365

365 days, 16 countries and a full circumference of the globe. So how much would a trip like this cost? The tickets, 20 flights, cost almost exactly £2000. We bought a couple more, at about £120 each, along the way. A long van rental in Australia? Just over 50 days in the off season cost us about £1500 between us. Considering that was our accommodation as well it wasn't too bad. But if anyone if staying longer than a couple of months then buying a vehicle is the way to go.
Our American Subaru set us back a couple of thousand quid and we sold it in a rush for about £900 with it's nagging new fault!


So the real cost it just living. All in all I probably spent about £12,000 just on food, getting around and sightseeing. I bought only a couple of momentous from the trip as carrying the newly purchased items or sending them back expensively is a hassle I can live without. It was enough to carry a backpack and another bag in my hand on those long travelling days, not that they were packed with clothes. For the first 6 months I survived on one pair of boxer shorts!
Since I've been back in the world of odd new phrases like 'credit crunch' many people have asked me what my favourite country is. I've not even scratched the surface as far as world travel goes but I'd definitely like to see more of Japan and New Zealand. America's landscape is amazing and just everyday living in South America was for me the true spirit of what a trip like this is all about.

One person has asked me what my worst country is and to be honest that's an even harder question. I plumped for Bolivia because the people were miserable, there was a lot of civil unrest once we left, but there's some truly beautiful scenery there. The unwanted attention in China and the annoying con-men in Bangkok were only minor bugs in an otherwise exceptional trip. We spent a year almost constantly travelling and encountered only one dodgy situation and even that was not a full week into the trip.
Would I do it all again? Well, yes. I'm not sure if I'd stay away for as long as a year again but six months definitely. Although, for anyone who hasn't already done the year trip then I would recommend it unquestionably.


I've been set a back and left speechless soo many times along the way with soo many memories that keep coming back to me that will stay stored away in a dusty corner of my brain forever. I've come back a red wine and green tea drinker but other than that nothing has changed except for my massive appreciation for the great country of my birth. It's funny how much things about your own country you miss, good British ales for one, and how much the people who live here take everything for granted and really do a good job of putting it all down.
As I go about my daily business I often think that at this very moment there's guys in flip-flops and shades doing some welding in China. There's a bronzed, beer bellied 50 year old guy catching a few waves on his surf board. There's a tour guide explaining the Inca ruins in three different languages. There's a perfect Argentinian steak being served, a stunning American mountain range being snowboarded, a huge New Zealand glacier being explored inside and a funk band playing in the dark clubs of the white city of San Francisco. Whatever it is, wherever it is, when you're travelling there's always something going on and it's almost impossible not to love it.

Hasta luego Latin America

The third leg of this trip is over. Latin America. And what a place it is. Only one country didn't really impress, and that was only due to the people, Bolivia. But that's not saying I wouldn't go back there and give it another chance. Once the altitude has been overcome there's plenty of places to visit in Bolivia it's just my enthusiasm was taken away by the miserable Bolivians we meet. They can't all be like that, and besides they had a lot of civil unrest against the president after we left. I like to think my arrival there was the final straw.


The highlights include the immense Iguazu Falls and the mystical Macchu Picchu. These are both highlights of the whole trip so far. I loved most of Peru, crossing the Andes, seeing Mexico City and everything Argentinian. South America is a huge continent and as far as this trip goes it's similar to Asia. A different language, different culture and cheap. Thing is, as good as Asia is it can't compete with South America. Maybe it's not fair to compare continents really. It was a lot easier day to day in Latin America because I knew some of the language and learnt more as we went along.


Getting the language takes a bit of time but pays off all over the place, except Brazil damn it!

Rio was definitely the most dangerous feeling place on the continent, and the whole trip, but it did have it's extremely beautiful side that you just can't deny. There's poverty, there's money, there's everything. This is travelling, I'm not talking about deep Amazon vine hacking or mountain trekking in Peru but everyday life in Latin America in itself is enough to make me want to go back over and over. The whole place is enormous and massively diverse, it has nearly every climate on Earth. Everyday there's something going on and something to see. Amazing stuff and quality of living all within the reach of the backpacker. I'll come on holiday here as soon as I can afford the flight. No need to book ahead or plan as everything is possible once you're here and for a fraction of a package holiday price.
Argentina and Peru were my favourites. These are countries you could spend a lot of time in for very little money and have a very good time. I think next time I'll do some mountain bike wine tours, white water rafting, sandboarding, surfing, kayaking, visit a desert, a rainforest and a jungle. Easy.
Life is good, the people are good and the places are amazing. The whole continent is alive with life and colour. And to think I was apprehensive about coming here. Turns outs there was no need.
Only question left is, when can I go back?

