Hello from the border town of Salto in north west Uruguay. This has pretty much been a functional one night stop for us as there isn't a lot to see here in this small town. Later this afternoon we are taking taxis over the Rio Uruguay dam into Concordia, Argentina, where we are getting a night bus up to Iguassu Falls in Brazil - the next big highlight of my world tour. In the end I did opt to go ten pin bowling in Montevideo as we went along without the company ...

We arrived into Montevideo at 11am after the shortest bus journey of our entire trip. Joaquin took us on the usual orientation walk, but being Sunday most of the shops along the main street were closed and there weren´t many people about. Montevideo is home to half of Uruguay´s 4 million citizens and is a major port and trading centre in the region. Being a port town I was unsurprised to find it a little grubby looking, but it seems like quite a pleasant and li...

Hello from Uruguay´s capital Montevideo for a backdated blog on Colonia. Its lovely to be back somewhere where there is actually a feel of genuine warmth in the air. I´ve been able to comfortably wear shorts and a T-shirt for the first time since Santiago, and long may it continue. We caught a Dover-Calais style car ferry from the port in Buenos Aires across here to Colonia. You couldn´t quite see Uruguay across the large Rio de la Plata, but from Colonia you ...

So the marathon bus journey is now behind me! We left sunny but cold Bariloche at 3pm and arrived in cloudy but mild Buenos Aires the next day at 12pm - a journey of 21 hours! Apart from the idiot at Bariloche bus station who went mental at me because I didn´t tip him for moving my bag 2ft (he for me typifies Argentinians who I´ve found to be aggressive and rude on the whole), and apart from the fact the airline style dinner wasn´t served until 11pm (too late!...

Hello from Argentina, and happy Columbus Day! The 12th of October is a designated bank holiday in Argentina in honour of the explorer responsible for much of the colonization of the Americas, but this isn´t exactly good news for me. Like Sunday yesterday, it pretty much means that most of Argentina is closed. Bariloche is a pretty touristic town so there are some shops open, but the busses are running a very reduced schedule so we are pretty much stuck in town t...