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And so we left Buenos Aires and now here I am in Brazil! We crossed the border last night after visiting the Iguaçu waterfalls on the Argentinean side, which was an incredible experience, including a train journey and a “quiet” boat trip on a rigid inflatable where we had to sit on the sides of the boat rather than on seats. Then we had a walk around the falls themselves, viewing them from all angles – and what an incredible sight they are! We took another boat trip under the falls in a high powered boat which appeared to turn on a sixpence and gave us plenty of opportunities, if we wished, to take photographs of the falls from below.

I didn’t take advantage, as there was so much water spraying about, the camera would have been swamped – and we were swamped because part of the fun of this trip was to go right under the waterfalls themselves, where the water churns up into huge waves which invariably ended up in our laps and all over us! Everyone wore either rainproofs, which weren’t terribly effective because the water found its way into everybody’s ponchos and macs, or the braver ones just wore shorts and a t-shirt and just enjoyed the soaking! I would have liked to go over them in a helicopter but decided it really was too expensive and in the end, as we had such incredible views from the ground, decided that was enough.

We crossed over into Brazil from Argentina and visited the falls here, which affords a greater panoramic view than on the Argentinean side. Talking of water, we have at last reached the rainy season and it has poured more frequently while we’ve been around the falls than at any time on our trip so far. Trouble is, our campsite has no proper roads, just mud tracks and when I tell you that the earth is bright red, you can imagine that my shoes, my trouser bottoms and most of my clothes that I am wearing at the moment seem to have red stains everywhere. So it’s a question of running around, trying to avoid all the red muddy puddles, all the deep red mud, and live as normally as possible!

We took a bus to the falls within the national park, and our truck just parked up outside and our leaders prepared lunch for us while we were away as we would only be there a couple of hours, as it is just a walk along a designated path to see the falls. It was, as I have said a spectacular sight. One hears the falls before seeing them and when one bursts upon them, one's thoughts turn to the first Europeans to discover them (and don't ask me their names now) and how they must have felt to see such a sight. We were taken to a bridge right under the falls and were all sprayed by the water and it cascaded down, but that was only one tiny part of the falls. They just go on and on and on, and each turning of the path brings a different perspective into view. It is totally impossible, I would say, to photograph them in their entirety whether you are in the air or on the ground. No photograph, however professionally done, can really do full justice to them. At the tourist shop, I got a book about them and it contained a CD with 60 photos on it, so hopefully I may be able to get a better perspective when I am able to view it.

Well, we then got on the road heading for what we expected to be our next camp site but somehow or other, the roads got rerouted and we ended up lost! However, Brazil has these fabulous restaurants called Churascias, which means really, barbecued steak, and they charge you for your food according to how much it weighs. We stopped off at this roadside restaurant at about 2100 as we were all starving, and as we entered, they gave us a credit card and it turned out that whatever we bought in their restaurant or shop went on to this credit card and then in order to get out, we had to present the card and pay our total bill. A fantastic idea, as the restaurant is a buffet type meal and one can choose whatever one wants, as much or as little, etc, and it doesn't matter whether you love meat or are a vegetarian because everyone is catered for.

After leaving there we moved on, trying to find the right road to our campsite but in the end our redoubtable leaders had to give up and we arrived at this dicey looking transport cafe, which really wasn't too bad, except the petrol station alongside was either being completely revamped or reconstructed and it was a building site. However, they let rooms and so that's where we stayed for the night, not without a little trepidation to start off with. As soon as we had climbed the stone steps to the upper floor, everything was transformed – clean tiles everywhere, a room with a fan whirling around creating lots of cool air, clean beds and a shower room with hot water, towels and toilet paper! Luxury. We had a thoroughly good night's sleep and Judith and I were able at last to wash all the red mud off our shoes although they didn't dry out for a day or two. We both had flip flops to wear and I had my black shoes I bought for £9 which have proved one of the most comfortable pair of shoes I have ever bought and which don't even stain one's feet black no matter how much they perspire!

