So back home. Just in time for the clocks to go back so it's dark as I write at 5 o'clock. It all adds to the gloom of being back from a fantastic holiday.

People ask what was the highlight? It's impossible to pick just one - the Iguazu Falls, the birds in the Pantanal, the salt flats in Bolivia were all amazing. Visiting Paraguay, a country I've wanted to go to for years was interesting as was Potosi. Sucre and Paraty were very relaxing whilst Sao Paulo and Rio were not what I expected - better in both cases. Just travelling around - often as the only Western tourists, created a special buzz.

Before we went people kept asking us: isn't it dangerous? And certainly it has that reputation but we didn't feel threatened or unsafe anywhere we went really. And despite their reputation for unreliability all our flights (with one exception), trains and buses left and arrived pretty much on time and without any hair raising experiences en route. Our hotels were all good - better than many I've experienced in this country. In fact we didn't have any real hitches until we got back to the UK. On the tube from Heathrow we had to leave the train at Turnham Green because of a security scare. In the taxi we got to Kings Cross we passed the burnt out ruin of Grenfell Tower and then witnessed a car crash. I said to the driver - "I'm going back to Rio. It's safer there!"

And what about the politics of the countries we visited? What can I say about them? In Brazil and Paraguay there was an air of resignation, an expectation that their politicians were corrupt and weren't going to change. The surge in left-wing governments that happened in the 90s and 00s seems to be in retreat. Paraguay elected their own Donald Trump prototype as President in 2013 and both Rio and Sao Paulo have recently elected populist, right-wing mayors (one an evangelical Christian) who are busy undoing some of the more progressive measures introduced previously. The recession has hit Brazil particularly hard, especially noticeable in Rio with lots of people, mostly young black men, sleeping rough on the streets. In Bolivia Evo Morales, the socialist President, still obviously commands loyal support amongst the indigenous communities but he lost last year's referendum which would have allowed him to stand for a third term.

The people we met were just intent on getting on with their lives. They were unfailingly friendly and welcoming, putting up with our almost non-existent Portuguese or stumbling Spanish (although Kate's improved a lot during the holiday). South America feels both very different and also, because of the strong European heritage, familiar at the same time. It's a place I could keep going back to.

For anyone who's interested these are the song titles and artists I've used as the headings for my blogs:

On The Road Again - Canned Heat

Leaving On A Jet Plane - Peter, Paul and Mary

I'm Not Complaining - Benny Goodman

Thela Hun Ginjeet - King Crimson

Summer In The City - The Lovin' Spoonful

Over The Waterfall - traditional

Stop The Dams - Gorillaz

Step Across The Border - Fred Frith

The Mission (film) - Roland Joffe (director)

Magic Bus - The Who

Money, Money, Money - Abba

I The Supreme (novel) - Augusto Roa Bastos

Dreadlock Holiday - 10 c.c.

Giant Steps - John Coltrane

Silver Machine - Hawkwind

Cocaïne - J.J. Cale

We Gotta Get Out Of This Place - The Animals

Pretty Flamingo - Manfred Mann

Train to Brazil - The Guillemots

Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) - Talking Heads

Wild Thing - The Troggs

The Girl From Ipanema - Astrud Gilberto & Stan Getz

It's Not Over ('til It's Over) - Starship

Home - David Byrne & Brian Eno