I am a self-confessed “word geek” and am accused by my friends of frequent “grammar nazism”. It’s true. I frequently, shamefully, make judgments about people based on a stray comma, poor syntax, a misspelling. When I attempt to defend my pedantry (which is often indefensible) in debates, the same argument is often used: “The important…
Ask and ye shall Recife
First, an apology to anyone who speaks Portuguese: I’m aware that an “r” at the beginning of a word is pronounced as an “h”, thereby making the title’s already tenuous pun, even more of a stretch. Yes, that’s right, folks; in Brazil, Rio is pronounced “Hio”. You reard it rere first! Recife is a small…
My week in Rio: part 2
So where was I? Ah yes! I had just finished my tour of the botanical gardens and was deciding on a plan for the evening. I settled on jazz at a bar called La Champanharía, some distance away, between the nocturnally nefarious areas of Mauá and Santa Teresa. In the knowledge that walking any distance…
My week in Rio: part 1
I arrived in Rio 6 days before the start of the Olympic games and the place was humming with expectation. And when I say expectation, what I really mean is last-minute preparation. As proof of this, I took a photo of a set of Olympic rings, wrapped in plastic, that arrived at night as I…
Last hoorah in Buenos Aires
Dear reader, please forgive my absence: I got rather carried away in Rio and have not put metaphorical pen to metaphorical paper for quite a while. Our protagonist (yours truly) was returning to Buenos Aires from Mendoza at the end of the previous post. Let us reprise: I had selected to stay in the neighbourhood…
I say, “Malbec”, you say, “?”
Mendoza! That’s right, the Argentine city is synonymous with high-calibre, new world wine and, as an oenophile, that was reason enough to visit whilst in the country. I made a reservation on AirBnB then headed to the Buenos Aires bus terminal to board and overnight bus to Mendoza. Not only were the tickets more than…
Patagonia – Narnia meets Middle Earth
As I write, the dawn is weaving patterns of red and gold through the cloth of cloud on the Patagonian horizon. I am on a bus heading from El Chaltén to El Calafate: places of which I was totally ignorant until a week ago. Where and what is Patagonia? It constitutes a third of Argentina…
You’ve been tango’d – a week in Buenos Aires
Hello from Argentina! Rather a few days have passed since my last post so I will try to give a (witty) summary of my movements: I left you last in Cape Town as I prepared for my 39-hour (layover in Doha inclusive) transit to Buenos Aires. That was about as much fun as it’s sounds…
Cape Town and the Garden Route
If you have ever heard a semi-inebriated South African extolling the virtues of Cape Town, you would think the place was a second Eden – paradise on Earth. So, with this reputation preceding it, it had a lot to live up to. I will freely admit that winter might not be the optimal time to…
Thoughts on racial descrimination
The West End show “Avenue Q” famously has a song entitled, “Everyone’s a little bit racist”. It pokes subversive fun at our prejudice, our stereotyping and our subconscious biases. Whilst in no way peculiar to this area, during my time in southern Africa I have been privy to numerous conversations which treat the subject of…
Chobe #2 and Victoria Falls
The following morning, our assistant guide and chef, Job, delighted us with a mountain of French toast before our schedule visit of a model village of a Caprivian tribe. Our guide for this activity’s name was Gift, a diminutive chap whose good favour we gained immediately by giving him a foil-wrapped gift of the part…
Bush men and hippos
A new tour departing from Windhoek meant a new group with which to familiar myself. The U.S. Librarian and Brenda, one of the Canadians were the only repeat offenders from the previous trip of northern Namibia. I therefore had to shake seven new hands and try to not immediately forget the seven new names that…
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