Anyway, we arrived at the next camp site in Paraty rather late the next night, as we had decided to miss out the one night stand on the way and press on to the place where we would be staying for a few days. Paraty is a seaside resort, with a lot of history but don't ask me what it is! It has an old town, with cobbled streets, and of course it was carnival fever there already. We stayed in a nice campsite which had soap dishes and nice showers and toilets which were kept a lot cleaner than the other place in Foz and also did not have any red mud. But it was a bit of a one horse dope and also made me realise how much more expensive Brazil was going to be for just about everything than the rest of South America. Laundry was costing four times as much as elsewhere – you would laugh and say I was still paying pennies, but it is in comparison to the rest of the continent that I judge it.

The highlight of our stay there was a boat trip, or I should say a schooner trip around the islands. It stopped off every now and then to let down anchor as the boat couldn't get too close to shore, and people who could swim just jumped off and had fun. We non-swimmers were rather restricted until one our leaders ask the captain to let the dinghy down and go ashore, so I got Paddington out, slung him round my neck and together we progressed to shore where we had our pix taken several times. So who's Paddington I hear a lot of you ask? Well, Paddington Bear, of course, from Peru, who has been my trusty friend this many a week, blown up and placed round neck when necessary, although at the falls he could not be utilised because only the proper life jackets were allowed. Anyway, Paddington and I are now on record, braving the waves to go ashore and return to boat.

After Paraty, where we stayed three nights, we were off to Rio and arrived in time for carnival. Now, my companion, Judith said she could forgive our truck company, Exodus everything for the marvellous package we had in Rio. The Imperial Hotel turned out to be very imperial and provided us, albeit three to a room or more to keep the cost down, with a swimming pool, which suited me down to the ground because at the deep end it only came up to just over my shoulders, and at the shallow end was just under my armpits. So I was able to go there, open air, with a palm tree, together with growing coconuts, and a few pot plants, in the early morning, do my exercises (with Judith doing hers too) and then we would take a dip in the pool, Judith to swim and me to just paddle around. And then down to breakfast with a buffet meal which provided us with all sorts of dishes, bread, cake, fruit, juice, coffee, etc. The laugh was, I ask wherever I go for hot water and lemon and everywhere I go I get it, with the lemon suitably sliced. However, this is where the Imperial Hotel let me down because they could not understand my request and brought hot water and a whole lemon and left it on the table. I went and asked the waiter to cut it, and he took it from me, took an ordinary breakfast knife from the bar, sliced it through once and handed it back to me! It took until the last day of my stay to educate them as to how that lemon should be served up!

As for the rest of Rio, we went to see the Christ Redeemer statue, and that was quite an experience which we both loved. It was very busy there with huge crowds and we had to wait over an hour to get on the train, but one buys the ticket in advance, a time-stamped ticket, so we are assured a place on the train and so can go away and come back. We stayed in the immediate environs and sat in the shade and had a cool drink, etc. But it was worth the wait as the vantage point of the statue gives the most marvellous panoramic view of the whole city and gives a large scale photograph of each section one can see, highlighting the various buildings of interest, so that from the north, south, east and west, we can see not only the focal points but identify landmarks etc. The statue itself is a little disappointing because if it had been New York, we would have been able to go up inside it, come out at the top and see even better views, but Christ is not hollow!

That night, which was Saturday, we went to see a carnival procession in Rio. It is not the proper procession, which we saw at the sambadrome on the Sunday night, but it had a special place in my heart as it was the little people, putting on their own little displays, the ones who will never get to the sambadrome but are given their moment of glory anyway. And it was fantastic with floats and marching and dancing people, with their bands and we could get right up close to them and in some cases join in if we wished. The part where we were was great because there was no hard liquor being sold, just soft drinks and the odd beer. Judith and I had had nothing to eat and all the restaurants apart from the fast food places like McDonald's all street stalls were closed, and so in the end we finished up having, would you believe, two salads, chips and chicken nuggets in McDonald’s. Judith is a vegetarian and just had the salad and chips with orange juice but she was well satisfied and said it was one of the best salads and orange juices she had ever tasted. Before we left McDonald’s I went out to the street and bought us a couple of wigs, a green one for Judith and a blue one for me, made from tinsel, and we then donned these and went back out on the streets to enjoy ourselves.

