed museum in a coconut shake, an area with more elaborate birds such as a peacock and a giant Ostrich who didn't look real, more like a puppet.

DSC00201

DSC00202

DSC00205

At one point while we were having a little break from walking we were approached by a guy who asked where we were from. He was from Medellin and was here on holiday with his wife and daughter. A very nice guy who spoke decent English, and we both thought it was kind of him to talk to us. The final part of the tour was the aquarium and we entered it through a tunnel which started with the mouth of shark!

DSC00203

Inside the first few tanks contained fairly unimpressive fish and lobsters but then the main attraction was a huge tank which had at least two dolphins in it.

DSC00206

We couldn't quite believe it, all we'd seen for about £4.50, it was pretty impressive.

After the aquarium we got back in the boat and went to drop someone off at the most populated island in the world based on size, it was truly crazy. I couldn't quite wrap my head around why everyone wanted to live in this one spot.

DSC00208

There must be a reason. We didn't stay long enough to find out though, instead we went off to the final destination for the day, one last island. Here we were to have lunch and relax on the beach. The sea was finally that beautiful colour we had been searching for and for the first time it did feel as though we were in the Caribbean.

DSC00209

Once on the island we had a little dip in the water and then decided to do some snorkelling. It was only us and the guy from Medellin who got in a boat and were taken out into slightly deeper water. Then it was masks on and over the side. The coral unfortunately looked a little dead and it wasn't teeming with life like you would hope but there were a couple of interestingly coloured fish. Two things saved the little outing though, one was the guide picked up and showed us a puffer fish which was really cool and secondly he told us to hang on to a line attached to the boat and he dragged us along through the water. That was fun. The rest of the afternoon was spent eating a lovely lunch and then finding a quiet spot to relax in the wonderfully clear water.

DSC00210

Here we were joined by the Australian guy Robert, it was nice to chat and hear about his experiences although all too soon we were called to get back on the boat. Robert was staying on the island for a couple of days so we left him to enjoy the tranquillity.

DSC00211

Although we didn't make our mind up until the following morning that ended up being our last day in Covenas. We wanted to get back to Bogota as we had things to sort out but as we did on the journey north we were going to break things up a little bit.

More Soon,

Laura & Adam