Highlights Sunset horse ride in the foothills of the Andes and the proceeding red wine around the fire and live guitar music Free red wine at the hostal in Mendoza Views as we crossed the Andes Meeting Chileans and learning new Spanish phrases "Ando con la mona" literally "walking with the monkey" and used when hungover, very handy! Playing pool with the locals in Che Lagarto Hostal Santiago, despite losing a grand (in Chilean pesos due to their dodgy rules)...

Buenos Aires...I love that city. Highlights - Tango show and lessons, Copa America Final, Mariel's home-stay, Spanglish (speed dating concept but for exchanging language not chat up lines), empanadas from our favourite cafe, red wine, San Telmo, Spanish lessons, discovering dolce du leche especially with homemade scones at 6am after clubbing.. the list goes on. Lowlights - Andy getting his wallet stolen on the subte Leaving BA though getting the ridiculous s...

In search of Iguassu. Highlights - Iguassu falls, Lopez Mendez beach in Ilha Grande, cute cobbled streets of Paraty, Alvaro our gorgeous Chilean guide, watching Uruguay beat Argentina in Montevideo and the ensuing street party, meeting most of the people from the tour. Lowlights - The group sickness bug and vomiting for 12 hours, the bus window been smashed as we drove out of Sao Paulo bus station late at night. Random moments - Purchasing Caipirinhas from st...

3 days, 4 nights in Rio. Weather mainly rubbish. Though I did get to Ipanema Beach on my first day before the rain started. Andy arrived safely and we took in the sights which as you can see from the photos were somewhat limited by the mist. On the last night met our tour group for the next 17 days. 4 Canadians, 2 Irish, 1 Scot and 8 English. Mixed age from 18 to 37 (so I'm not quite the oldest). Missing items - none (great start) Injuries - 1 cut to foot ...

So, I have arrived in Rio. Flight fairly uneventful apart from the 2 hour delay on the plane at Heathrow. How an air steward injures himself on board a plane to the extent that he has to be replaced is a bit of a mystery.?