I feel sad that my adventures have come to an end, but of course it is good to be home. The last week or so of my trip was very relaxing.

The last stop of the tour was Cahuita on the Caribbean coast in Costa Rica. We were there for 2 nights and spent time relaxing on the tropical black sand beach or lounging by the pool. Instead of going back up to San Jose and having to spend three nights there (it's a bit of a hole!) we decided to head half an hour down the coast to Puerta Viejo, again a very relaxed beach town. We had visited whilst in Cahuita and sussed out a cool hostel to stay in called Rocking J's. We checked in and decided to stay in their tent accomodation which was only US$6 per night. The hammock hotel was appealing but after being eaten alive by mossi's and no mosquito nets i though it best to give that a miss! The hostel was fairly quiet and really chilled out but myself, jon and a couple of Canadian sisters made our own fun. Last friday jon and I headed back to San Jose for a night and were up at 4am on Saturday to fly back to Los Angeles. We flew via Houston and literally had an hour before our connecting flight but because we were returning to the States, and looking like travellers, we were halled aside and searched. Jon's bloke seemed to be fine and they were having a good old bit of banter, but the lady searching me was one of the types that loves the power thing and she was incredibly rude to me. She went through EVERYTHING even taking my sleeping bag out the bag, instead of putting things back as she went, more and more was piling up on the carousel and at the end she sarcastically said 'have a nice day' whilst i rammed everything back into my bag...i was so angry! We rushed to our flight and on arrival in LA it was soon clear that our bags hadn't made it, i would have been up s*** creek without a paddle had then not come in an hour and a half later as i was dependant on my credit card which was locked in my main luggage. SO after a heavy going day. we made it to our hostel and after some resting went for a meal in Santa Monica. Jon and I spent the whole of Sunday shopping till we were dropping but it was lots of fun. Before flying home on Monday to fill in time we took a strole along Venice Beach.

So home sweet home now. It's taking me a while to aclimatize back into relaity and routine but just from spending some time looking back at photos, i realise what an absolutely amazing experience i have had. Literally i worked my bottie off all of last summer but i wouldn't have done it any other way. Everything that i experienced was off my own back and i have learnt so so much about values, which vary so much in different countries. Even being back and putting the tv on feels bizarre. You stop wanting material things when you see how other cultures are so happy with the very little that some people have. There were of course highs and lows but at the end of the day, its the highs that are the memories and the lows just put down as being part of the whole experience. There are so many people to email now that im home and contacts across the globe...travel certainly brings connection and with people who could now be life long friends.