Between a Rock and a Rucksack.

Another travel junky itching to share her shenanigans! Thoughts, food, photography & frolicking. ☮☯☮

[lauraislivingthedream]

Frank and I are on route to the airport! I wonder where we will end up....😉

[vegan-wastoid]

why would you eat animals when you could just not eat animals

[lauraislivingthedream]

Dear YuLin Governor Chen Wu: We are writing you to request that the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region government must cancel the “Dog Meat Festival” that is held on June 22 in Yulin. As foreigners who have great respect for the Chinese people and Chinese civilization, We are saddened to learn that...

I first learnt of Yulin this time last year when this very same petition crossed my path of Facebook. I feel sick every time I think or read about this festival. It seems otherworldly, but unfortunately every year, hundreds, if not thousands, of dogs and cats are bludgeoned, burnt and skinned for a (in my opinion) pointless and evil meat festival. Most are skinned and burnt alive. No animal large or small deserves such a fate and I believe, that in 2016, as a race of supposedly rational and intelligent human beings, this type of festival should not be allowed to take place. It is simply barbaric. So please, will you sign the petition? Will you join me in the fight to #STOPYULINFOREVER ? 

[lauraislivingthedream]

"Life is what we make it. We can choose to be victims of the challenges in our lives, or we can choose to rise strong, with a resilient focus, and live a glorious adventure that ignites our souls."

Shannon Kaiser

[lauraislivingthedream]

Done and thoroughly dusted!

So this is it. The complete trip on the map!

We travelled a hell of long way, a total of 33588 km / 20872 miles were covered and a total of 16 countries were visited.

It was the craziest roller-coaster ride with plenty of up's and down's and a lot of lessons were learnt.

I shall never forget the time we spent in Latin America.

[lauraislivingthedream]

Gracias!

Thank you to Central and thank you to South.

America, what a trip!

[lauraislivingthedream]

Christ the Redeemer, Brazil

One of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Photography by Laura Roberts and Frank Ralph ©

[lauraislivingthedream]

Christ the Redeemer, Brazil

I arrived home on Thursday night / Friday morning and have been trying to adjust back in to normal life (if there is such a thing) so now I think I am ready to tell you about our last day in the Americas and our last excursion. You cannot go to Rio de Janeiro Brazil without seeing Christ the Redeemer. I'm sorry. You just can't. It's like going to Peru and not visiting Machu Picchu! So this is what we did. I am sure a lot of people take package tours but of course Frank and I try to avoid such things so we just hopped on the 548 bus from Copacabana. Within 20 to 30 minutes we were at the train station. This is where most people jump on a train or get a mini bus all the way to the top of the mountain to see the Redeemer. Frank and I decided to walk. It only took us 1.5 hours but as you can imagine, every mini bus driver was saying "It's 3-4-6! hours!" to convince us to fork out $10 each. Haha! Frank and I walked all the way to Semuc Champney and back in Guatemala. It took an entire day. Even 10 hours wouldn't be a problem for us. We just love to walk. And as we expected it was a nice one. It is very steep to start off with but it soon levels out to a nice, winding rise with trees shading you from the intense heat. At some points you get view points over the city and we saw plenty of Marmosets playing in the trees and butterfly's darting about. We got to the top and there he was. We had already seen the biggest Christ in the world in Bolivia but Christ the Redeemer does have this kind of presence... I guess standing on a incredibly tall mountain and towering over an entire city might have something to do with it! It was hella' busy up there which was to be expected but we enjoyed the views and took the traditional photographs. I think the best part about going up to the Redeemer is in fact the view. You can see so much of Brazil, it was beautiful. Once we believed we had had enough we took a free mini cab back down to the train station and hopped straight back on a bus to Copacabana. Obviously ending our day with beer, Brazilian food and one last look at the Copacabana beach. Next day was nothing but travelling so I won't bore you all about it. Then, before I knew it I was sobbing and embracing my parents on the drive way of my house. It was a wonderful end to a roller-coaster trip. Another life changing and thought provoking adventure through another foreign land. This trip has proven very hard at times but hard times are sent to test us. We got through them all and had incredibly fun and unforgettable times either side of the turbulent ones. So after 6 months and a week I am home. I start back at my old job on Monday and begin a college course in September. So although the travel has ended for now, I will still continue to blog about my life and hopefully you will all still read about it. Thank you for travelling with me so far!

Photography by Laura Roberts ©

[lauraislivingthedream]

Brazilian Football, Rio de Janeiro ⚽️ 

It just wouldn't be right to see Brazilians playing football and not capture it on camera!

Here’s some locals of Copacabana playing on the beach.

