So here we are at the end of the Latin America yellow brick road, after 6 months of excitment, exploration and adventure the time has come to sign off from the blog and head back to England.

From Whale shark swimming and Maya ruin climbing in Mexico, to cave diving and drug avoiding in Belize, Spanish lessions and Earthquakes in Guatemala, bird watching and river tubing in Honduras, volcano surfing and chocolate eating in Nicaragua, cloud forest zip-lining and getting very wet in Costa Rica to sailing, snorkling and canal travelling in Panama.

Hospital building, Guinea pig eating and marriage proposing in Peru, Christmas celebrating and high altitude suffering in Bolivia, and star gazing, penguin meeting and mountain treking in Chile.....It is almost to much to remember and take in.

Some facts for you :

We must have travelled something like 28000 Kilometres (will work it out accurately when home!)

- Descended 104 degrees of latitude

- Daves hair has grown by many many inches

- Emily has gained a 1 ring on her finger

- Stayed in 34 hostels, 16 hotels, 5 B&Bs, 5 overnight buses, 5 times camping and 3 times at a families home.

- Spent an average of 28 pound per day each, with Chile being the most expensive at 50 pounds a day each and Nicaragua being the cheapest at 17 pounds a day each (quite a difference!)

- Total spend over 6 months is 10,260 pounds, 5130 each. That is 130 pounds over budget each (not bad accounting skills over 6 months!)

-We have read a lot of books on our travels, Dave totalled 30 books and Emily over 50 books! The Kindles were one of the best travel purchases we made especially with all the long distance buses we have been on!

The time has flown by but at the same time Mexico at the start seems a long long time ago, we will really miss the crazy pace of life, the colour, smells, music and of course the people from this amazing continent. But it has also made us appreciate England a lot more.

We generally take what we have for granted, moan about not being paid enough, or not having this car and that tv, and having the difficult decisions about where to go next on holiday etc.

But when you come over here and see that the vast majority of people have no choice at all and most are born into poor families where they will have little chance of improvement. Just the simple fact that we have a choice to go travelling, to buy a better house, or to spend money on luxuries is something that is unthinkable for most of residents of the countries we have visited.

And the wide spread diseases, earthquakes, hurricanes, harsh terrain, corrupt governments really hold these countries back. Its an interesting thought that the most beautiful countries in the world are also the most challenging to live.

So it has been a humbling experience as well as exciting and fun. We have learnt so much about other cultures, ourselves and each other (and after 6 months travelling, Dave and Emily still want to get married....travelling is a good test!)

So thats it, time for Dave and Emily to sign out.

Thanks for all your comments over the past 6 months, we have been surprised that everyone has maintained an interest in us over such a long period of time!

Back to England we go and hopefully after all we have experienced we will see our homeland with fresh eyes, and on that note why not sign off with a quote from T.S. Eliot that kinda sums it up:

´We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring we will arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time´