Hi all, Don´t believe that Rio and other exotic places are always sunny! It´s poured buckets today - yet still been warm. Yesterday we had a great time wandering around the street markets in the central district - Steve bought yet more cheap reading glasses (so that whenever he loses a pair, there are still more to hand). I bought a rather flouncy gypsy-style dress - most unlike me, but I guess Rio is bringing out the flamboyant side! And then last night we had the best ever charroscaria - Brazilian BBQ, with meat served on skewers at a pretty fast rate. Absolutely delicious. But we made a mistake: we decided to try a caiphirina (nb it may be spelt completely differently to this!). Afraid that it might be horribly alcoholic, I tried only a sip. ... read more

C writes ... Yesterday we spent about 6 hours footslogging round BA, following various walking tours which happened to take in Florida - a pedestrianised street that is famous for its leather shops, other nice shops, and an astonishng amount of tourist tat. However, all to good effect - Steve finally found the perfect pair of "dress boots" (as he calls them (for wearing under jeans(, and the inevitable CDs. I was awfuly good and bought nothing. We finished off in the hotel's sauna - actually a steam room. Dear gods, I've never been so hot in my life! but felt so good afterwards - could actually stand up without creaking despite all the walking. I really, really do miss yoga ... Last night we went out in search of a restaurant specialising in a traditional ... read more

So, why "Eureka"? because it as so flippin' tortuous to get here, that's why! (writes Cathy, still on this same obstreperous keyboard, where what is shown on the keys bears no relation to what happens when you hit it). So we expected to fly out of Santiago at 9.15am, and ordered an alarm call at 5.30 to enable us to pack. The call - of course - came at 4.30am, so that really got us excited. The transport was early, adding to the hassle factor, and when we finally got to the airport there was no sign of our flight. Turned out it had been cancelled a month earlier!!!! How would our pre-arranged transfer ever find us? how would we get into BA? We eventually got on a flight at 1pm (and bear in mind that ... read more

Hi All, Well we´re safe and sound in South America. The flight from Oz was long but as yuo saw from the last blog at least we got to get off in Aukland and make use for the facilities there. Then it was a 10 hour haul and bodies that really did not want to sleep so by the time we got here we were zonked. We had arranged to get picked up at the airport and this all worked out very well. We were met by a driver and a guide who then gave us a running commentary as we drove into town as well as a security brieifing that would rival anything I had while working at BG Group. Anyway we have been warned and plan on being careful. After a couple of hours ... read more

Hi again, Well, the weather improved so we are able to complete things in Perth. But the first thing to say is that of course we watched the Royal Wedding as did most of Australia - they go nuts for it over here (C: one TV station has shown 40 hours of footage, starting at 9am UK time - and it's stil going on. If I've seen Wills plight his troth once, I've seen it a dozen times. And loved it every time). It's always a little odd watching pixs from somewhere you know well when you are miles away. All seemed to go well, and we went out to celebrate with burger and some live music last night - a 12 piece swing band and lots of locals jiving - excellent. On Thursday we were ... read more