Over a year after starting to apply for jobs in Africa and hundreds of emails later we've finally made it. We're not quite in the middle of nowhere/small district hospital or clinic as we origionally intended but are in a big busy hospital in a fair sized city full of ex-pats and bars. In true expat form we are now the employers of a gardener, maid and several guards- shared with our neighbours (obligatory apparently unless you enjoy being burgled repeatedly). We're installed in a house that has more bars on the windows/doors than most prisons, and have bought a car [View Full Entry]

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One last marathon bus journey and lo and behold we're right back where we started nearly 3 months ago, Buenos Aires. After finding a hostel, a quick shower and shrugging off sleep deprivation we set off into the city with only one thing on our mind - curry. Argentinian food is generally good but a man (or woman) needs something spicey now and again and if anywhere in Argentina had a curry house, it would be Buenos Aires. Sadly the weeks of anticipation were not worth it as when my rogan josh finally arrived it was about as hot as Margaret [View Full Entry]

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Culture! We need some culture! People will think we´re ignoramuses if its all mountains and no culture, so off we went to San Ignacio to see some ruins and a poets house. The ruins at San Ignacio Mini are the remains of the Jesuits attempts to instill (Emily wont let me use a stronger word!) Christianity into the locals in the 17th century, and very pretty they are too. After a morning at the ruins we took what we thought would be a short stroll (don´t believe the guide book, get a taxi!) to the house of the poet and novelist [View Full Entry]

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Reserva provincial esteros del Ibera is a large wetlands with hundreds of different types of birds, as well as caimen (small alligators), black howler monkeys, capybara (the largest living rodent!), neotropical otters and different types of deer. It has converted Angus and I into bird watchers! We went out on several boat rides to explore the wetlands and enjoyed seeing several bird species (including herons, egrets, comorants, humming birds, kingfishers, woodpeckers, hawks, caracaras, woodrails, terns, parakeets, cuckoos, owls, martins, swallows, cardinals, finches, blackbirds, marshbirds, So [View Full Entry]

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After all that hard trekking Angus and I decided to see some of the country by car. We did a four day road trip in NorthWest Argentina, starting in Tucumen and heading further North towards Salta. It turned out to be a great way to explore a beautiful area, and we met some other travellers doing the same. The first day we drove up high on a mountain road through hot tropical rain forest. After the desert landscape of San Juan, it was a refreshing change of scenery. The trees went very high and there were hundreds of different species of [View Full Entry]

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We spent a couple of days in Mendosa, the main wine growing region in the country. We enjoyed tasting wine at a few of the Bodigas around Mendosa, as well as time spent strolling in the park. Unfortunately whilst in an internet cafe our small rucksack was stolen with two cameras and Angus' passport. Don't worry, we still have one camera to entertain you with photos. We did get to have a ride in a police car and met a laughing policewoman. We then spent a very enjoyable week in the small village of Barreal, in San Juan province. The bus [View Full Entry]

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After sadly saying goodbye to Ben and Subhani, Angus and I headed to Chile to do a different kind of trek. It was a four day trek around a beautiful volcano in the Southern lake district of Chile. We camped at the bottom for the first day and then climbed over 1000 metres to the refugio half way up. It was a wooden hut with beds for 16 people and a wood burning stove. We met lots of interesting people including a friendly Belgium couple, a German policewoman and some Israelis. The next day everyone set off at the crack of [View Full Entry]

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Bariloche is a bustling town in the Argentinian lake district and a great place for adventure sports and partying, we´ve had a great time here doing both. We joined Ben and Subhani again and started the week by celebrating our engagement with a bottle or two of champagne and some spicy food (a rarity in Argentina) in a Mexican restaurant. Most evenings seemed to follow a similar pattern and after clubbing until 5 in the morning on the last night (St. Partricks day, quite strange drinking local beer dyed green and Guiness in an Irish bar with a bagpipe player in [View Full Entry]

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Yet more news since last time - we are engaged! We´ve spent the last week or so in the mountains around El Chalten (Fitzroy range) mostly camping and trekking. Ben and Subhani have headed on to the rest of their travels after Ben joined us for the first day of trekking (Subhani quite sensibly staying indoors in the horrendous weather!) though we are planning to meet up again in the Argentinian lake district for a drink or two before they head to Chile and Bolivia. We havn't yet managed to get out of bed before 10am without Ben there to get [View Full Entry]

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Dont´know where to start this one as its been a busy time since the last post. Fist some good news, we got the jobs in Malawi so should be starting in May working for the University of Malawi at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Blantyre. Here in South America took another long long bus journey from Ushuaia back across the Megellan straights (where we were accompanied for part of the journey by two Commerson's dolphins) to Punta Arenas in Chile and then further North to Puerto Natales. We stayed in a residencial (Gabriella) in Puerto Natales with the friendliest owner ever, [View Full Entry]

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