South America

We flew to Santiago as our first destination of the trip. The flight was a bit crammed and long and neither Steven nor I got a wink of sleep. We took a bus from the airport to Santiago city centre where we checked into a hostel for the night. We suffered from really bad jet-lag for the first few days but still managed to get out into the city to explore. We went to al the local markets with really weird and wonderful clothes and crafts. We also spent a day sightseeing, we went up the Christobal mountain top on the funicular train where the views of the city were stunning. Santiago was constantly covered in a film of smog and pollution so it was nice to get some fresh air above the city.

When we left Santiago we took a bus to Cordoba in Argentina through the Andes. The bus actually went through the snow capped mountain peaks. It was gorgeous. The border crossing between Chile and Argentina was on top of a mountain in the freezing cold. We all had to get off the bus and stand by a long table with our bags open for inspection. I was dressed for the warm weather of Santiago so it was a bit of a shock when I stepped off that bus. However as soon as the border control officers discovered we were English they told us to get straight back on the bus and our bags were left alone. It was very strange. When we bought the bus ticket I asked in broken Spanish when the bus would arrive in Argentina. I translated that it would arrive at 4pm, 4 hours after it set off. We were pleased the journey wouldn't take too long. However 4pm came and went and we still hadn't arrived at the first destination o the bus. I asked the bus driver again when it would arrive and I translated it to be 6pm. We thought another two hours wasn't too bad. 6pm came and went and we were still nowhere near our destination. We stopped at a place called Mendoza and I asked again what time the bus would arrive. He said 6 o'clock again but then it dawned on us...it was due to arrive at 6am!! 16 hours after we set off from Chile. In a panic we ran around Mendoza bus station buying food for the next twelve hours of the journey. It was like an extreme version of supermarket sweep. We were proud of what we'd managed to forage in such a short time (two ham sandwiches, 2 chocolate biscuits and some Doritos). When we got back on the bus and sat down the bus driver brought us all a tray with a hot meal of beef steak and vegetables. We just looked at each other and burst out laughing!!!

Unfortunately that wasn't our only bus 'nightmare' in South America. When we left Cordoba where we only stayed for a night our bus was due to leave at 7.15 am. We were really pleased that we had managed to get up and get to the bus station on time and even had time for breakfast first!! However when we arrived at the bus terminal we looked at the clock and it read 8.15. We then realised we had forgotten to change our alarm clock from Chilean to Argentinean time. We were an hour late and the bus had gone!! Luckily the bus company put us on another one a few hours later for no extra money!

Buenos Aires is a really nice city. It's amazing for shopping and eating out and spending A LOT of money. On a backpackers budget we found the best things to do and see just wandering around the city all day. Like the kids who wait for the traffic to come to a standstill and then run out in front of the cars and juggle with empty water bottles for money. I never saw anyone give them any money. The drivers just sped off narrowly missing hitting them but they still did it all day! The darker side if the capital city could be seen when the sun went down with whole families of people including small children huddled in their cardboard homes in shop doorways. Drug dealers and criminals intimidated passersby and lurked in the dark.

Our hostel was lovely (one of the best we've stayed in on the whole trip) and we ate lots of Argentinean steaks and entertained ourselves in the hostel bar.

We left Buenos Aires by plane and flew to Sao Paulo, our first destination in Brazil. Our hostel was a huge disappointment. It was really noisy and dirty and it was impossible to sleep. We had to endure this hostel for two nights which completely ruined our time in Sao Paulo. It wasn't the nicest of places anyway but I was glad to leave.

Then it was RIO time. We arrived in Rio De Jeneiro by bus around tea time. We dumped our bags and got straight out to have a look around. We were staying on copacopana beach which was gorgeous and the weather was a huge improvement on anywhere else we'd been in South America.

On our first full day we went into the slums (favella) with a tour guide from our hostel. It was amazing. This particular favella was the biggest one in SA with a population of approximately 500,000 people. The favella started when working class people who couldn't afford to buy or rent a house in the very expensive city of Rio built illegally on a nearby national park on the side of a mountain. This favella started in the 1920's so it was no surprise that it was so dense. Our tour guide told us that it is a common misconception that everyone who lives in the slums are criminals and drug dealers. In fact many of the people who live in the slums have jobs in the city and maintain a normal life but are forced to live in the favella due to financial reasons.

When we arrived at the foot of the favella the tour guide paid a motorbike driver 2 Reais (60p) to take each of us up to the top if the Avella so we can walk back down as part of the tour. I got the fastest bike and the most dangerous driver EVER! When I got on he shot off straight away. I barely had time to hold on. My eyes were watering and I was clutching on to the handle at the back of the bike so hard my fingers turned white. The driver squeezed the bike through tiny gaps between buses travelling in opposite directions! It was the scariest trip of my life and to make it worse I had no helmet on (sorry mum).

After we recovered from the shock of the bike ride we set off walking down through the favella. The view from the top was incredible. It was a sea of tiny houses on top of each other with no proper streets or walkways. You could see all the kites on the sky that the kids use to communicate with one another and the drug dealers use to warn people of a police raid.

When we were walking through the narrow cracks of the favella we did see a few drug dealers with AK47's- the tour guide warned us to put our cameras away...obviously WE DID!

Halfway through the tour a group of kids gave us a concert using empty buckets and water tanks as drums in return for loose change. They were brilliant.

The next day we caught a local bus across the city to the foot of the Corcovado Mountain where we took a train up to the top to see the Christ the Redeemer statue. The views of Rio from the top were breathtaking and the statue was huuuuuuuugggeee. It's one of the tallest of its kind in the world and is a very important symbol of Brazils Christianity. In July 2007 it was named as one of the seven new wonders of the world.

We stayed at the top of the mountain for a few hours, soaking it all in and enjoying our last day of travelling before we flew back to London that night. We spoke for hours about the trip and reminisced about our favourite bits and our worst bits. We were both in a strange mood with mixed emotions of nervousness and excitement. It was the perfect way to spend our last day.

When we touched down in London I was so excited by the prospect of seeing all of our family and friends. We stayed in a hostel in London for a night and met up with my best friend Nicola and my brother Daniel. It was soooo good to see a familiar face.

The next day we took the train back to Manchester where my brother David picked us up and took us back to Burnley. None of our family or friends had a clue that we were coming home. When we walked into Ste's house the look on his mum and dads face was priceless. Gill couldn't believe her eyes! Similarly my mum kept grabbing and pinching me to check that I was real.

It was Stevens's birthday a few days after we got back and he always has a joint birthday bash with a really good friend of ours. The night we arrived back she was having a solo birthday party so we organised with another friend to surprise everyone at the party. It was so nerve wracking. We crept into the house and hid behind the door while everyone on the other side of the door toasted to Claire and Steven who sadly couldn't be there to celebrate with them that night! Ha......until we burst through the door!! The look on everyone's faces will never be re-created. They were so stunned. It was very emotional and felt incredible to be back amongst our friends.

Now that Steven and I are back home and back at work we are looking forward to our next big adventure. The next step for both of us is to get a place to live. It's going to take a while to save up and make it happen but we are both really excited about the next chapter of our lives together.....

Thank you to everyone who has followed our journey by reading these blogs. We have had a truly unforgettable time of our lives and have memories that can never be taken away from us and we love nothing more than the people we have to share them with......

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