Remembering my first trip to South America meant going through old photographs, talking to Silvio about what he remembered, and reliving some of those vivid experiences. Although I'd been overseas before, I'd never visited as a guest in a family, and that brought its own delights and pitfalls.

Join me as we sit around the family table, run from rabid relatives and friends, and make enduring friendships out of the rough clay of a more than two-month visit. As much a record of family drama as it is a travel narrative, this return to Argentina and Chile is meant to capture a country still reeling from its 2000 market crash, a traveller coping with culture clash and bad manners, and the savage enjoyment which results from the urge to pack a bag and buy a ticket.