Titicacacacaca

Two and a half hours in a small combi van to Copacabana on the shore of Lake Titicaca felt like much longer. The driver constantly beeps his horn and pulls over, letting yet more people on the bus all the way there. There are some stunning views of the bluer than blue lake. The roads vary from smooth to massively rutted and most of the towns we pass are adobe(mud) bricked and uninviting. It looks like a tough life here. The altitude is bad enough but even growing things seems tough, potatoes being the main crop. In La Paz we even saw a woman in traditional dress working on a construction site with a hard hat on. The women seem to have it very tough and are hardened because of it. They always seem to be lugging something way too heavy about.
Out into the wilderness we go and it's mainly scrubland high up on the Altiplano(the high plain) with surrounding jagged mountains set aback.
Lake Titicaca is huge, we drive looking down onto it for about an hour before the road ends at a rickety jetty. Everyone gets off the bus to board a nearby small boat to cross the lake. Luckily we had some cash on us, although we did wipe the guy at the toll booth completely out of change. The bus goes on a seperate ramshackle wooden raft, later we find out this is because not to long back a whole bus load of people went down into the lake trapped inside. Anyway, the 10 minutes crossing was fine although very choppy. This lake is more like a sea.
After increasing the pace on much windier roads we drop down to the shore of the lake and the small town of Copacabana. It's about 10 blocks of houses, shops, restaurants and hostels tucked inbetween two sizeable peaks next to the lake. It sounds idillic. It isn't. The main square is nice enough, clearly all the town's money is in the church.
Our hostel is pretty good though and offers great views of the lake and down onto town. Just a shame the town isn't too great.
It's fairly expensive in comparison to La Paz and no haggling can be had. Everything is the same price from shop to shop. It's like a tourist conspiracy. Everyone's pretty miserable here and also seem to despise dealing with the many tourists who visit. The next 3 days turn out to feel like a long time.
The church is indeed where the money is. Huge golden edificies and monuments to christ adorn the interior. It's gawdy and lords it over the rest of the town, no pun intended. They're even asking for donations to build a large stone pillar outside. They need $67,000 and already have $4,000. I don't know how big the pillar will be but it seems a touch expensive and pointless.
It's mainly just catholic madness all over, including the hilarious painting of christ arising from Lake Titicaca to the welcoming Bolivians. As a side note this is also supposed to be the spot in which the great Inka gods arrived.
During the day everything stops here. Nothing much was happening anyway but what ever was going on stops. Including the electricity. You can't get hot food and if you do it's very suspect.
The main reason for visiting this end of the earth place is to get the boat to the Isla del Sol on the lake. We tried to get the ferry over one day but soon realised our clocks were wrong and had literally missed the boat. Ah well, we hang around doing nothing until the evening when we eat at the best restaurant in town, above our room. It's ok stuff with the addition of some jesus looking guitar player to add to the mood.
Before that we ascend the steep hill next to our hostel to watch the sunset. It's mighty cold once the sun dips and no where near as good looking as a lake in New Zealand, for instance. The ascent is bloody hard work too as the altitude is a real killler. Atop there's small ovens for some ceremony or other and this clearly used to be an important Inka site as it's now covered with plenty of crosses and little Spanish catholic altars. The catholics just wiped out and built atop anything relating to the Inka's somewhat pagan earth beliefs so the locals would be converted. Pretty much the same as England and most of the world really.
Next day we make it to the island after a 2 and a half hour painfully slow boat ride. We check out some crummy Inka ruins that look fake and then head from north to south to make it back to the boat in 3 hours. Walking anywhere is difficult so we knew this would be a killer. The views were tremendous and a far cry from the mainland. It's a nice looking island with little beaches and coves, although the water is freezing. The sun up here is another deadly beast. At this height even on an overcast day you get fried, and I did badly burn my face like never before. Oh good. Still, when you think of Bolivia, if you ever do, a place like this isn't what springs to mind. It does look good. Near the harbour small girls try and get you to take photos of them with the Llamas and Alpacas they're pulling about. 'Photo!', they shout. Quite funny but also a little sad. You can stay overnight here but I'd rather stick pins in my eyes. Back to the mainland we go, frazzled and still altitude bemused. I still wonder why I'm in Bolivia. Other people we chat to love it though. 'It's really cheap', they keep saying. So's Afgahnistan but there's no way I'm booking the next British Airways flight over there. Frickin loons.
In it's defence Bolivia is a diverse country. It's also massive. The same size as France and Spain combined. It has deserts, high plains, a bit of jungle, huge salt flats and the odd city. And for some reason people love visiting the gold mines too. I can't wait to leave. Maybe I hadn't given Bolivia a chance, a few days was enough I thought. Especially when there's soo many other better places. Either the locals seem to hate you or they pretend to like you for cash. Even the kids, as young as 3 or 4, are trained to say 'Propina' (tip) to you. It's annoying all round. I didn't really want to go to Peru after seeing Lima either but I knew we had to give that a proper go.
I wish I was in Argentina. But still, another day another country and everything may turn around.

