Highlights

I said in an earlier posting that both while we were travelling, and since we have been back, we frequently have been asked which was our favourite country or place.  I also said that I find it impossible to give a single answer to that question as I don't feel I can reduce such a fabulous year down to just one 'best' thing.

So instead, we have come up with a short-list of our highlights from this first year.  In no particular order, it would have to include:
* laid back and gastronomically fabulous Palermo area of Buenos Aires, not least for its cafes, cakes, steak and wine.
* amazing scenery on the Bolivian Altiplano between the Atacama Desert and the Uyuni Salt Flats;
* satisfaction at managing a proper conversation in Spanish with our home stay host in Raqchi, even if our teacher would have been horrified at all of the mistakes;
* exhilaration of adventure activities, such as ziplining, white water rafting and sand boarding;
* relief that we all made it safely out of the fire at Shangri-la
* unconditional friendliness from Colombians who were so pleased to welcome us as tourists to their country;
* seeing the moai left as they were abandoned in the quarry on Easter Island;
* watching - and more particularly hearing - chunks of ice cleaving off the vast and beautiful Perito Moreno glacier;
* grandeur of the fjords, lakes, mountains and volcanoes of southern Chile;
* experiencing the strange feeling of being in a village in England despite being 8000 miles away in the Falkland Islands and having the chance to talk to the islanders first hand about how they feel about the question of their nationality;
* being pecked by penguins and watching their comical antics in the Falklands and Antarctica;
* simply being in Antarctica, the coldest, windiest, driest, and highest place on earth;
* getting wet at the spectacular Iguassu Falls;
* meeting some fabulous people, some fleetingly, some who have become friends and we will hopefully be seeing again sometime, somewhere in the world!

Over the coming weeks I may add a few posts about some of these highlights and what made each of them so special.