highlights of the trip... cos so many of you have asked!

Swimming with sea turtles in the Galapagos. Actually, just the Galapagos full stop. Number one without competition.

and in no particular order...

• Working with the kids in Rocinha. aww, i miss them so much!
• Buenos Aires... non-stop.
• Climbing the Villarica volcano at dawn in the snow and ice, with the whole of the Chilean lake district visible below.
• Reaching the top of Machu Picchu mountain, our extra effort after four days on the Lares valley Inca trail, when everybody else was sunning themselves in the ruins below.
• Seeing Cotopaxi up close from the high ridges of its neighbour Ruminahuai, in central Ecuador.
• Beating my fears of extreme sports and rollercoasters with a dune buggy trip across Peru's coastal desert at Huacachina to sandboard down the enormous sand dunes.
• Sunset at moon valley, Chile - the satisfaction was heightened by how hard it was to make it up to the viewpoint when recovering from salmonella poisoning. I made it in time for sunset though, just!
• Whalewatching at Peninsula Valdes, Argentina - both in the boat and on the beach. At night you could hear the water blows from the beach, magical.
• Our impromptu snowboarding lesson in Bariloche Argentina, when the mountain was closed for skiiing, followed by great red wine and hot chocolate.
• Chasing monkeys in the Ecuadorian jungle - we didnt find any, but they chased us soon afterwards!
• Learning gourmet cookery from a Chilean chef in Valparaiso, and having him declare undying love for me soon after... wow my cooking must have been good!
• Sunset on the Uyuni salt flats, oh so coooooolllllddddd. But stunning.
• Not wimping out of the "10 shot" challenge at Uyuni - I did it for the girls. Well, 9 of them anyway. A girl's gotta keep her dignity too.
• The view from Mount Chacaltaya, Bolivia, all the way east and south along the Andean ranges, in the snow, following... a legendary karaoke session till 7am in La Paz in the absence of a late night alternative.
• Thermal springs in Bolivia like a hot bath, by an ice-covered lake (just weird!), on the Bolivian altiplano, and all the weirdly coloured lakes we saw that day too.
• Our day trip to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay - beautiful and unique, and made all the sweeter by having just one day to drink it all in.
• My skive to Rosario to research some family history - what a bonus that was - gorgeous city - all the fun of BA, but with a much more laidback attitude to it all.
• Proving my wifely skills by digging yucca and making chicha in the Ecuadorian jungle.
• Sky dive over the Tijuca rainforest in southern Rio de Janeiro city, and seeing the waves crash in from hundreds of miles offshore. I felt like David Attenborough on crack.
• Dancing on a starry twinkling phosphorus dancefloor on the beach at Punta Sal. I do recall remarking that it made me feel like a princess (though that could also have been a beer effect.) Either way, it was amazing.