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Rio is a licorice allsorts sort of place in that there is something for everyone. Even the beach is divided into genres, you can choose to sit with the families, the surfers, the gay couples, the pot smokers or the celebrities. We stayed in the Santa Teresa area which is the arty part of the city. Trams rattle backward and forward, while the shop keepers peddle works of art and large quantities of 'I love Rio t-shirts' the local restaurants make great Caprihrinis and serve even better feijoada, a traditional black bean and pork stew. Rio has an adolescent, pimpled topography and something new is revealed behind each hill. Colonial mansions, churches musueems and art galleries sandwich the favellas. You can take tours of the favellas, but to my mind it seems slightly voyeristic to pay ... read more

What a way to mark a border! Iguazu means big water and they are not exagerating. The falls which mark the border between Brazil and Argentina stretch for one and a half miles and have over 200 separate cascades. There is a campaign for it to be a wonder of the world and having seen it up close I can´t help but agree. No stranger to glitz and glamour you may have seen them yourself in Moonraker, or the last Indiana Jones movie. They are 4 times wider than Niagra and the hydroelectric power plant down river satisfys almost 40% of Brazils and Argentinas power needs. But it wont be the facts and figures that I remember it will be the experiance of standing close enough to get a thorough drenching.... read more

Puerta Madryn is on Argentina´s East coast. If you think there is something rather Welsh sounding about the name you would be right. The Welsh were among the first settlers and their influence is still felt in the surrounding area through the architecture, cuisine and tea houses. You may even hear some of the locals chatting away in Welsh - (just as I was getting to grips with the Spanglish!) Puerta Madryn is beach resort come wildlife reserve - its quite possible to be lying on the beach with penguins as your neighbours. While we were off season we were assured that during October the area is home to over two thousand whales. Personally this doesn´t convince me of the merits of swimming in the sea however locals don´t seem at all bothered and life seems ... read more

Whether it is due to Argentina´s sheer size but our guidebook has had a tendancy to direct us to places of interest by taking us to the nearest town as a base. It´s not until you arrive that you find out that what you came to see is a further 200kms from where you are and there is no public transport. In this respect Argentina is definately a country for car owner. Since we are without a car we gave up on our original plan to see some caves and dinnosaur fossils and opted for two wheels to explore the beautiful landscape in the vicinity of Malargue. After a couple of hours we stumbled across Rio Malargue and the local trout farm. Tom took on the role of hunter and caught us our lunch (the fish ... read more

Salta is simply a nice place to spend a few days to recover from the riggers of horseriding, exploring mines and dealing with immigration officials at the border. Not much else I can add other than they seem to have as many ice cream shops as we have pubs... read more