Photography by Laura Roberts ©

[lauraislivingthedream]

Rio de Janeiro & Copacabana Beach, Brazil

Photography by Laura Roberts & Frank Ralph ©

[lauraislivingthedream]

Cliff Jumper, Rio de Janeiro 🏊

[lauraislivingthedream]

Rio de Janeiro & Copacabana Beach, Brazil

Photography by Laura Roberts ©

[lauraislivingthedream]

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

It was another night bus for us to get to Rio and we arrived early on Saturday morning. We took an Omnibus to Cocacabana beach, I mean, where else would you want to stay in Rio!? Bags strapped on we started wondering around looking for somewhere to stay. For a short while we were led around to a few hostels/hotels by a woman who stank of booze but she kept taking us to places for Kings and Queens so we shooed her off and carried on along our way. Finally we found Misti house. Another brilliant hostel with all the amenities, including that massive breakfast, yum :) The only downside was we had to stay in a dorm because Rio is not cheap and we had no money. But this was a very nice dorm with only six beds and five inhabitants including me and Frank. Even better, as each day past one more person would check out and no one would check in so by the last night we had the whole dorm to ourselves! Anyway, back to Rio! Obviously we went straight to Cocacabana beach for a swim and some sun bathing! I have never seen a beach like it. So incredibly long and busy. Full of people basking in the sun, playing football, drinking beer or coconut water. Kids building sand castles, sales men and women selling anything you could think of. It was crazy! We walked right down Praia de Copacabana and down to Praia do Leme and set up camp. Both Frank and I were straight in to the lovely cool water being swished about by the waves. Soon we were done with swimming and sunbathing and decided to walk up to Forte do Leme to get a decent view of the area. It was a long winding walk to the top but we did have the entertainment of several little Marmosets playing together to enjoy along the way. Once at the top we were amazed by the incredible views surrounding us. Deep blue waters dotted with island-like formations on one side and the great view of Copacabana on the other. You could even see Christ the Redeemer in the distance looking rather tiny. We obviously took lot's of photo's, then we went back down and then to the hostel. That night Frank and I bought a bottle of Vodka and a mixer and, like the old days, mixed the two together in the mixers bottle then settled on the beach to drink and enjoy the sea front at night. After drinking this concoction we plodded home and sat with beers and chatted with our fellow travellers, sharing stories of the places we visited and sights we had seen. Everyone was interested to hear about mine and Franks little bike accident when they saw our scars. After that a totally restful nights sleep was had and a massive breakfast in the morning. The second day consisted of us trying the three must eats and drinks of Brazil which were empanadas, tropical ice-cream and coconut water and then we then strolled all the way down to Praia do Arpoador. We had heard this was the best beach to watch the sunset so once again, we sunbathed. I read my book, Frank went to play in the sea, then as the day became shorted we moved our towels over to a better spot to watch the sunset and grabbed a beer (or three). It wasn't the best sunset I have ever seen because the sun gets lost behind the mountains but the illuminating glow the sun creates does make some kind of visual magic. Once we had enjoyed the sunset we packed up and walked all the way home, me with a 100% full bladder of beer. I moaned in pain the whole way as we power walked back to the hostel. There wasn't much of a vibe at the hostel that evening so Frank and I bought some 51 Rum and mixer, took ourselves to the beach and stared out at the ocean sipping our drinks. We talked about our trip and all the crazy antics we had been up to and got very very drunk! The next day was another beach day and "Laura attempting to play frisbee" day. Then, once again we drank lot's of beer and ate lots of food and generally enjoyed ourselves. We even saw a drunken man riding a scooter crash in to a shop window. Frank and I rushed over to help. We felt very sorry for him we had been there once too! Lucky for him no massive gashes, just a few glass cuts. After this interesting incident it was time for bed and another restful nights sleep. Bloody lovely. Our last day in Rio was a visit to one of the Seven Wonders of the World so you can expect to read about that soon! Cooooming sooooooon!

[lauraislivingthedream]

Rio de Janeiro & Copacabana Beach, Brazil

Photography by Laura Roberts and Frank Ralph ©

[lauraislivingthedream]

Keeping up the Frescobol!🎾

“Frescobol or Beach Paddle Ball has its origins in Rio de Janeiro on the infamous Copacabana Beach, Brazil in the mid 1940’s.

Originally the sport and game was played with hand shaped wooden rackets and tennis balls. However American racquetballs were introduced in 1976 which brought greater speed and agility to the sport.

The game is played in any open area, outdoors or indoors. Two players face one another with the objective of hitting the ball to one another with their bats without the ball hitting the ground.  It requires minimal equipment and is accessible to all, young or old. 

Frescobol is a sport where you don’t have an opponent but rather a partner. The aim is to support your partner rather than to try and score points or winning.  

It is and intense and fun workout which will improve your fitness while honing your reflexes.  You don't need a personal trainer or even a gym membership just a couple of rackets or bats and a ball!”

Photography by Laura Roberts ©

[lauraislivingthedream]

CATCH!

Rugby Man 🏈

Photography by Laura Roberts ©

[lauraislivingthedream]

“Laura, Just dive in!” - The words of Frank Ralph

I did it, it was amazing, powerful and water went up my nose (but I didn't care!) 

Ace.