One particular lady in the parade caught out eye and we wished we had taken out cameras to catch her – a black lady completely naked except for a G string and a spray of gold paint. She looked fabulous and had a figure any girl would die for. She was obviously enjoying herself and giving everyone else a lot of enjoyment.

We said goodbye to the parade quite early as we wanted to be fresh the next day to go to the Sugar loaf mountain and to prepare for our long night at the sambadrome. Sugar loaf was not as exciting as the Christ statue vantage point, but it provided a different perspective and we went up in cable cars, whereas there is a train which goes up the side of the mountain to the Christ. But Christ has far more to offer and we only spent an hour up Sugar loaf, whereas we spent a couple of hours at the Christ and saw far more and were entertained by a carnival band who were being filmed for TV.

I loved the Rio Branco parade the night before because I felt I could participate in it, whereas we were stuck up a terrace and behind big barriers at the Sambadrome and although we were at the end of the parade avenue, where all the parades came to an end, and the participants mingled to some extent with the audience, it was not the same as being on the streets. Having said that, I enjoyed it all, and glanced up at the lit up Christ statue and then back down at the arena and what was going on there and I too thought: “Goodness, it's carnival in Rio and I am here!”

We finally left at 0330 before the end of the parade and walked some distance to get a taxi as the taxis right outside, when you could get to them through the pressing crown, were charging exorbitant fares. We slept late the next day but then were up again to do whatever we wanted by 0830. No exercises, though, we were too tired and it was too hot!

We finally left Rio on the Wednesday. We had not been able to see a lot because the shops and a lot of the sights were closed, but we saw enough to satisfy us and were well pleased with our stay in Rio at such an exciting time.

If you’d like to contact Iris, whether to wish her luck with her trip or to ask questions about her itinerary and places visited, I am sure she would like to hear from you. She can be contacted on: irisej2002@yahoo.co.uk

The Burma Campaign UK is calling for a boycott of all Lonely Planet (LP) publications until Lonely Planet withdraws its Burma guide from the market.

The Burma Campaign say that the development of hotels, transport and tourist attractions to encourage visitors to Burma is directly linked to mass human rights abuses. There are well-documented mass human rights abuses directly linked to the development of tourist infrastructure and the tourism industry. The United Nation's International Labour Organisation reports that “the military treat the civilian population as an unlimited pool of unpaid forced labourers and servants at their disposal. The practice of forced labour is to encourage private investment in infrastructure development, public sector works and tourism projects.”

Independent tourists are required to exchange $200 when entering the country, while many hotels, domestic airlines and other 'dollar only' retail outlets are fully or jointly owned by the regime or its associates – so local people see none of this money. Tourism currently benefits only a tiny percentage of Burma's 48 million people. Eighty per cent live in rural areas and do not in the main benefit from current forms of tourism.

Millions of men, women and children are forced to labour, under the harshest conditions, on infrastructure projects across Burma each year. Many thousands more have been forced from their homes to make way for tourism developments or as part of so-called 'beautification' projects.

Added to this, tourist dollars go straight into the hands of the dictatorship. For these reasons Aung San Suu Kyi, the British Government and the European Union have asked tourists not to visit Burma. Against the weight of this advice, Lonely Planet publications continue to promote tourism to Burma through their Burma guide.

Rough Guides has already adopted an ethical stance with regard to Burma. They say: “There are occasional instances where any benefits (from tourism) are overshadowed by the nature of the social and political climate. Apartheid South Africa was an example. Burma, with its brutal dictatorship, state control of the economy and forced labour used to build its tourist infrastructure, is another. As long as the military regime remains in power and Aung San Suu Kyi – leader of the democratically elected National League for Democracy – requests that tourists do not visit, Rough Guides will not publish a guide to the country.”

What do you think? Do you have a view? Write in and let and tell the Beetle.

