5 January, Friday... Arrived in Florianopolis, the first real stop in Brazil. Wandered up and down the main street looking for a hostel before finding out that the woman in tourist information had lied to us and there was indeed space in the HI hostel. Checked out the town a bit and searched for a replacement travel guide which turned out to be rather expensive along with everything else in Brazil. Ate pizza and went to a club in the evening which turned out to be miles away and took ages to get to, oh well. 6 January, Saturday... Went to a beach called Melo or something like that. It was well busy, those brazilians do love their beaches, there were also some very large waves that made swimming a real challenge. I got myself thoroughly ... read more

Ok, forgive me for what will be a rather brief diary form but I'm rather out of date on this whole blog thingamebob. 20 December, Wednesday... We got into Buenos Aires and checked into our hostel at lunchtime then went for a walk around the local area trying to get to the San Telmo area but not actually reaching it. We did get to see the Casa Rosada but didn't really recognise it because of all the scaffolding, oh well that should be rectified tomorrow. Not much else to do so rounded off the day with some food and beer. Nice. 21 December, Thursday... We met some guys who'd won the 'pub quiz' in our hostel last night who invited us along to their prize of an actual walking tour of San Telmo so we took ... read more

11 December, Monday... Finally arrived in Ushuaia which is marketed as being the end of the world, or at least the southernmost city in the world. We hadn't booked any accommodation but bumped into Dave (met in Bariloche) and then checked into the busiest hostel in town on his reccommendation where I met another guy I met in Bariloche (but never asked his name). As there were no seats in the commual area we went for a walkabout and came back after not too long as it's a bit cold this far south and warmed up with hot chocolate (drink not the band) while some crazy girl danced around the hostel. 12 December, Tuesday... Decided to go to a new hostel, interneted it up for a while, then we met Pam from the Navimag for a ... read more

3 December, Sunday... Arrived in Puerto Montt early afternoon, went for a wander about and decided there's not much here. Watched some local football on TV in 'OK Corral' pub which is just like Smith and Western for those Horsham-ites amongst you. Ate half a kilo of Dulce de Leche Viennetta in the evening then fell asleep while Thom watched True Lies on the telly. I know, how can you sleep though that??? 4 December, Monday... Did a little shopping for warmer clothes (jeans for me, jumper for TC) and lots of wine for the boat (and a mini-guitar for Thom). Boarded Navimag and sat around unexplained in port for ages. Met three other Brits; Pamela and Mariah, Ceri (well one was an American but can you guess who) and drank cheap wine and played cards ... read more

22 November, Wednesday... Got into Pucón bright and early and decided to ignore the nice woman at the bus terminal who offered us the chance to stay in a nice hostel and went off in search of one we saw on the internet instead. That involved a lot of walking back and forth until we gave up and found a family run guesthouse with no atmosphere which we decided would have to do. There's one main activity to do in Pucón and that's to climb the great big Volcano Villareal which dominates the skyline. It's just what you'd expect a big volcano to look like, massive, conical and with lava pouring from the crater at the snow covered summit. We booked ourselves onto a climb for tomorrow (you have to go with a guide as it's ... read more