We just got back from visiting the Cristo Redentor statue. Now that´s the way to spend christmas eve. It was so unbelievably impressive. The views of the city are just fantastic (we even saw the worlds largest floating christmas tree!) and the statue itself is so impressive! Tomorrow we plan to go up Sugar Loaf mountain if the cable cars are still operating. I hope they are. The two days we spent in Sao Paulo were fairy uneventful. The city isn´t all that interesting, we walked around for about 3 hours and saw al the pretty buildings. We also saw a massive nativity scene set in the amazon, so instead of cows ad sheep there were crocodiles and leopards and instead of shepards and wise men there were indians... Interesting! We aso saw a man covered ... read more

Oh dear, I really have been rather rubbish at updating this blog haven't I? After various complaints from my mother I am forcing myself to update here again. Since the last time I blogged I have been to Asuncion a couple of times, been horrifically ill a couple of times, attended a Paraguayan baptism service, put up my christmas tree and as always been just too darn hot most of the time. The first time I went to Asuncion it was to go and pick up and pay for my plane ticket to Brazil for my christmas hols, at which time I found out that the people in the Paraguayan Embassy are either really stupid or really evil. I now dislike them a lot. If you remember my blog entry about the Epic Golden Tourist Visa ... read more

I am really very bad at this blogging malarkey. So much happens and I totally just forget it all and don't write it. I wanted a realy nice travel journal to write in for here, and I got one, but do I write in it nearly regularly enough... Of course not! *slaps wrists* Anyone who's ever watched Brainiac science abuse will be familiar with an enlightening experiment called "Things you can't do whilst being electrocuted" Well the other day I accidently managed to carry out my own version of this experient, and the answer is, for me anwyay, not a whole heck of a lot. I was in the midsts of plugging my laptop in at the wall when the boxy bit in the middle of the cable fell of the table, the sudden weight of ... read more

But the old man is definitely not snoring as this is the first rain in Concepcion in about 5 months. The river is about half full, it's scary to look at. Lots of people, in the Chaco particularly, don't have food and water, the government is on the verge of declaring a national emergency. Annoyingly, it rains quite frequently in the capital Asuncion, but we're just that bit further north and so don't get it so often. Even though it rained today the country still needs a lot more, as it only rained for a few hours this morning, it's all sunny again now. I just looked at a weather website that says Concepcion is in the middle of a thunderstorm, which is just a complete lie! Last night was Bishop John and Judy's despedida. That's ... read more

So I've been here a month now... Seriously how did that happen? I blinked and missed it or something! It feels like I've been here about a week. I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing... Today I had my first attempt at teaching Zuny english. I think it went well. I taught her the alphabet and how to say hello and goodbye and introduce yourself. Tomorrow I'm going to teach her numbers and dates. Yesterday I had the most supremely lazy day, I stayed in my pyjamas aaaaaall day. I ate, I slept, and I chatted to my mummy, my sister and Laura. It was a goooooood day. Claire had to go to the capital again with little Romina, the girl who needs to go to the hospital quite a lot. ... read more