"Brasil, Brasil" - its carnaval time and those patriotic Brazilians were in full on party mode when we arrived in Rio in a huge storm. Well most of them were, we stopped at the Riotur desk in the airport for tourist information and the Carioca on duty got out a map, circled the Sugar Loaf, the Corcavado (Christ statue) and said - "well there isnt really much to do here except for the beaches" - hold on a minute, isnt the world´s biggest party due to start in just a couple of days.....? Well that´s Brazil for you - full of contradictions and myths. We were spending a couple of days in Rio where Julie and Dave would join us from the UK and then on to Salvador for the biggest street Carnaval in the world ... read more

Punta Arenas Just a quick one because people keep asking to see photos of where we have been living and volunteering for the last month. First things first, where are we? Punta Arenas is in Chilean Patagonia. Punta Arenas is a very pleasant town of about 125,000 inhabitants hugging the shores of the Straits of Magellan. Its origin back in the 19th century was as a trading port mostly for wool and as a fuelling stop for the steamers on their way around Cape Horn. Around its main square are beautiful colonial mansions in a European style, think Paris and London. In the centre of the square is a bronze statue of Magellan and some native indians which you may recognize from Michael Palin´s Pole to Pole programme. This is the place where he waited for ... read more

Instituto de Serabales “So we´ll meet at 9 outside the school …” said Juan, little did we know that by 10am we would be on our feet in front of our first class. That was it, no teaching expertise, no lesson plans, no teaching guides and no teachers to shadow. Just the merry band of TAPA volunteers and an expectant bunch of Punta Arenan students. And so began my month as an English teacher in Punta Arenas, good job I’d done it before in Bolivia. A quick trip to the shop at lunchtime with my teaching partner Michael (the man with the stupid hat) and we were in possession of a set of pens, flashcards and a natty mini rugby ball in the colours of the Union Jack - a quick lob of which is just ... read more

"I...am...never...taking...another...night...bus....again...understand?" This was the question posed to me as we arrived in Cordoba, a mere nine hours by bus (Chevallier) from Buenos Aires, but given that the movies and lights were on most of the night and then we were woken early by music, not the best trip. This wasnt good...How the 'eck were we going to get back to BA, walk?! I decided to let the issue lie for a while to allow the water to cool... And so to Cordoba. Centre of Argentina really, right next to these small hills they call the Sierras, and second largest city in the country. Very like its namesake in Spain. And hot, very hot...42+ degrees for the three days we were there. We checked into a hotel recommended by Andrew and Susan (Hotel Vienna), who had reconnoitered ... read more

Thanks for all your cards and messages and really thoughtful pressies, it was great to recieve a bag full of goodies via Andrew and Susan and really exciting when we arrived at the Hilton and there were christmas cards waiting for us. As you know we had been disappointed with the lack of Christmas cheer in the run up to Christmas as we faithfully towed our own mini chritmas tree (arbolito) around with us to cheer up dingy hostel rooms - but everything changed the minute we arrived in BA. On our first night we met up with Andrew and Susan who are out here on holiday and went out for a parilla (steak house). As happens out here in South America we turned a corner and found ourselves in the middle of a carnaval. Possibly ... read more