Monday 30th October 2006. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

This morning I meet Irene as usual and head into the office.

I have a lot of work to do today on the blog and on the website. I hit yet another hurdle when ESU Chile e-mail to inform me that they are withdrawing from the project and so I am left without project support or accommodation for my time in Santiago.

Its at moments like these I wish I had never left England...What is it they say about the best laid plans???

Out of the office I go to lunch with Paula and Jorge at Bistrô da Jaque. It is amazing how small a world it really is.

I knew Paula was Scottish when I first met her, but today I discover that she grew up in a boarding house at Edinburgh Academy where her father was a Housemaster. We discover in the ensuing conversation that we have a great deal in common.

I then head out across the city to address students. My first stop is the Jardim Botânico branch of the Cultura Inglesa. After my talk here I head out to the Cultura in Leblon (arguably Rio's most upscale neighbourhood).

I spend a lot of time with the branch manager Adriana who presents me with a gift of a prayer to St Jude...the Patron saint of lost/impossible causes. Adriana assures me that St Jude will help me get through this project very successfully.

Its a taxi back to my hotel where I intend to spend the evening on the internet working on the project and trying to sort out accommodations etc for Chile.

Tonight though I am having no luck. I enquire at the hotel about the internet and discover that I can pay twenty reais for a whole days access. Even though it is early evening I decide to bite the bullet and spend my food allowance on the project. Of course when I go down to log-on I am told that the charge is only applicable if you have a lap-top. As I do not it will be a 30 cents per minute charge on the hotel computer, but there are none available.

Unable to proceed I decide to call my best friend in New York and get her to call me back at the hotel.

The mobile telephone I have however turns out to bar international calls and the telephone in my room is giving out a constant busy signal...looks like another lonely night of TV then!