From Iguazu Falls, I took a 24 hour bus to Rio. Keen to get some beach time under my belt before the carnaval, I just changed buses at the terminal and kept on going, 3 hours further down the coast to Isla Grande. For the next week I lazed around, soaking up the sun and walking a bit, late nights and early starts due to the sun hitting my tent at 6am every day. Portugese was a mystery at first , but after a while I was happily conversing to the locals in Spa...

Ok, ok, for the third time I need to write this, although its a bit late, damned computers erasing my previous ramblings....Buenos Aires was fun. Although I gave up on the idea of teaching english due to the paltry 2 pounds per hour pay rate (and the fact that the schools all break for summer in December until February), I did manage to keep to my plan of 2 guitar classes per week to learn the basic chords for a handful of indie rockclassics. Also the t...

Now in Buenos Aires, bustling home to 12 million Argentines.  I´m more than ready to put the rucksack in the cupboard for a few months, and settle into a more relaxed rhythm for a little while.  Just looking for an appartment to share until January, and hope to find some work teaching English, as well as indulging myself in lessons on the guitar, the world-renowned tango, some football and trying to find some green space in the city for a but...

La Paz, highest capital city in the world at over 3600m, was for me a fun place; colourful street vendors from the countryside, all-male outdoor debating forums, indigenous and farmers´ rights rallies, slightly disquieting balaclava-clad shoe shiners, and multi-coloured US-style trucks transporting people to all parts of the city for 10p; beautifully ornate Spanish catholic cathedrals and monuments dedicated to i...

I´ve visited Lima before - concrete, polluted, and a bad cold I remember well, so I resolved to get in and out quickly.  A mad 20 minute herbie taxi -dash between the spaces left by other cars ensured we caught up with a just-departed north-bound bus to Huaraz in the beautiful Cordillera Blanca, 8 hrs away. On arrival, it wasn´t straightforward to find somewhere to stay - in the dark, no street names as the city had been flattened by earthqu...