The high life

In our Lonely Planet guide book the main thing they advise you against in La Paz is to share a taxi with a stranger. They could be in cahoots with the driver, take you down an alley and force you to extract cash from your person and your bank account. So, the first thing we do is get into a taxi with a stranger. Obviously. It's 3am and I'm totally disorientated. It feels like the plane hasn't fully landed yet. It's also pretty darn cold. The taxi ride turns out ok and the Bolivian with us tells us how much of a dangerous area the airport is located in, which is why he shared the taxi with us.
At night the place looks pretty strange. The airport is much higher than the city itself so you descend sharply. The lights from the city look good spread out all amongst large mountains, it does seem an odd place to inhabit though.
We get to our hostel and eventually a decrepid old guy answers the door to let us in. Our room is basic. Also, handily enough, it's right next to the tiny living room so if anybody even so much as whispers outside you can hear them. Thankfully whispering wasn't needed as at 6am the tv was on soo loud it would prove ineffective.
I have a terrible headache and my brain feels like it's bleeding internally. This was not a nice place.
Let's have a look round.
Walking the streets you instantly realise the massive difference in population here. Over 70% of people here are of indeginous descent and certainly have a different look to their Spanish conquorers. There's also I high amount of traditional dress going on. Lots of women wear multi-coloured skirts and have a black bowler hat sitting atop their heads. They're usually carrying some large swath of multi-coloured material with varying contents within. Ranging from potatoes and fruit to clothes and babies. The place is pretty dirty and run down with seemingly no redeeming features. The locals aren't too concerned about us at least. We'd been told good things about Bolivia and that it's a great experience but so far the people have been miserable and unfriendly towards us. Not my kind of experience.
The air definitely feels thinner here and it's much harder to breath and move around. I really don't want to do anything at all other than sleep. It's supposed to take at least a couple of days to acclimatise, I don't want to stay that long.
A lot of the people probably haven't changed much in thousands of years here and that's also probably due to the fact that why would the Spanish be very interested in inhabiting such a high place? It seems odd that anyone would choose to live this high up. The surrounding mountains may look good but in general the place is a hole. Unemployment is rife too. I can't understand why anyone would willing come to live here. I'm begining to think why I willingly came here.
There's one street that has a couple of cafes that look almost ok. After avoiding food poisoning we head back to our hovel. Oh great, 3 cheery looking Irish are watching the Green Mile on tv at full blast. I fall asleep to the screams of a guy being burnt alive. Oh the joy.
That's it. I give in. That morning we leave and pay up. Ok the place was incredibly cheap, around three pounds each but I rather stay somewhere I can get some rest. We check into a lovely colonial three star hotel. Far better. From the Sheraton, to a hovel, to this happy medium. Way more expensive but worth it.
The streets near our new place are slightly improved steep cobbled affairs but still it's an absolute wrench walking anywhere.
One thing that does grate walking round is th amount of tourists taking photos of cute Bolivian children. Kids hang around waiting to be photographed for the equivalent of about 15p. Quite often they never get it and no matter how intrusive some photographers were they would not part with cash. It was sad.
We hit the net as we're short of something to do and I feel ropey as hell. This is when an american I'd avoided earlier in the day came in. He asked me if I'd been in jail with him recently. He then began going into some bull story about having nowhere to stay before I stopped him dead, 'You want money don't ya?'. 'Yes', he replied. With a wad of cash in my pocket I gave him an honest looking answer,'Sorry mate but I only carry exactly what I need when I go out'. I think if they're willing to lie to me then I have no problem in returning the favour.
I need to get out of here. Next day we leave for the small town of Copacabana on the shores of one of the biggest and highest lakes in the world, Lake Titicaca. Surely that must be better than the big smoke of La Paz. What? It's actually higher in Copacabana than La Paz? What am I doing here?