What is it: Giardiasis is a diarrhoea illness caused by a microscopic parasite (Giardia intestinalis) that lives in the intestines of people and animals. It can occur anywhere in the world, although it is most frequent where water is not clean.

How do I get it: transmission occurs from ingestion of contaminated food or water or from exposure to faecal contaminated surfaces and from person to person by the faecal-oral route including homosexual practices.

What happens if I get it: symptoms occur approximately 1 to 2 weeks after ingestion of the parasite and usually last for over five days. Symptoms include Diarrhoea, flatulence, nausea, abdominal cramps, bloating, weight loss,

Diagnosis and treatment: the infection can usually be identified through a stool sample. A 7-10 day course of antibiotics, usually metronidazole sorts things out.

How can I avoid contracting giardiasis: no vaccination is available, so it is best to avoid drinking or eating food from utensils that may have been washed in contaminated water. To be sure, boil water for at least one minute – longer if at high altitudes. Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water. Also wash your hands after using the toilet and before handling or eating food (especially for persons with diarrhoea). Avoid drinking untreated water or using ice. Wash and/or peel all raw vegetables and fruits before eating and use uncontaminated water to wash all food that is to be eaten raw. Avoid eating uncooked foods when travelling in countries with minimal water treatment and sanitation system.

Continuing our recent theme on visiting Germany, we had the Beetle’s report on Munich, and now Padmassana has sent us this trip report from his recent visit to Berlin. This is how he found Berlin since he was last there, before the wall came down in 1989.

You have got to visit Berlin – this now has to be the best city in Europe. There is so much to do – Berlin has changed out of all recognition since I was last here. Shops are open on Saturday afternoons, but I think even the Beetles credit card would go sick at the thought of shopping on Kudamm!

I did a walking tour (www.berlinwalks.com) for 5 hours one day, just walked into “Mitte” the heart of the city that used to be in the East. It is a vibrant place now, not the dour way it used to be. The ghost stations are open again but have been left with their 1930’s decoration. Checkpoint Charlie is still there, but on the east side where you went through all the stuff to get in to the east are shops and cafes, it is unrecognisable now. Also the air is not full of the exhaust fumes from the East German Trabants; now the east has BMW’s and Merc’s, as well as McDonalds!

I was the only one on the walk who had been into the East pre 1989, I had to describe to an Aussie couple what it was like, it was hard to remember where the big shed was at Checkpoint Charlie and the chicane in the road. They couldn’t believe the palaver involved back then in getting into the GDR.

I never dreamed the last time I was here that I would be able to walk through the Brandenburg Gate, but I did yesterday. Where the wall was taken down they have replaced it with bricks in the road to show where it was. The biggest change is Potsdam Platz, I remember it as a concrete wasteland, with barbed wire and tank traps and towers with machine guns and massive flood lights, now it is an area of new modern buildings like the Sony centre. I like the public art in Berlin, it’s fun, there are lots of bears, doing various things as adverts for local businesses.

There are lots more places to eat than I remember, and apart from my daily milkshake, I haven’t eaten any burgers, rather I paid a daily visit to the excellent Kamps bakeries, which do hot sandwiches and the Turkish Imbiss stube, which do good kebabs.

I visited the Pergamon museum on Museum Island after the tour, lots of fab stuff from Pergamon, Iran and Babylon. Went to visit the Reichstag next, but the queue was a joke, so I walked up Unter Den Linden to the TV tower (aka The pope’s revenge), so called because when the sun shines a cross appears on this communist, atheist piece of 60’s architecture, only 6 Euros to go up for great views of the city.

Back to the Checkpoint Charlie museum (7 Euros), which has been greatly enlarged and is now very interesting. Had a look round Potsdam Platz, and bought a then and now postcard as a reminder, which they stamp the back with a GDR customs stamp. Went via the Topography of Terrors which is an exhibition about the Gestapo in their former dungeons, unearthed when the wall was dismantled. You can borrow a commentary tape in English, which guides you along the exhibit in about an hour. Nearby a bit of the Berlin wall is left, which now ironically has a fence round it to protect it from people stealing bits!

