Back in the UK!

I have come back to the UK at the best time ever ... the sun has been out and the Olympics has shown off the best that London has to offer and us Brits are in the best of spirits!  It's been like the biggest group hug ever!  And I'm very happy to be here!

1st sight of England!

Best views of London on Hampstead Heath

British Summer time ... In the Pub!

Yeah!  The Olympics!

Beach Volleyball!

What a journey!

4 weeks back in the UK and I can't believe my journey through South America is over.

In 9 months I visited 9 countries, covered over 25,000km (or 15,500miles in old money), stopped in 66 different places (that's at least 66 different beds!) picked up a bit of espanol and learnt countless lessons.  And wrote one blog.

And to commemorate it all I've packed it all into a quick video.

It's been an incredible, unforgettable ride and I am so glad I took the plunge and quit my job, packed up my life into carboard boxes and put life as I knew it to one side to go on an adventure and fulfil a dream.  

The thing that I want to remember now that it has all come to an end is to keep living out my dreams ... acknowledge them, believe in them and don't just fascinate about them, but grab them, make them real and make them happen.  

Here's to the next dream.

The end of the road

Being in Bogota was very surreal, knowing that it was the last place I was visiting on the trip and that I was heading home made it difficult to really appreciate the here and now.

What also made it difficult was that it was cold and a bit grey and also, somewhere along the line I'd picked up the flu!  It really wasn't the end to the trip that I had been expecting!  But despite all that, I wrapped up and set out seeing some of the city.

First stop was to get cultured at the Gold Museum..

And then a wonder around some of the sites.  (not much of a wonder, it was pretty chilly!)

The next piece of culture was the Salt Cathedral.  A cathedral built in a salt mine... hands down, one of the oddest sites I've seen  on the entire trip!

So, after that experience I knew it was time to go!

Colonial Times

Having been blown away by the beauty of Minca I reluctantly remembered that I was had to start heading south ... to catch a flight from Bogota.  Although I had fallen in love with Minca, I wanted to spend my last few weeks of my trip exploring and relaxing in some of Colombia's small colonial towns.  As I've travelled I've found the smaller, quieter places some of the most enjoyable; there are more opportunities to meet local people and there are beautiful places to explore.

I got on my last night bus to a town called San Gil and then headed Barichara, a tiny village out in the hills, renowned for it's cobbled streets, white washed buildings, terracota roofs and a it's beautiful setting in the hills.

After beautiful walk along the Camino Real I reached somewhere even smaller; Guane. A bit like a ghost down with an obsession for goats milk products!

My next stop on my journey to Bogota was Villa de Leyva for more stunning scenery and cobbled streets.

The largest Plaza in Colombia... apparently!

After serious relaxation, I was ready for my final stop- the big smoke of Bogota!

Heaven is a Place on Earth

Thank you Belinda Carlisle!

I was chatting to a guy who works in Taganga one evening and asking him what he thought of Minca, a small town in the mountains outside of Santa Marta.  He got very excited and told me I had to go because his favourite place in the world was there.  Now, that's a big claim by anyone's standards and it got me very interested.  He told me about a small unadvertised hostel in the mountains, he got so excited he got his laptop out to show me pictures ... I was pretty convinced by it being his favourite place but after seeing pictures I was sold.  The pictures showed paradise, heaven, a magical place and there was no way I was missing out.  So, with a map drawn on the back of a receipt I planned my trip to Minca.


I had a few hurdles to conquer first; my first bout of food poisoning in 8 and a half months, then my first taxi break down which included my first taxi towing, south american style (as dangerous as it sounds!) followed by the mother of all thunder storms!  (I don't think that it was a coincidence that it was also Friday 13th!)  By the time I reached Minca I was starting to wonder whether anywhere could be worth it.  But I had one of my moments of sheer  determination, so hand drawn map in hand I set off up a muddy hill and eventually reached Oscar's.  A beautiful house on a ridge in the lush mountains of the Sierra Nevada.  It was everything that had been described to me and more.  The scenery is so spectacular it is almost overwhelming.  It takes your breath away.  Oscar's is one of the places that I've been to on this trip that reminds me why packing up my life as I knew it was totally worth while!

The view from the bathroom!

But it wasn't just the scenery, Oscar has created the most perfect places to appreciate the mountain from... my bedroom for example...

Sunk into the ground on the ridge, I went to bed gazing at the lights of nearby Santa Marta and woke up to the sound of the birds and the sun coming up over the mountains.  I'm serious!  I'm not poetic enough to make this up!


Day and night, this place was beautiful.  Vibrant colours during the day and some of the most beautiful sunsets that I have ever seen at night.

View from the dining table

And it's no surprise that the area around Oscar's was equally beautiful.  I was able to explore it on Mule-back!  Oscar took me out on a mule to the top of one of the nearby mountains to get an even better view of the area and to see the sun setting.

And there are waterfalls and natural swimming pools only an hours walk away.

Dragonfly out in the sun!

 Not surprisingly I stayed here longer than I should have done as well!  But once my bliss levels were fully topped up is was time to hit the road again and see what other heavenly places Colombia has to offer.