Safely returned to Buenos Aires from Ouyedou Flow* we find that the strikers have been given an ultimatum by Cristina to stop striking, which of course they have so far ignored. Tomorrow is Malvinas** Day, which is a national holiday, and the strikers are holding a massive rally in Playa de Mayo to rally support for their cause. It should be a huge event so while everyone is out waving banners, banging their saucepans and tooting their little horns, we have a cunning plan to lay siege to the local supermarket and carry off all their fresh produce before anyone notices anything amiss. It does depend on us getting up early enough and assembling the correct money in pesos, so the chances are it won't happen and we will resign ourselves to another night of eating in fancy restaurants. Such are the vagaries of a travelling life. Sigh.

Meanwhile, in other news, we have signed up to do some voluntary work for an organisation called LIFE which works with disadvantaged children in the poorer areas of Buenos Aires. Brian is helping with a project that is giving football training to young children and I have been trying to help with other worthy activities, but it's proving quite an uphill task due to a lack of organisation within the charity. Last Tuesday, two other new volunteers and I were sent off to the other side of Buenos Aires to attempt to teach English to a group of children. Unfortunately none of us knew where we were going or what to do when we got there, as the coordinator who was supposed to accompany us was stuck on a bus somewhere in deepest Argentina. But the eager young recruit in the office assured us we would be fine, threw a box of crayons and some worksheets at us and handed us a piece of paper with directions on - that might just as well have been written on the back of a fag packet for their utter uselessness. They were laughably inadequate for a complex and long journey that started with bus and train rides for nearly 2 hours, before ending on a dirt track amongst some ramshackle buildings. We spent so long trying to work out how to get there, trying to get the right change for the bus, queuing for train tickets, and generally getting lost that the kids had all gone home by the time we arrived, and so we spent a frustrating 5 hours doing precisely nothing but travel there and back. Brian's work has proved a little more worthwhile, but he is experiencing a similar lack of organisation - it's a problem because the volunteers are very well-meaning but know little or nothing of what they are doing as there is such a high turnover of people working for just a few days or weeks at a time.

I recounted the story to Dave the next day and he looked at me in horror when I told him where we went to catch the train. 'Crikey' he said (or words to that effect), even Jacquie (the National Treasure) won't go there. I gulped. I had unwittingly fallen amongst thieves and pickpockets yet again. Luckily this time I got away unscathed, but that could be because I am now clinging onto my bag for dear life whenever we go out, oh yes and I no longer have anything to rob of course.

Sympathetic readers will be keen to hear that Glorious Gloria, the scary Spanish teacher, has been ditched in favour of Mariana, her antithesis. Mariana is a lovely young argentine actress who speaks perfect English (grrr) and is very petite and beautiful (double grrr). She also has a sense of humour and speaks to us only in Spanish, which is good, but frustrating at times. Brian's Spanish is improving no end. I have decided though to go back to school and brush up on my verbs, hoping that leaving Brian with Mariana will improve his linguistic abilities and I can then leave him to do all the talking. Hmm. He's also started musing about getting a Spanish au pair when we get back to the UK so he can continue to practice his language skills. I've agreed, with a couple of conditions - she has to have a moustache and thighs like tree trunks.

*Ouyedou Flow - a little known anagram of 'We Fooled You'. The eagle-eyed reader of this blog may have noticed the date of our ludicrous skiing trip amongst the penguins of the South Pole, the rest of you can take comfort in the fact that even Dave, who lives here and whom we only saw last Friday, asked, enviously, how our skiing trip went. I mean, really.

** Malvinas - an little known anagram of the Falkland Islands.