Wandered back to the Reichstag the line had shortened, queued for 30 minutes, then you get the lift up to the glass roof, best views of Berlin possible and it’s completely free, which is why the lines are so long. The idea is that people can look down on the German parliament, and the politicians can look up and be reminded as to who really has the power.

I had planned on going to Potsdam itself to see the palaces. I found out that it’s best to book Potsdam in advance because UNESCO limit the number of visitors who can go around the palaces and it doesn’t take many coach parties of 50 or 60 to fill it up. So abandoned this idea. Potsdam lies at the end of the S2 line. It’s really weird going through the stations now they are open as I remember the dark ghost stations. You can tell the old ones because they have green tiles. Instead I visited the East Side gallery. This is a bit of the wall next to the river in the east. It has the famous mural of a Trabant coming thru the wall with Honecker and Brezhnev kissing on the back seat, and another brilliant mural like a cartoon of the wall and people trying various means of escape.

I tried to go to the Documentation museum, but it was closed: Lonely Planet failed to mention it’s only open Wednesday – Sunday!

The weather was incredibly hot, so I went on a river trip for an hour (7 euros) which is nice as you get a different perspective of the city. The commentary was in German, but luckily could remember enough German to understand most of it including some of the jokes levelled against the German politicians who have moved from Bonn, they are now called “Gastarbeiters”.

So that was Berlin, I hope its not another 15 years till I get here again. I strongly recommend it – give it a go and visit!

If you’d like to contact Padmassana, click here: Padmassana

U. S. Soldiers Home, Washington: during a century of travel (well 78 years!) both in and out of service I have travelled to over 150 countries (I count both North and South Dakota as countries) and for some reason have jotted signs and happenings that I thought funny at the time (and now wonder why). So here is the perfect opportunity to share some of my anecdotes.

In Japan, often near railroad stations, they have what they call Capsule Hotels. They are like train berths one on top of the other or some refer to them as coffins. Businessmen after a night at the bars and who miss their trains home often stay in them. They even have a very small TV set in the bunk with you and a telephone. If you can’t find a place elsewhere then you look for a capsule hotel. I stayed in several. One had a sign at the entrance. No elevator. No Cooking. No tattoos (they associate tattoos with criminals and Cher.) No dead drunks. One time the bunk over me was not occupied and for some strange reason I left my money on the bunk overhead like it was a shelf. When I returned that night the manager handed me the money. I guess he knew only a foolish foreigner would do that. One time I went into a coffee shop near train station in Ueno section of Tokyo and when I left I left my backpack at the stool. I went to downtown Tokyo before discovering my backpack was missing. I thought maybe it got pulled off in the crowded subway. There are thousands of coffee shops in Ueno and I did not know if I could remember which one I was in. I went into one and the manager held up my backpack as if he had been holding it all day waiting for my return. The Japanese are just incredibly honest. More about capsule hotels later.

One way to cut down on expenses in Japan is to use the many vending machines found on streets everywhere. Food etc is cheaper there. Coffee in YMCA was $4 a cup. In the machines, $1.10. In McDonalds $1.80 a cup. Beer can cost you $6.00 in a bar but in vending machines outside $2.90 or less. They even sell whisky in vending machines on the street. I don’t know how they keep children from buying whisky from the vending machines. Japan has clear plastic umbrellas you can see thorough so you won’t run into people and spike them. Stores have stands outside to place your wet umbrella and not take into store.

A Japanese man that looked older than me stopped me on the street in Tokyo one time evidently to try out his English and said to me. “My, you look old. Are you tired? It turned out he was older than me and had been a Japanese fighter pilot in WWII with he said 303 missions. (I suspect I heard wrong.) His English was not too good. For some reason he told me he did not like Italians. He sang a bit of song Coming thru the Rye and asked me if I knew the name of that song. He laughed when he heard my military background and saluted me and then scooted away. I would have liked to have found out more about him like did he bomb Pearl Harbour. It was a most strange encounter. About as strange as these notes.

The honour of inventing the useful rickshaw falls to an American missionary in Japan who designed one for his invalid wife. The Japanese appropriated the idea and then the Chinese.

