On our last night together before leaving the Galapagos Islands, Becky and Andy invited us to stay with them in St. Albans when we got to England. Touched, we happily accepted. The next day, waiting at the airport, we discovered that they already had an entire itinerary planned for us when we visited them.

We were looking forward to this break, this little vacation within our trip. Two weeks of staying with family and friends. For the first time in almost seven months we could get off of our plane and wander into the airport without having to think.

We've been traveling for over 7 months now. That sounds strange, doesn't it? We're no longer newbies at this whole round-the-world gig. Our trip, depending on when we return, could potentially be half over at this point.

There was another pool, just over another stretch of painful lava, one which Mauricio would only let us into three at a time. When people returned from this pool, they wouldn't say what they'd seen, only that it had been amazing.

Jessica's favorite color is green. This is because when she was a little girl all the other children liked blue and red, and she felt sorry for green.