24/6/09 In the morning we paid a visit to the Ballestas Islands, the 'poor man's Galapagos', and saw lots of pelicans, cormorants, a red headed vulture and other birds, and sealions and dolphins quite close up as well. I was so pleased to have seen the pelicans in particular! I've always wanted to see those in the wild. After this it was our last bus journey of our entire trip, to Lima. Our hotel was in the area of Miraflores, quite a safe and nice area where lots of rich people live, but we noticed that the big houses all still have their windows covered in security bars, and have big gates all around the outsides! Lima is supposed to be a really dodgy city, you see. We never saw the actual centre of Lima. Dave and I did some more shopping, and for our last dinner as a group, we went to a really nice Peruvian restaurant, where even the pasta dishes, like I had, have a Peruvian touch. When we got back from there everyone stayed in the lounge together, chatted and had some drinks until som ecarried on out and others went to bed.

25/6/09 We didn't have time to go into the city centre today, though there's a Museum of the Inquisition that I would have loved to go to, because we were so busy. Our alarm didn't go off so we didn't wake up until 10.35. We knew breakfast was supposed to end at 10.30, so we rushed downstairs to see if we could still get some. We were served hot chocolate, rolls, butter and jam, so we were lucky.

At 12 we had to check out, so we put our bags into storage before going out to lunch with Mark, Jay, Wei Ling and K ike at a American ribs/steak/pasta place. We both had a chocolate milkshake, Dave had St Louis ribs and I had grilled fish with butter scampi sauce, saffron rice and steamed vegetables. Outside the door there was a good view of the sea, and there were some paragliders swooping around over our heads.

When we got back to the hotel we sat with the others in the courtyard for a while before people, including us, said their goodbyes. Then we caught a taxi to our new hostel, Loki Backpackers, and moved our stuff in. After some time using the free pool and table football tables, the rest of the afternoon was spent doing some last minute shopping and catching up on the internet, and we said goodbye to Jess at the internet cafe. In the evening we had dinner at Loki's (shepherd's pie, veg and beetroot salad) and went on the internet some more, before going to bed.

26/6/09 All five of us in our dorm were woken up at 6.30am by the sound of a guy shouting and yelling at someone down the corridor or in another room, because he'd had his passport, wallet, phone and possibly his camera as well all stolen. One of the other guys went out to check on the situation and came back saying an Irish guy was calming the chap down. A few minutes later I heard the original guy still talking loudly and then crying. I felt so sorry for him, and glad that nothing like that had happened to us on our travels!

Our flight wasn't until 19.50, so we lay in until about 9, before having a leisurely free breakfast (rolls and jam) whilst playing a couple of games of pool. Then we showered and packed, able to take our time, and I went back on the internet for a couple of hours. I got off at 3, and we had a steak sandwich and a ham & cheese toastie each before getting our bags and catching a taxi to the airport.

At baggage check-in Dave's big bag weighed 25kg, two over the limit, but he didn't have to pay extra for it. We were taken aback at having to pay a $31 airport fee each, though, because STA had told us originally that our round-the-world ticket included all hidden costs. I think it's a separate thing to the airport departure tax, which we didn't have to pay.

Our plane left on time, and an hour after takeoff we had dinner, which was delicious. Nearly all the plane food we've had has been really good, but this was one of the best - beef with red pepper and onion, mashed potato and green beans, a cold chicken and onion salad, a bread roll & butter, a slab of chocolate mousse sponge, crackers & soft cheese and drinks.

27/6/09 After a film about child aliens and a taxi driver, we tried to get some sleep and managed it quite successfully. When we woke up at 5.30 am we were nearing the coast of Portugal, and a couple of hours later, after breakfast, we landed at Madrid. The airport there must be huge, because we had to walk for ages, get an internal train to get to Gate H and then walk a lot more before arriving there. Even then we had to ask exactly which gat ewe were leaving from, because our boarding passes and the departures board just said 'Gate H' when it turned out to be split from 'H1' right up to 'H37'!

When we boarded at last the flight was uneventful, though I got out the camera when I could see the British coast approaching and took some photos (I had a window seat again.) We had to wait so long at the baggage carousel I began to think ours had been left beind in Madrid by mistake, but eventually it arrived. Dave had a dynamite wrapper from Potosi still in his wallet, and tried to declare it, but the guy didn't seem that bothered and just asked if he had any cigarettes or alcohol! Then we walked out into Arrivals..... Our nine month journey now over bar the car ride home. We've had an absolutely amazing time and I'm just so glad I did it! Yet it was still so lovely to see everyone again, as you can imagine!