Question Time...

What does goat taste like? (from Brian)
Martin: Somewhere between lamb and beef. Very dark quite tough, needs a lot of cooking but has a lot of flavour to it. It's not particularly controversial, if you had it without knowing you'd assume it was beef cooked in an odd way.

Kara: Tastes ok. I gave most of mine to Martin.

Are you really backpacking? (Ben and others...)
Right, it seems that there are certain rumours, started by Simpson Junior we think, that call into doubt the authenticity of our backpacking experience! All you naysayers, please bear in mind the following:

• we do indeed have rucksacks, not suitcases, that contain all our worldly goods for the next few months, and we are carrying them ourselves (No Ben, we are not paying someone called Pedro to carry them!!)
• we are staying in hostels - the fact that we are staying in nice ones is more a reflection of our ability to read a guide book and get recommendations off other travellers than the amount of money we have
• we are cooking our own meals. But unlike the USA students we met the other night, we know that powdered milk and tomato puree do NOT make a good sauce. We showed them our root veg and steak stew as evidence of this.
• we are getting public transport everywhere (buses) or walking. We did get a taxi yesterday after a 5 hour 30 hike up and down a mountain, with the last hour in the pouring rain and a failed attempt at hitching a lift. Oh, and we hitched a ride up a bit of the mountain.
• We wash our clothes in the sink (or bidet) until they get really smelly then we use the washing service at the hostels
• There were wood lice in our cabin and other bugs - but it adds to the charm.
• Whenever we get free food on buses, we ask for extra portions and save them for later
• The day we found a supermarket with plates of cake to sample was known as "free desert day".

In summary, we are backpacking, it's just we're good at it!

Kit wanted to know why we didn't stay at home if we wanted to interact with everyone

That's the dumbest question ever! A year out in Bristol....or Argentina, Chile, New Zealand etc etc. Go figure! Mate, you should be grateful - a year out in Bristol would be us sleeping in your spare room!!

However, you are all very welcome to meet us at any point of our journey, and we're very excited that we'll be seeing the parents in New Zealand and Kit & Nicky in Oz. Still time to come meet us in South America you know gang....