Globetrotters Committee member Tony, a professional photographer and journalist writes:

Going home in a black cab in London, not surprising, but being dropped home by the ‘Minister Of Culture’ certainly was. Gilberto Gil a great Brazilian singer and now a Minister, was in London to give a presentation in the ‘Collyer-Bristow Gallery in Bedford Row.

He was here to launch ‘ondAzul’ founder of the charity that helps bring clean and unpolluted water to many parts of Brazil a country that has the most water in the world but at the same time some of the most polluted.

I was invited by Joao Fortes, a good friend who had helped me arrange permission to go and visit ‘Yawanawa’ tribe in the deep Amazon some years ago, so I have first hand experience of many trips to Brazil.

A very Brazilian affair in a very old established English Lawyers Gallery. After a short presentation, a video on flat screens round the Gallery, Gilberto Gil picked up his guitar and this place became the Latin Quarter. He slowly built up this very different audience of Diplomats, M.P.s, Environmentalists and Lawyers into a group with many of them singing along with some of his songs especially the ones he wrote while in exile in London. The pace quickened and joining in was Jim Capaldi the well known drummer, but not with drums but making his mouth a bass and drum rhythm section and he certainly helped drive it along. One of the Partners told me the place had never been so alive and with the wine flowing, the music playing, this did not feel like a winter night in London but a music bar back in the warmth of Rio. Sometimes you can travel without going anywhere.

So this is how after BBC World Service and other interviews, I found myself in a cab with Joao and Gilberto, heading back to town. Very, very early flights for them and a lie in bed for me. If you’d like to find out more about Gil, you can visit his website: www.gilbertogil.com.br

For more information, see; www.ondazul.org.br

March is Brazil month in Selfridges, London. www.selfridges.com

La “noche porteña”. Buenos Aires at night. If you are planning to come to Buenos Aires, and you think to go out during the day and rest at night. Please, forget it!!!!!!!.

First, make an early visit to some museums, do a city tour, go shopping in your spare time. After a quick lunch, visit a market, historical places (a lot in Buenos Aires). But you come back before it gets dark to have a bath, change clothes, have dinner and go out again. Don’t try to schedule your return, it will be quite useless: you just won’t make it.

Below are just some of the options available:

Bars and pubs, Concerts, Discos, Cinema and Theatre, Tango shows (unforgettable!!!)

In Buenos Aires, you know how the activity begins but never when it ends. Alternative options for bars and pubs can be with live concerts, Tango, Flamenco, jazz and blues, or attend castings, having a theatre play or watch a bizarre cinema, some offering table games, billiards, different sports, karaoke, office bars, literary, design and astrological pubs, cybercafes, tapas and Irish pubs, others (this is an important tip) the famous Argentine wineries (wine bars are spread all over the city).

If you want be active, you can keep on dancing at after hours, go to the cinema or theatre or visit our traditional book stores, located in the famous Corrientes Avenue. La Boca, Palermo, San Telmo, Downtown, Recoleta, Barrio Norte, Retiro, Monserrat neighboorhoods are all good for these kinds of activities.

And before coming back your hotel (about 4, 5 or maybe 8 in the morning,) you have to imitate one of our customs: for young people and not that young, is to have a delicious breakfast in a pub, in a bar or in a gas station.

SAFETY: Buenos Aires has experienced increased muggings and thefts in the past two years. Visitors should only take taxis marked “Radio Taxi.” Be extra cautious when travelling in Abasto.

LANGUAGE: English is not widely spoken. Basic Spanish, like the ability to ask for directions, is very useful. The Evita Museum has signs in English and Spanish but other museums do not.

SEASONS: Expect hot and muggy weather and higher prices December through March, which is Argentina’s summer. The best times to visit, both in terms of weather and cost, are spring (September to November) and fall (April to June).

