A few thoughts on my South American adventure.

When I headed to South America at the start of November, I wasn't sure what to expect. My only real knowledge of Argentina was from strictly, the movie evita, the falklands and various world cups. As for brazil in general and rio in particular, even my lonely planet guide seemed to suggest that if I managed to get out of the country in one piece I would be very lucky, if I happened to still be alive-that would be a bonus.

As far as Argentina and Buenos Aires is concerned, I loved the place. The people were really friendly and couldn't do enough for you, and bearing in mind my Spanish skills are only slightly better than my Japanese-they were always very patient! My trick was to make the effort to read the spanish, they would normally laugh and try and practice their english.

In addition to this, the city is amazing value- probably the cheapest place I've stayed.

Aside the safety issues, which were nowhere near as bad as feared, Rio was something of a disappointment. Pretty much the first place on my trip that i wouldnt rush back to. The place I stayed at was awesome, but the most welcoming person there was from the UK.

As for the city itself, I kinda expected it to be sunny and cheap, instead it was raining and expensive. Probably the most expensive place I've been(and that includes japan!). A big mac meal will set you back over six quid. Incidentally the cheapest big mac meal in all the places I've visited, is in hong kong, just £1.64.

Whilst my spanish skills may not be great, my knowledge of Portuguese is totally non existent, and I gotta say Brazil is the only place where they really weren't interested in embracing my pigeon skills.

I did do all the tourist things, but the problem with going on a trip like this is that you start to compare what you are seeing- with what you saw in the last city, and the one before that. More on this, when I show you the pictures.