So this is the very last leg of my South America tour and we are in le Paz, which is Bolivia's capital city.

We arrived at our hotel after a long coach journey and some strange travelling techniques, which involved the group getting off of the coach and jumping on a boat to cross the water, while our coach is transported by a boat, barely bigger than the coach itself.

It was full of our belonging, and was very nerve wrecking watching as our bus was transported on very choppy waters. However it made it across safely.

Afetr we had all settled in to the hotel, we joined as a group for a quick briefing and then headed out to our farewell dinner, where we would say good bye to the group and also to Jose. 

We went to a local bar called Mongo's, which was a lovely place that seemed to serve mostly North American style food. We had a few drinks and a good chat, then it was time to say a big thank you to Jose for all of his efforts. Pete was given the task of the farewell and thank you speech and to his credit did a very good job.

We had all had a big night in Puno the night beofre, so the group were fairly tired after dinner.

Some of the group went to the Hard Rock Cafe for a drink, but tht's all it turned out to be for me, Alicia, Laine and Pete. We were done.

Back to the hotel for an early night.  

The following day (Our very last day in South America - So we thought, but will get to that later) A few of the group went for a bike ride which incorporated the 'World's deadliest Road', aptly named for the obvious reason. I would've joined them, however due to the timings we could have possibly missed our flight. 

So a few of the group left for the bike ride and Myself, Pete, Lanie, Alicia and Dan decided to go have a look around the city and maybe have some lunch. There didn't seem to be much about, so we had to settle for a restaurant in a hotel called the Ritz. Not a usual hangout for backpackers I know, but we were very hungry.

We went to the restaurant, where we indulged in an all you can eat Mexican buffet and all you can eat dessert. The service was exemplory and we barely had to lift a finger. But this came at a price. The food, a bottle of wine and a coupe of soft drinks set us back a jaw dropping 3 pounds. Now if you can find a better bargain you let me know on www.you'retellingfibs.com (It may not work) 

Afetr lunch, we deicded to have a look around the sites and take in some of the culture. We walked the streets for a while and looked around a few of the local markets. It seemed to be quite a strange place and personally it didn't have the same feeling as Peru, but I had fallen in love with that place.

We didn't have much time left after looking around and sorting some bits out.

It was nearly time to say good bye, however we could only say goodbye to the guys we were with as the rest had gone on the bike ride.

We said our good byes, which let me say was so hard. We had spent a full three weeks with these people and I don't think that I would have had even half the fun with a different group and the group is really what made the trip for me.

So we said good bye, which I am finding to be the hardest part of travelling and not something that I am getting used to either. You could spend a day or three weeks with someone, but some of the people that you meet are so interesting and you can click with so well, but have to say good bye to. That's travelling I suppose. And I will definitely try to see as many of these people as I can in the future.

It was very hard to say good bye to Alicia, Lanie and Dan. I have spoken about Alicia and Lanie previously in the blog, but just want to say that we couldn't have met two nicer girls and they were the ones in the group that Pete and I spent most time with (Tiem very well spent). I just hope we meet more people like these along the way.   

I feel it an appropriate time to talk about the group as a whole (Before I move onto a part of the trip that wasn't great) This group really did make the tour for me and there were some very interesting characters that I would love to see again. Dan from Denmark, who Pete and I are hoping to go and play football with in Denmark. Alicia and Lanie, we'll definitley want to meet them (they really have no choice) Piers and Shalini from Perth, were a great  couple (Along with Rebecca and Jacob)and were great fun to be around. The girls, Rhihannon, Harriett, Bev, Vicky were all loads of fun and also Per, who had some good stories about his travels.

Also not forgetting the guides, but they ahve all been mentioned.

All great guys and thanks for an unforgettable trip.

So with our goodbyes said, we got a taxi to the airport We arrived at the Airport in plenty of time, only to be told that the Airline Company that we were supposed to be flying with had gone bust. Why weren't we told about this by our travel company??? 

As annoyed as we were, you have to look on it as something very small in comparison to the sites we have just seen for the past three weeks. We had to catch another flight to Lima, but that meant missing our connecting flight to LA. So we arrived in Lima, at about 3am, had to stick around and sort our tickets out and then jump in a taxi to a hotel. We went to bed after watching some friends, then had to be up to check out.

Our flight wasn't until 2am the next day, so we got a taxi to the airport to see if we could speak to the company that went bust, but nobody is there anymore. Luckily they let us check our bags in early. 

We checked them in and then just chilled out in Lima, had some food, took some pictures and killed some time. It was quite nice though, as we hadn't seen much of Lima when we arrived, as we arrived late and started our tour straight away and only got to spend a few hours there. Every cloud has a silver lining I suppose.

So we later that evening after having a look around, we got a taxi to the airlines head office (Which had also closed down). We then went to the airport, had some dinner and caught our flight.

We were safe, so that was the main thing. Also the flight was very nice.

I hope everyone is well and my next blog entry will be coming from LA.