Nélida G. Vilais the General Coordinator and Spanish teacher at the Buenos Aires Centre – Learn Spanish in Argentina. They can organise programs of immersion in language and culture in Buenos Aires & Patagonia. For more information, see:

http://www.buenosairescentre.com.ar

What is it: cholera is an acute, diarrhoea illness caused by infection of the intestine with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae via contaminated drink or shellfish. Transmission happens through contaminated water and food.

How do I get it: cholera often occurs in epidemic areas where there is poor sanitation and occurs regularly after natural disasters and war. Outbreaks are known to occur along the Ganges river and in Bangladesh.

What happens if I get it: around 90% of cases are mild to moderate and hard to distinguish from the usual sort of traveller’s diarrhoea. In more sever cases, cholera is characterised by profuse watery diarrhoea, vomiting, leg cramps, rapid loss of body fluids, dehydration, shock. Without treatment, death can occur within hours.

Diagnosis and treatment: a stool sample will show whether you have cholera. It can be simply and successfully treated by immediate replacement of the fluid and salts lost through diarrhoea. Patients can be treated with oral rehydration solution, a pre-packaged mixture of sugar and salts to be mixed with water and drunk in large amounts. This solution is commonly used to treat diarrhoea. Severe cases may also require an intravenous drip with fluid replacement. With prompt rehydration, less than 1% of cholera patients die. A 6 day course of the antibiotic tetracycline can clear things up very quickly, although rehydration is the more important course of action.

How can I avoid contracting cholera: the usual advice as per traveller’s diarrhoea – drink water that you have boiled or treated with chlorine or iodine, avoid ice, eat food that has been thoroughly cooked and is still hot, only eat fruit that you have peeled yourself, avoid undercooked or raw fish or shellfish. Avoid salads and be careful with foods and beverages from street vendors. There is a vaccine, but this is no longer available in the UK because health authorities believe that it is ineffective.

Meeting news from our branches around the world.

Ryanair have added nine new routes to its service across Europe. Four of the routes will operate from London’s Stansted Airport: to Linz in Austria, Bari in Italy, Erfurt in Germany and Jerez in southern Spain. Two will link Stockholm with Rome and Milan, two will fly from Frankfurt to Reus, near Barcelona, and Tampere in Finland, and one will link Brussels with the Spanish city of Valladolid. This will take Ryanair’s total number of routes to 146 from 11 bases in Europe, the airline said in a statement. Only a month ago, Ryanair was Europe’s biggest airline by market value, now this title goes to German airline Lufthansa.

Ryanair has been ordered to repay £3million – about a third of the £9million ‘discount’ it was given from 2001 to encourage it to fly to Charleroi after complaints that Brussels Charleroi Airport made life easier for Ryanair by offering cheap fees and subsidies that were not on offer to competitors. Belgium’s Walloon region gave Ryanair EUR3.8 million euros (USD$4.8 million) in 2002 for publicity and to subsidise a few very low cost, highly publicised fares for a few seats on selected flights. The ruling stemmed from a complaint by Britair, a subsidiary of French national carrier Air France, which said it was forced to cancel its London-Strasbourg link as a result of unfair financial aid to Ryanair. Ryanair had suspended the service in September pending the outcome of the appeal.

Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s chief executive, threatened to axe any loss-making routes. The airline said fares would rise by up to £12 because of the ruling. With the average Ryanair one-way ticket costing around £25, Mr O’Leary threatened: “This could double loads of fares.”’

And Ryanair’s latest initiative, just when you thought the service could get no worse… Ryanair has confirmed it is taking “no-frills” flying a stage further by ordering a fleet of planes without headrests, no seat pockets, reclining seats or window blinds. This would allow potential savings of more than £1.3m a year by removing all remaining “non-essential” items. They are also said to be looking at the possibility of asking passengers to carry on their luggage, cutting baggage handling fees.

For details of forthcoming meetings email newyork@globetrotters.co.uk or register for email updates, click here at our website.

New York meetings are held at The Wings Theatre, 154 Christopher Street(btw Greenwich St and Washington St), to the right of Crunch Fitness, in the Archive on the first Saturday of each month at 4 pm.