Adios Latin America!

By the time I left Colombia I was really glad to go. I have had an amazing time travelling through Central and South America over the last 5 months but it really was time to go.

On my way from my good mate's house in Bogota Colombia to the airport, I was sitting in a cab having a series of massive flashbacks from my trip and it was like a silent movie flashing before my eyes. Its hard for me to describe now but all the amazing things I did and saw and felt and experienced and tasted just ran through my mind in about 5 minutes and gave me the most intense emotional rush. Just thinking about it now makes my stomach go funny.

I thought about the first time Jodie and I took the subway in Santiago, Chile. We knew how to ask "How much?" in Spanish but couldnt understand the response so would just hand our purse to the chick in the ticket booth while she shook her head and took out the correct (?) change

We met Chris from New Orleans in Valporaiso and he saved us from being scammed at the bus station. I still feel indebted to him and wont forget him.

Studying Spanish in Bariloche, Argentina and the penny dropping quicker than I though. Meeting Jim and Eion and doing my homework with Jim in the hostel.

Everything in Buenos Aires. People that would change my life. Santi, Maxy, Nikki, Leila... it became The Festival of the Like Minded Souls and would reduce me to a crying mess when it was time to leave.

Iguassu Falls made me realise how insignificant I really am.

Christ the Redeemer made me realise how immense the power of religion really is. The music of Brazil, my mates from Switzerland and Germany, Marco and Magnus. The 4 of us were an unlikely team that spent an amazing week together. Best quote came from Magnus during a 2am dip in the pool one 35 degree night. He was pissing me off in some form so I swam over to get him and he screamed in his thick Bavarian accent "Oh no! Big Skippy is coming to kill me!" The night we ate a seafood barbeque in Ilhe Grande Brazil with our feet in the sand.

Peru. The joke that was Cusco and the majesty of Machu Pichu. My last night with Jim and Eion when Eion sang "Scarborogh Fair" to me. Mountain biking through the Andes listening to Aussie hardcore on the I-Pod.

I thought Bolivia wanted to kill me and I wanted it to. In a feverish state of delerium I spent a week in a hostel bunk bed surrounded by half of England's Gap Year participants and a sweet Aussie bloke that checked on me daily. Who knew we would meet again in Colombia? Get me the fuck out of here POR FAVOR.

Mexico sees the formation of the Three Amigas: me, Jodie and Nikki. Back together again we tore it up all over Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. It was birthday season and we celebrated the best way we knew how a million miles from home.

In Belize I saw another side of life. One minute I am drinking rum punch on a yacht and the next I am at my friend's house where he has no running water, a bucket for a toilet and two rooms infested with mossies for a home. We ate delicious fish stew and watched Dreamgirls.

Hola Guatemala, what a dramatic country you are! The landscape changes around each corner so hang on to your bag and Trust in the Chicken Bus! New friends emerge as do I...the Crocodile comes into my life and I pray that he will never leave.

What follows in Central America is different to the rest of my travels. I have learnt things about myself that at 32 I thought were obselete. I navigated my way around a new language, a handful of countries and a new relationship. It was sometimes trying, always colourful, eternally memorable.

What happens next remains a question mark but I will continue the journey now and upon my return home.

Special thanks goes to all the amazing people I met while travelling. You know who you are. I wish I could tattoo my memories all over my body to give them an image for the outside to see.

I also want to thank Granny Tate who watched out for me the whole time, protected me and kept me safe while my backpacking colleagues were robbed, bitten by dogs, had scorpions in the hostel room, bed bugs in their bunk, encounters with Colombian Guerrillas and Brazilian ladyboys. Thanks Gran!

Alright kids, signing off for the last time but to my devoted 7 readers, you can check out the new blog that will give you an insight into my adventures in the United States here www.bageltalk.blogspot.com