I one time was on a train in Japan and some Indian congressmen asked me if I would have lunch with them in a week as they were invited to the States. Before I met with them, I read up books about our Congress, how many how chosen etc so I would not look like a dummy. The first question they asked me is: “What is pie a la mode?” (It is pie with ice cream on top if asked.) They then asked about tipping which they were not used to in Japan. I did not tell them I went to places where tipping is not required Ha! I have met particularly Australians that have worked while travelling. I met an Irishman that got a job as extra in Japanese movies where they needed a Caucasian face in background checking into hotel, airport etc. He talked me into taking such a job. Military Intelligence found out about it and suggested I not do this as the studio Nichikecki (or something), sometimes slanted their picture anti American and I might not know from scene I was in. There went my movie career. I could have been a star. I met an Australian temporarily tending bar in US Military Sanno Hotel. Some try jobs that do not take away jobs from locals. Like big firms hiring foreigners for practice in conversational English. I met some Japanese that had had British teachers. I had to smile when I heard them talking with a Japanese accent. I don’t know if your Embassies would know of trade shows or possibilities for temporary work that did not take away jobs from others or not. They hired a Japanese to teach my Irish friend some Japanese He got more pay if he spoke a few words. We think of Japan as having high class films but they also make a lot of cheap films. One day my friend was playing the part of a reporter in front of Judge’s stand. The Japanese actor Judge did not show up the next day so my Irish friend was promoted to Judge in same movie.

Next month, Mac discusses India.

If you would like to contact Mac, he can be e-mailed on: macsan400@yahoo.com

Number one passenger airport of 2002 is: Atlanta Hartsfield!

Atlanta retained its title as the world's busiest passenger airport last year as passenger numbers rose to 76.9 million, an increase of 1.3 percent over 2001.

Chicago O'Hare was the second busiest with 66.6 million passengers and Los Angeles LAX was third busiest with 56.2 million passengers.

London’s Heathrow was the busiest outside North America with traffic of 63.3 million.

Figures released today by Airports Council International-North America showed that although more than 1.3 billion people boarded planes last year, passenger numbers were down by 2.6 percent.

Source: Airports Council International-North America

Save the Earth Network is a Ghana based organization, founded in 1998 and dedicated to promoting sustainable development, agro-forestry, environmental conservation, international solidarity through voluntary work and cultural immersion in Ghana.

We aim to positively contribute to help reduce poverty, hunger, malnutrition, disease, illiteracy, drug abuse, unemployment, and environmental degradation, which are increasingly becoming the order of the day in most parts of the developing world. We are a networking tool for environmental, social and economic development activists from Ghana and worldwide. We offer volunteer placements in Ghana in areas that includes renovation and construction of school buildings for poor rural communities. Teaching children English language, mathematics and Christian religion at schools for under-privileged communities. Caring for orphans, destitute and abandoned children in foster homes and orphanages and providing them education; HIV/AIDS education, reforestation (environmental conservation), agro forestry and rejuvenation of degraded farmlands through tree planting; organic farming, primary health care and other community development programs.

Volunteers can participate in most of the volunteer programs all year round. Volunteers mostly work alongside staff and volunteers from the local community. Special skills, professional qualifications or previous experience is not required of volunteers in most of the programs. What is required is motivation, charisma, initiative, drive and the compassion to assist the underprivileged overcome their challenges and their struggle for dignity. Volunteers work four days a week, (Mondays to Thursdays) and they will work a minimum of four hours a day – it depends on the volunteer. We arrange for the volunteers to stay with good host families. Piped water and electricity are mostly available. Meals, a private room and bed are provided to each volunteer. Volunteers can participate in most programs from a period of 4 weeks to 52 weeks or more.

If you are interested in participating in any of our programs or would like to contact past volunteers, please contact: Eben Mensah at Save the Earth Network, P.O. Box CT 3635, Cantonments, Accra, Ghana. Tel: 233-21-667791, Fax:233-21-667791 or e-mail: ebensten@yahoo.com