Pam and Tom

Well we are back in Australia after the most amazing holiday. We have been very lucky to have experienced all that we have and did. We had a really interesting trip home. After leaving Sao Paulo in Brazil, flying out at 5.40pm on the Wednesday, we arrived in Santiago, Chile. Before our departure time to Auckland, there was an announcement that our flight was cancelled until Friday. However, a short while later we found out that LAN Airlines was trying to arrange another solution. This change was due to the volcanic ash from the Chile volcano that was creating havoc for all airlines scheduling, particularly around the NZ area. After a 3 hour wait, we boarded the plane to fly back to Australia via Tahiti. After 9 or so hours, we arrived there only to sit ... read more

When we were dropped off at our Hotel in Manaus by the Amazon Village guide, Alex, we found they were servicing the air conditioner in our room so we decided to find a restaurant for lunch. We received excellent advice by the hotel and had a pleasant lunch. Manaus is a Brazilian city of about 2.5 million, located on the Rio Negro a few miles before it meets the Rio Solimões to form the Amazon River proper. At Manaus the Amazon rises and falls almost twenty metres between seasons. In May and June it's at its peak, full and very wide, spreading way out into the trees. In November and December it's low but still massive. A bit about the food of Brazil: The Local cuisine is rich and varied and can be found in many ... read more

We arrived in São Luís at about 8.30pm after a flight with TAM airlines from Salvador via Reciffe where we had a 3 ½ hour stop-over. We also stopped at Fortalaza on the way. We were met by Mike Nelson, who used to be our neighbour on Chapel Hill Road before he and Silvia moved to Brazil. It was fantastic to see them. The last we saw them was on Christmas day last year. Mike then picked up Silvia from the hospital where she was doing some data collecting for her research with the Universidade Federal do Maranhão (UFMA) in the area of Human Resource Management. We had a lot to catch up on. On arriving to their beautiful home, we had a drink and chat and climbed into bed in their air-conditioned guest bedroom. (Thank ... read more

We arrived in Rio and checked into the Apa Hotel which was 2 streets back from the beach. We caught a bus from the airport which took about 1 ½ hours to get to Copacabana Beach. This was recommended to us. Once on the bus we wondered how we would know when to get off!! Tom was befriended by a guy from the USA who was keen to talk, guide and help. He does business frequently in Rio and we learn later that his girlfriend is Brazilian as we ran into them again during our stay in Rio. He told us where to get off and I knew the street to look for so all worked well. He also suggested that we take a bus trip to see the main features of the city, since ... read more

We arrived in Buenos Aires at 12.30pm after 22 hours in the bus from Bariloche. It was a full Cama bus so sleeping conditions were good. Pam had a particularly good sleep because I woke up and the sun was up but my watch said 5.40am so I went back to sleep. Next I knew was when Tom was tapping me on the shoulder saying it was time I woke up. I looked at my watch and saw it was still 5.40am. My watch battery had gone flat and it was 10.30am when Tom woke me!!!!! We caught a taxi to our Hotel Splendid which was 8 blocks away from the Plaza de Mayo and 1 block away from the widest street in BA, Av 9 De Julio. The avenue is one of the widest avenues ... read more