Recently I noticed the map on the front page of my site doesn�t show exactly where I�ve been thus far, only the places from which I write a blog. Therefore, you may think I�ve had a nice relaxing time of it....which is not entirely untrue, but the fact of the matter is that I haven�t really had time to settle in any particular place of late. Consequently it dawned on me at the start of the week that I�ll have...

From Rio de Janeiro I headed seven hours north to the small town of Ouro Preto in the hills. The fact that this place couldn?t be recommended enough by my Lonely Planet guide for its splendid mountain scenery, plus my feeling that the town would be both rather less crowded than most of the other places I?ve been and, maybe because of this, far less commercial, made for an attractive proposition after four days of the big bustling city. I wasn?t disappointed.Arriv...

Thanks for wishing me a Happy Birthday. In the end, I decided to skip through Curitiba, and ride with Tess on a nightbus straight through so that I could get here for that day. After setting down our stuff in Ipanema, we spent the day first visiting Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer statue), which I guess is synonymous with one�s photographic image of the city, and which you can see prretty much wherever you are here, It makes a good reference point...

We arrived in Brazil from the tiny Bolivian town of Quijarro after a very cold overnight train ride, relieved, at that time of the morning, that our journey over the border was relatively hassle-free. Though we�d all noted a more European feel and look to Santa Cruz the day before, which was the first time in a while when we�d been at a height approximating to sea-level, Brazil has a look which is completely distinct from its South American...

These are exciting times. We're now in Sucre, which is Bolivia's official capital city...or one of two or something like that! Anyway, it's pretty nice here, mostly because I can wear shorts during the day and don't have to wrap up at night. In fact, while on the two-and-a-half hour taxi ride down here from Potosi, which itself is not that much to (literally) write home about, you could almost feel the air that little bit easier to breathe. We did, however, befor...